THE
SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC
HISTORY OF THE
ROMAN EMPIRE
Oxford University Press
Lofidon Edifibur^h Ghugow (Ujpfubagin
Netvl'ork Toronto .Melbourne GnpeTomi
Bombay Calcum Madras Sbtmgkti
Humphrey Milford Publisher to the. Univemsity
SOCIAL ECONOMIC
HISTORY OF THE
ROMAN EMPIRE
"'#4 ■ ■
■ '%
‘ M. ROSTOVTZEFF
Ho». D.Liti. iOxon.)
Hon. LHt.D. {Wisconsin)
Professor of Ancient History
in Yak University
\ ■ ■ * ■ #
Pfinied in England ai the Oxford University Press.
By John Johnson Printer to the University
PREFACE
aim in writing this book has not been to add another
Historj' of the Roman Empire to those wliich already
- exist. !My purpose is more modest and much more limited.
We possess very good surveys of the foreign policy of the
Roman Emperors, of the constitutional history of the Roman
Empire, of system of administration, both civil and
military, and of the organization of the army. Valuable work
has been done in describing the municipal life of Italy and
of some of the provinces, and attempts have been made to
present complete pictures of the historical development of
.some of the provincial areas under Roman rule. We have
not, however, a single book or monograph treating of the
social and economic life of the Roman Empire as a whole
and tracing the main lines of its evolution. There are valuable
contributions dealing with one or another partial problem
or with some special period. Most of these contributions,
however (for example, the excellent work of L. Friedlander),
have been written from the antiquarian, not from the histori-
cal, point of view ; and no one has endeavoured to connect
the social and economic evolution of the Empire with its
constitutional and administrative development or with the
home and foreign policy of the Emperors. The present volume
is the first attempt of the kind. I am very well aware that it
is far from satisfactory. The task has been arduous and
complicated. The material is scanty and scattered. No
statistics are available. The interpretation of the few data
\^iiCh we have is open to dispute, and most of the conclu-
sions drawn by modem scholars are hypothetical and often
arbitrary. Yet, with all its difficulty, the task is attractive
^ in itself. I am convinced that, without a thorough investiga-
tion of the social and economic conditions, no attempt to write
a general history of the Roman Empire can be successful.
¥111
It^reface .
To illustrate my point of view and my method, I may
briefly summarize the main results to which a careful study
of the social and economic aspect of Imperial history has led
me. Such a sketch may help the reader to find his way through
the chapters of the book.
An alliance between the Italian bourgeoisie and the Italian
proletariate, headed by ambitious politicians and military .
leaders, resulted in the collapse of the hegemony of the two
privileged orders of Rome, the senatorial and the equestrian,
which together had formed a class of large half-feudal land-
owners and business men who owed their material prosperity
to the exploitation of the resources of the State and their
political power to their wealth. The activity of Augustus
gave expression to this victory of the middle and lower classes
of Roman citizens, and represented a compromise between tiu.'
opposing forces. The Julii and Claudii resumed the struggle :
their policy was to build up a State based on the city bour-
geoisie of the Empire as a whole, and by a ruthless and cruel
terrorism they dealt the final blow to the influence and
the aspirations of the magnates of the late Republic. The
remnants of this class as well as the temporary substi-
tutes for it — the favourites of the Emperors — were eliminated
by the Flavians, when a fresh outbreak of civil w^ar had
proved the stability of the new form of goverflment,
which was supported by the middle class in all the cities
of the Empire. This strong middle class formed the economic
backbone of the State, and it was consciously developed
by the Emperors, who pursued a consistent policy of foster-
ing city-life, alike in the western and in the eastern provinces ;
but, through the medium of the body which represented it in
the capital — the new imperial senate of the Flavians-^aiffd
through the municipal aristocracy of the provinces, it ^ow'ed
its unwillingness to lend support to the system of government
intn which the Augustan principate had degenerated under
the JuMp^Ciaudians — ^that personal military tyranny whigh, '
after Vfepasian’s attempt to restore the Augustan principate.
IX
was revived in the autocratic regime of Domitian. The result
was the establishment of the constitutional monarchy of the
Antonines, which rested on the urban middle class throughout
the Empire and on the self-government of the cities. Despite
hi.s autocratic power, the monarch was regarded as the chief
magistrate of the Roman people. At his side, as an advisory
. council, stood the senate which represented the municipal
bourgeoisie. The imperial bureaucracy and the army were
co-ordinated with the self-governing bodies in Italy and the
pro\nnces.
This adaplation of the constitution of the Empire to the
leading social forces had one weak point. The foundation of
the Empire, the urban middle class, was not strong enough to
support the fabric of the world-state. Resting as it did on the
toil of the lower classes — the peasants of the country and
the proletariate of the cities — the municipal bourgeoisie, like
the imperial aristocracy and bureaucracy, was unwilling to
open its ranks to the lower orders. All three groups became
more and more exclusive, and the society of the Empire
became more and more divided into two classes or castes —
the bourgeoisie and the masses, the honesiiores and the humilio-
res. A sharp antagonism arose and gradually took the form
of an antagonism between the country and the cities. The
Emperors sought to remove this hostility by promoting
urbanization and by supporting the peasants in the country
and the workmen in the cities. The effort was vain. It was
this antagonism which was the ultimate cause of the crisis of
the third century, when the aspirations of the lower classes
were expressed by the army and countenanced by the Em-
perors. After the failure of the endeavours of the Severi to
establish a modus vivendi between the two classes, the struggle
degenirated into the civil and social war and the political
anarchy of the second half of the third century. The
bourgeoisie and the upper classes of society were destroyed,
* ai\d there arose a new form of government which was more
or less suited to the conditions — the Oriental despotism of the
#
x
Preface
fourth and fifth centuries, based on the army, on a strong
bureaucracy, and on the mass of the peasants.
There is no need to emphasize the close connexion between
the social evolution and the gradual, though slow, development
of economic life. Far be it from me to overestimate the
historical significance of the economic facts; yet I cannot
but think that a picture of social hfe, without a companion
picture of the economic conditions underlying it, would be
both incomplete and misleading. Side by side with my study
of the social history of the Roman Empire, I have, therefore,
endeavoured to present a corresponding picture of the generiil
lines on which its economic life developed. Here again I have
had no predecessors. The economic conditions of the Empire
have been the subject of repeated study. Much valuable work
has been done in various special fields. But no one has
attempted to trace the main lines of the economic development
of the Empire as a whole, no one has tried to show liow and
why its material aspect gradually changed, and how and why
the brilliant life of the early Empire so completely degenei'ated
into the primitive and half-barbarous life of the later period.
The results to which my investigation has led me are
briefly these. To the first stage in the social evolution — the
end of the domination of the class of great landlords and
business men — corresponded, in the economic field, the ruin
of that typical form of feudal capitalism which had been
characteristic of the late Republic and had handicapped the
soimd economic development of the ancient world. With
the collapse of the immense fortunes of the imperial aristocracy
and with the concentration of their wealth in the hands of
the Emperors, the forms of the Hellenistic city-capitalism,
based on commerce, industry, and scientific agriculture,
revived again and developed rapidly under the benign
influence of the peace and quiet re-established by Augustus,
"Pie representatives of this form of capitalism were the city
&o wf geo jsfe, which steadily increased in numbers and in social
and political importance. The urbanization of the Empire was
'XI,
T^reface
at once the chief factor in this process and its plainest mani-
festation. The result was an unprecedentedly rapid and
striking development of commerce, industry, and agriculture ;
and the constant growth of the capital accumulated in the
cities gave a fresh impetus to the brilliant efflore.scence of city
life throughout the Empire.
This city-capitalism, however, gradually degenerated.
The prevailing outlook of the municipal bourgeoisie was that
of the rentier : the chief object of economic activity was to
secure for the individual or for the family a placid and inactive
life on a safe, if moderate, income. The creative forces which
in the early Imperial period produced a rapid growth of
industrial activity in every quarter of the Empire, and
promoted a high standard of technical improvement alike in
commerce, in industry, and in agriculture, .suffered a gradual
atrophy, which I'esulted in an increasing stagnation of
economic life. The activity of the urban middle class de-
generated intf) a systematic exploitation of the toiling lower
classes. Its accumulated wealth w'as mostly invested in land.
Commerce and industry became decentralized, and they came
to be pursued as a means of adding to an income derived
mainly from agriculture. The exclusiveness of the bourgeoisie
and the system of economic exploitation prevented the lower
classes’from raising themselves to a higher level and improving
their material welfare. On the other hand, the State required
more money and labour to maintain internal peace and
security. Confining itself, as it did, t© the problems of State
life and being indifferent to economic progress, the govern-
ment did nothing to promote and foster the latter. Rather,
it helped to accelerate the process of stagnation by protecting
tKe city bourgeoisie and taking very little thought for the
prosperity of the masses. Thus the burden of supporting
the life of the State lay entirely on the working classes and
caused a rapid decline of their material welfare. As they were
the. chief consumers of the industrial goods produced by the
cities, their diminished purchasing power reacted advereely
XII
Preface
on the development of commerce and industry and greatly
aggravated the torpor which had come over them. The decay
had definitely set in as early as the beginning of the second
century. The wars of that century demonstrated the hopeless
economic weakness of the Empire and awakened the interest
of the Emperors in economic problems. But, even when they
realized the danger, they were helpless to cure the disease.
Their constructive measures were puerile and brought no
relief. To save the State they resorted to the old practice of
the ancient world^ — the policy of force and compulsion. Force
and compulsion were applied both to the city bourgeoisie and
to the lower classes, and they embittered each against the
other. The result was the collapse of city-capitalism and the
acute economic crisis of the third century, which brought
about the rapid decline of business activity in general, the
resuscitation of primitive forms of economy, and the growdh
of State-capitalism. These were the salient features of life in
the fourth and following centuries.
I regret that I have been unable in this volume to deal
with the third aspect of the same development — the spiritual,
intellectual, and artistic life of the Empire. Without a
thorough treatment of those sides of life the picture must
clearly be one-sided and incomplete. But to have included
them would not only have meant doubling the size of the
book but would have involved a constant shifting from one
aspect of the subject to another without a proper investigation
of any one of them. Such an exposition must find a place in
a work which aims at presenting a complete picture of the
Roman Empire— -which, as I have said, is not the purpose of
this book. The fact is that the spiritual, intellectual, and
artistic life of the Empire developed along the same pnes as
its economic and social life. The late Republic and the early
Empire created a refined, delicate, highly aristocratic civiliza-
tion, foreign alike to the urban middle class and to the masses.
The same is true of the lofty philosophic religion of the higher
classes. As time passed, this high civilization w^as gradually
Treface xiii
absorbed by the growing middle class and adapted to their
standards and requirements. In becoming so widely diffused,
the delicate creation of the first century was bound to become
more and more simplified, more and more elementary, more
and more materialistic. Even this civilization, however,
remained foreign to the lower classes, and it was finally
destroyed by them in their onslaught on the cities and the city
bourgeoisie. The new culture of the late Empire was, on the
one hand, a very thin decoction of the ancient one, spread
among the masses by the Christian Church, and, on the other
hand, an exotic and highly refined but empty and archaistic
culture of the upper classes, pagan and Christian alike.
A few words on the distribution of the matter of the book
and on the treatment of it may be useful to the reader. The
first chapter, dealing with the late Republic, is a mere sketch.
A more comprehensive examination would I'equire a whole
volume, and I hope soon to provide it, in connexion with
a study of the social and economic life of the Hellenistic period
in general. The next two chapters, on Augustus and on the
military tyranny of the Julii and Claudii, are not so detailed
as those on the .second and third centuries, the reason being
that for the most essential points in my narrative I am able
to refer the reader to modern books where the subject is
thoroughly \reated and the sources are quoted in full.
The core of my book is the portion (Chaps. IV-XI) dealing
with the second and third centuries, which are the most
neglected periods in the history of the Roman Empire. The
last chapter is again a sketch, designed to illustrate in a very
general way the difference between the social and economic
structure of the early and of the late Roman Empire.
' The volume is divided into two parts, the text and the
notes. *In the text I have endeavoured to give a readable
general picture of the social and economic development of the
Empire, intelligible to everybody who is interested in the
subject. The notes fall into two classes. Where I am able
to refer for all the details to a good modem book or article.
xiv
»T,d Where mV own judgement is based on the work oi others
Thave eSr^ven to the notes a purely bibiioErnp neul
I have genefflly 8"'-“ biblioerapiiv is ar (rnm
character. I am aware that ‘ ,
complete The book is not a text-book nor a hamlb. os.
a rule I have abstained from piling up references to amviiian
books’ and articles. The books and articles me
which I have carefully read and on which my ■
is based ; those which did not help me are no ■
being unlikely to help my readers. 1 have refrained . y “ . _
from criticising modem works m the notes.
only when I have quoted as the leading work on he »nb u
a book which reaches conclusions different from tho* wh h
I myself have drawn from the same " ^ f " ,
notes, however, are not of a bibliographical ‘
those sections where I have found no modern books to help
me and where I have had to collect and
myself, I have generally inserted ^ Iture of
excursuses or appendices. Some of to
overburdened with quotations ; only ^t^
read them in full The illustrations which I have added to
the text are not intended to amuse or to plea^ the reader.
They are an essential part of the book, as essentid, m fact as
theLtes and the quotations frorn literary or
sources. They axe drawn from the large store oi archaeo-
logical evidence, which for a student of social and economic
ll is as important and as indispensable as the witten
evidence. Some of my inferences and conclusions are largely
based on archaeological material. I regret that “
unable to give a larger number of lUustrations and that I ha\
been forced to confine myself to reproducing spccime^ o the
realistic art of the Empire, to the exclusion of proifucis ol
SStrial activity, such as pots, lamps, gl-
of textiles, jewels, metal work, and so forth. s
impossible to give an adequate set of plates of this type. I have
prKed to dispense with this kind of illustration altogether.
At the end ot his prelace an author usuaii}'' permits
himself the pleasure and the privilege of mentioning those
who were kind enough to help him in his work. My list is
a long one. It shows how earnestly I have laboured to make
my information as complete as possible, and how little the
disasters of war and revolution have impaired the international
.solidarity of scholars. The only melancholy e.vception is the
e.xisting Russian government, which makes it impo.ssible, at
least for me, to use for scientific purposes the treasures stored
in Russia.
The volume is dedicated to my dear friend, J. G. C.
Anderson, as an expre.ssion (feeble though it is) of my high
appreciation of his collaboration and my deep gratitude for
it. !Mr. Anderson not only revised my manuscript and made
my English readable — mugni sudofis opus ; he also read all
the jiroofs, introduced a reasonable system of quotations, and
v'crified a good many of them. Last, but not least, he made
me give a definite statement in many cases where I was
inclined to nanuin vague : evidently the English mind, in this
respect unlike the Slavonic, dislikes a lack of precision in
thought or expres.sion. Very often, too, he prevented me from
formulating over-hasty, and therefore erroneous, conclusions.
Finally, in manv instances he helped me by his great know-
ledge and his .sound suggestions to elucidate points which had
remained dark to me. My only desire is that, after having
finished his labours on my book, he may say : Forsan ei haec
meminisse iuvahit. Throughout the proof-stage Mr. Anderson
has enjoyed the assistance, generously offered and freely
rendered, of Dr. George Macdonald. To that distinguished
scholar I tender my warmest thanks.
'In the next place I have to express my gratitude to the
Clarendon Press. It is a real privilege and pleasure to have
a book published by that institution : the broad-minded and
scientific spirit of its representatives is known to all the world.
I w'as pleasantly surprised to find my modest volume set up
in such beautiful t3rpe and with such a wealth of illustrations.
Preface
■ ^^1 chapters on the Roman provinces, and
m collecting the material for the illustration of the volume
I have enjoyed the most liberal help of a large number of m\’
colleagues. In England Sir Frederic Kenvon, H. I, Hd!
0. Dalton, H. R. Hall, G. F. Hill, H. Mattingly, and A, li.’
Smith of the British Museum, D. G. Hogarth. E, Tlmriow
Leeds, Miss M V Taylor, and B. Ashmole of the Ashmolean
Museum at Oxford, A. E. Cowley and the staff of the Bodleian
Library; in France, the late E. Babelon, R. Cagnat. I..
p ?• EsP^randieu, P. Jouguet, A Merlil
E. Michon P. Perdnzet, L. Poinssot, E. Pettier, M. Prou ; in Ger-
many, G Rodenwaldt, K. Schumacher, and R. Zahn ; in Italy
Amelung, S. Aurigemma, G. Brusin, G. Calza, M. Delia
_orte, A. Mmto, R Panbeni, A. Spano, P. Sticotti ; in Austria,
Egger, J. Keil, and E. Reisch ; in Poland, the late P
Bienkowski ; m Serbia, N. Vulic ; in Bulgaria, B. Filow and
''"r' ’ ''' V. Parvan ; in Belgium, F. f umont
and 1 Mayence, and in the United States E. Robin.son and
Miss G. F. Richter of the Metropolitan Museum, the Field
Museum of Natural History at Chicago and the Wisconsin
mversity and Library— all have done their best to make my
work on the volume less tedious and difficult. I ask them to
accept my most sincere thanks.
Finally, I am indebted to ray wife, Mrs. S. Rostovtzeff
for undertaking the task of compiling the Indexes.
CONTENTS
^ , PAGE
List of lilustrations . . . . • ■ xix
Abbreviations of Titles of Periodicals, &c., used in the
descriptions of the Plates and in the Notes . . xxiii
* ,
I. Italy and the Civil War . . . . . i
II. Augustus and the Policy of Restoration and
Reconstruction . . . . . -38
III. The Military Tyranny of the Julii and Claudii . 75
IV. The Rule of the Flavians and the enlightened
Monarchy of the Antonines . . . . loi
V. The Roman Empire under the Flavians and
the Antonines. , The Cities. Commerce and
Industry . . . . . . . 125
VI. The Roman Empire under the Flavians and
the Antonines. The City and the Country in
Italy and in the European Provinces of Rome 180
VII. The Roman Empire under the Flavians and
the Antonines. The City and the Country in
the Asiatic and the African Provinces of Rome 2 36
VIII. ‘The Economic and Social Policy of the Flavians
and Antonines . . . . . . 306
IX. The Military Monarchy’ . . . . . 344
X. The Military Anarchy • • ■ - - 381
2354 ’a. ' b 2
XTlil
Contents
PAGE
XL The Roman Empire during the Period of Military
Anarchy . . . . . . . 416
XII. The Oriental Despotism and the Problem of the
Decay of Ancient Civilization . . . 449
Notes . . . .... . . 489
List of Emperors from Augustus to Constantine . ■ 632
Indexes : .
I. Names and Subjects . . . . . 635
II. Papyri and Inscriptions . . . . . 682
LIST
OF
ILLUSTRATIONS
L . Bttst of a Statue of C, Julius Caesar, Photo Anderson fmniispuce
II. Republican Rome : i, Latin warriors ; 2, Etruscan peasants
ploughing. Photos Alinari ' , , . . facing page 12
HI. Life in Italy in the late Republican period : i, Central portion
of a Campanian %dlla (Julwb, d. d. arch. Inst) ; 2, Campanian
villa (ib,) ; 3, Oxen and plough {Metropolitan Museum of
Art, New York) ; 4, Cows, and cart (tb.) ; 5, Pigs, sheep, and
goats . ; . ■. ^ ; , ■ , * . ■ , ■ , . ' ■ 20
IV. Tomb of Euiy^saces' . , . .. 3.2
V. Statue of Augustus from Prima Porta. Photo Anderson 38
VI. The leading ideas of Augustus : i., Altar of Carthage ; 2, One
of the slabs of the Ara Pads (?) (Photo Almari) . ; . 46
VIL Conception of life in the Augustan age. i, Cup from Boscoreale
(Mon.ifl Mlm.,Fondation'E,Piot); 2., CupintheBerlinMuseum 56
VIIL Roman villas by the sea ■ . . . , . . ■ . , 60
IX. I, Villa Rmiica, Pompeii; 2, Iron'. stocks for slaves, Pom,pei
{NoL d. Scavi) . . , . , . , 62
X. i~g,, Agricultural implements, Pompeii (Field Museum of
Natural History, Chicago) . . ■ . , , . 64
XL Business life in Italy in the Augustan age: i, Cainpanian
harbour ; 2, Trade in slaves ; 3, Manumission . , , 70
,XII. Tiberius and Claudius: i, Patera of Aquiieia ; 2, Cup from/
Boscoreale (Photo Baron E. de Rothschild) . . .. , 76
XIII. Pictures from the house of the Vettii, Pompeii : i, Bacchus
and Ariadne (Photo Ander^n) ; 2, Vintage (Photo Alinari) ;
3, Wine dealer (Photo Anderson) ; 4, Flower seller (Photo
Anderson) , . , .-v . . 92
XIV. Pictures from the house of the Vettii, Pompeii : x, Perfumery
(Photo Anderson) ; 2, FuUem (Photo Anderson) ; 3, Jewellers
(Photo Anderson) ; .4, The vestalia (Sogliano, Mm. Atii.
viii. 354) . , 96
•
XV. Pompeian shop-signs {Photo Italian Ministry of Public
Education) . ... . . . .98
XVI. Ware of the Roman Empire : 1, Trajan on campaign (C.
Cichorius, Die Reliefs ier Traiams&tde ) ; 2, Trajan and
the barbarian cbiefe {^.1 ;; 3, M. Aurelius on campaign
(Petersen and others, .... 102
m
Business life in the Western provinces: i, Shepherd: 2,
Sifting grain ; 3, Implements for making wine or cider
(Soc. arch, de Sens) : 4, Banking (Provinzialmuseum,
Trier ) ; 5, Trade in clothes {Provinzialmuseum, Trier) .
Trade of the early Roman Empire, i, Italian harbour
(Photo C. Faraglia) ; 2, River harbour in the Danubian
provinces (C. Cichorius, Die Reliefs der Traianssdule) ; 3,
Isis Geminiana (Photo Alinari) . . . .
Trade of the Roman Empire. River and sea-going ships
(Mosmques d'Afrique) ......
Industry and Commerce in Gaul : i. Retail trade in wine and
in pork (Photo Les Archives photograpIiitiue.s d’Art ct
d’Histoire) ; 2, A retail merchant ; 3, Transptjrt t)f wine ;
4, A cobbler ; 5, A pharmacy or a soap-shop .
Industry in Italy : i, Sale of belts and pillows (Photo
Alinari) ; 2, Exhibition of a sample of cloth (Photo
Alinari) ; 3, Shipbuilding {Jakrh. d. arch. Inst .) ;
4, A blacksmith . ....
Industry at Agedincum (Sens) : i and 7, Fuller ; 2, Shoe-
maker ; 3, Metal-ware shop ; 4, Shop with basket and
bag : 5, Business man or merchant ; 6, Tailor
Business life in Italy : i. An Italian village {Not. d. Scavi ) ;
2, A cella vimria ; 3. A municipal magistrate ; 4, An
Italian banker (Photo L. Ricci)
Business life in Spain : i, Spanish miners {Rev. arch.) ; 2. A
Spanish health resort . .
Agriculture in South Gaul. A rustic pictorial calendar (Photo
LeS Archives photographiques d’Art et d’Histoiie) .
Business life in Gaul : i. Prosperous bourgeois of Gaul (Soc.
arch, de Sens ) ; 2, A Gallic business man (ib .) ; 3a,
Selling turnips or pears ; 3b, Hoeing and digging ; '4,
Reaping corn ; 5, A business man and his peasant
customer
Ccanmerce in Gaul and Germany : i. Transport of wine by
river (Provinzialmuseum, Trier); 2, Loading wine-
Itoels : 3, Unloading a ship ; 4, Creasing a hill (Provin-
! , zialmuseum, Trier) ; 5, Hauling a barge along a river (f6.) .
XVI IL A Roman provincial city, Timgad (Thamiigadi)
XIX. Houses at Ostia: i, House of Diana; 2^ Fcmr-storeyeij
Inner court of a large house {restoration by L Gisinondil
List of Illustrations
XXI
facmgpage
XXXI. Business life in Britain : i, VUia at Chedworth (restoration
by A. Forestier, 1924;. by courtesy of The lUmiraied
London News); 2, A British ploughman (British
Museum); 3, British traveller and shepherd (i&.) ; 4, A
British blacksmith (Yorkshire Museum, York) . . 214
XXXI f. A Histrian Villa: i, The three temples of the villa on
Brioni Grande, restored by A. Gnirs (Jahreshefie des
osiem arch. Insi, in Wien) ; 2, The main building of the
: same villa (restored by A, Gnirs) ; 3, General view of Val. ,
Catena and of the ruins of the villa (16.) . . ■ 220
XXXJII. Business life in Paiinonia and Dalmatia : i, A Pannoiiian
banker ; 2, Mining gallery ; 3, A Pannonian miner ;
4, A landowner and shoemaker of Dalmatia (IFiss. ,
am Bosnien und der Herzegowina) ' . . . . 224
XXXI\\ The military frontier of the Danube and the Dacian lands
behind the frontier (Column of Trajan) ' - . . 228
XXXN, Life in Asia Minor : i, Votive sieie 'to the god Men (BulL
de corresp. heUmique ) ; 2, Funeral side of a Phrygian
landowner and his wife (ib.) ; 3, Transport of goods in
Asia Minor (British Museum) ...... 238
.XXXVL Life in South Russia : i, A landowner on his estate ; 2, A
landowner fighting the Scythians ; 3, A landowner
fighting a Taurian ....... 240'
XXXVII, Business life in Syria : i, Dusares, protector of vineyards
(Museum of Aleppo) ; 2, Donkey with panniers (British
Museum) ; 3, Camel with baskets (British Museiiin) ;
4, A camel and its driver bringing country products
to the city (Photo Les Archives photographiques d'Art
et d’Histoire) . . . . ' . . ■ . . ' 242
XXXVIII. Commerce of Syria : i, The ship of the desert : the
caravan-camel (British Museum) ; 2, A merchant ship
of .SidOn . . . . ' . . . - . 246
XXXIX. Life in Parthia : i, A team of camels in Parthia ; 2,
Ploughing, or herding oxen, in Parthia . , , 250
XL. Egypt : i, Alexandria (Mon. ei Mdfth) ; 2, An Egyptian
ralage ......... 252
XLL Egypt. The Delta in time of fiood (Photo Moscioni) . 254
XLIL Business life in Egypt : 1, Camel carrying earth ; 2, Caitiel
^ loaded with grapes ; 3, A cart with a canopy ; 4,
Gathering dates ; 5, Camel eai^ng two* barrels (Collec-
tion Fouqiiet) ; 6, Camel carrying jars {British MuseuiE) 260
XLIII. Africa : i. The fertility of Africa ; 2, The holy com ; 3, An
African villa . X ' y * X . . 272
XLIV. Africa : Tripoli r, Thre^ifai|; $mf J 2, Dairy ; 3, Agri-
cultural work (Photc^ Vw'ihgnat) ' . . . . 276 '
XXll
List of Illustrations
, , Imim pm;:
XL\^ Africa* Agricultural work and rural life on the verge of
the desert, (Miss* saeiil.} . . . * ..... *
XLVL Africa : i, Ser\ring wine to guests ; 2, Unloading a ship ;
3, Fast sea-going ships ' *, .
XLVIL Africa : i, Life on an African estate ; 2, The stable and
other farm buildings of an African estate . , ' . .* . 290
XLVIIL Tralan and Hadrian : i, Trajan and the veterans (Photo Moh-
cioni) ; 2, Trajan and the business men (Photo Moscicini) ;
... 3, Al'iifietite for the cities of Italy (Photo Alinari) ; 4, Trajan
and the provinces (Photo Alinari) . ,■ * . * 30^
. , .}^,LIX. The burden of war : i, Trajan's army foraging in the enemy's
land (C, Cichorius, Bw kdi^s der Tmimmamle ) ; 2, The
baggage-train of M. Aurelius' army (Petersen and others, l)iV
Marcus-Sdule) ; 3, The booty .and the captives of war (f&.| 312
,L* Trajan and Hadrian : i, The AUmenia ; 2, Burning records
of debts to the state (Photo Anderson) . . . *314
LL Hadrian: i, Hadrian; 2, Coins of Hadrian. British Museum 316
.L,IL Coins illustrating the refo.rms of Nero, ,Ner\^a, and Hadrian.
British Museum . 324
,LHL TheSeveri. Coin of SeptimmsSeveriis(AsIimoleaii Museum) ;
Coins of Se veriis, Caracalla, Ela.gal>alus , Alexander Sevenis,
Julia Domna, Julia Maesa, . Julia .Mammaiea (British
Museum) ; Portion of the frieze of the Arch of Sevenis
, (Photo P. Biehkows.M) . 346
LIV. Life in the provinces : i, A SpemUdm on an official tour
of inspection ; 2, Soldier and i^asant ; 3, Soldier driving
a cart loaded with food ...... 367
LV. The emperors of the early third century: i, Maximinus (Photo
Alinari) ; 2, Coins of Pupienus, Balbinus, Gordian III,
Philip I, Decius (British Museum) .... 382
LVI. Africa in the third and fourth centuries : i, An African
hunting scene ; 2, Horse-breeding in Africa . . . 404
LVIL The emperors of the late third century : i, Gallienus (Photo
Alinari) ; 2, Coins of Claudius Gothicus, Aureliaiius*
Tacitus, Probus, Carus, Carinus (British Museum) . .418
LVm* Africa and Germany in the third and fourth centuries :
The estate of Julius (Museum of Tunis) ; 2, Coloui bringing
gifts (Provinzialmuseum, Trier) .... * 430
LIX. Diocletian and^Constantine. Coins of Diocletian, medalfion
of Constantine; coins of Maximinianus, Galerius, and
Licinius. British Museum 450
LX. Italy and Africa in the time of' the late Roman Empire :
I, A Roman of the later Empire on a hunting expedition
(Photo Alinari) ; 2, A villa and its owner in Africa during
the \"andalic or Byzantine period (British Museum) . 476
ABBREVIATIONS OF TITLES OF PERIODICALS. ETC
USED IN THE DESCRIPTIONS OF THE
PLATES AND IN THE NOTES
hist, dti droit
Numhnmik Ckrmide.
MumumMUschei ZdUchtift,
C.R. Acad. Inscr.
Deakschr. Wiea. Akad.
E. Esp^randieu, Rec.gin,
F. E.
Gaz. arch.
GotL gel. Aaz,
Gott. geL Machr.
Hist. Zeitschr..
Jahrb.
Jahrb* f. Altertiiatsk,
Jaliresli.
J. H. S.
Joarn. of Eg. Arch.
Joam. Sav.
J. R. a
Korr.-BIatt der Westd,
Zeitschr.
Lit. ZeatralM.
Ma. deric.fr. deRome.
Mdm. de i^Iast.
Mdni. pr^s. k f Acad.
Meia. d. AcCf di Hftpoli.
Hon. Ant. or
Mon. dei Lincei.
Mon* Plot.
Mtts. Beige.
Hachr. d^ gott. Ges.
Hene Heid. Jahrb.
Jahrb. (kl. Alt),
d, ScavL
Compies-midus m I' Acmirnii des hiSirip!um> e! ikllr^
LeMres.
Denhschrijten der msterreichhehen Akmkmie der Hr*
sensfhaJieM,
E. Esperandiei!^, Ream! ginha! dr!* has^rrUefs dr /j
Gauie Romaine, i-~lXy ii)0']-iQ2^»
F&rsckimge^i in Ephesm^. see Index. If.
Gazetie arcMobgique.
Gdiiingisehe gekkrte AfizeigeH.
NiuiiriiideN der Geselhdmjt der ' W issensihafkn zu
Gottingen,
Hiskmsche Zeiischrift,
Jahrhueh ties deuisehm mebaeologisriien hisiiiuis.
Jtihrimrh for AiieriumskMmk,
Jakreskefie des oe^ierreilbiseken artimfoiogisAifn ! nsii-
inis.
Jour mi qf IhUeHie Siudm.
Journal qf Egy^piimi Archmoiogy,
Journal des Samnis.
Journal qf Roman Sittdies.
Korrespottieni^lM der tmsideuiscken Zeiisekrift /ir
Gesehichie mi KunsL
Liierarisekes ZenirdbMt,
Milmges de VEcole frangaise de Rome,
Mimoiresde PAeadimie des Inscripimis ei J 3 eiks Leiires.
Mimoires prisefdis par divers savants « PAeadimk des
Inscriptions et Belles Leitres.
Memorie della Reale Acmdemm di arekeoiogiu di
Monumenii aniichi pubblicaii per mm deik !t deem
■ demm del LinceL :
Manunmits et Menmires E, Phi*
Musie Beige.
See GbtL gel. Nackr.
Neue Heidelberger Jah^btkher. ^
Neue Jukrbucker fur das Mmsiseke Alieritm.
Notide iegU Semi di Antichik.
Nouvdks Archives des missiom sdentifiqnes.
Nomelle Revue kishnqm iu dmii franca is ei Srmiger.
tAhbreviations of Titles of TeHodicals^ ^ c. xxv
. Fanly-Wissciwa*
PMIoL. ,
, FliiL Woch.
Preass, Jabrb.
S. Reinacli, Mip, d» peimi,
S. Relaacti,, R#. d, rei.
Rend. ( Acc.) LIncei.
Rev. arcli.
Rev. MM(iqiie).
• Rev. dt. anc.
Rev. dt. gr. ♦
Rev. de PliiL
Rev. d. Quest. Hist.
Rev. liist.
Rev. nnm.
Rti. Mtis.
Riv. FiL
Miv. di st, ant.
RSni. MItth.
Sciitiiioilers Jahrbndi.
Sitssb. Bayr. (or Miiiich.)
.Akad.
Sitzb. Bert. Akad.
Sitzb. Heidelb. Akad.
Sitzb. Wien, Akad.
Sondersclir, d. oest. Inst.
Stud. Gescb. Kol. or
Stndiea.
Westd. Zeitsctir.
Wiss. Mittb. (atis Bos-
nlen).
Wocb. kl. PML
Zeitscbr. d. Sav.-St,
Zeitsctir. f, ag. Spr,
Zeitsctir^ f. ges, Staats w,
Zeitscbr. f. Neatest.
Wissenscbaft.
Zeitscbr* f, Ntitn.
Zeitecbr. f. oest. Gymn.
Zeitscbr.f. vergL RecMs-
wiss.
Paiily-Wissowa-Krollj Mealencyehpadie der khssischm
Alieriummissenschafi,'
PMhhgus.
Ste BerL pkii, W&€k.
Preussiseke Juhrbikker,
S, Reinach^ Riperimre des peintures grecques d rmmiMes^
1922. ^ ,
S. Reinacli^ Riperioire des reliefs grecs ei re f mins ^ i-iii.
1909-1912.
Rendieonii della Reale Accademia dei Lincei.
Reme afchiohgique.
Revue biblique iniermimiaie.
Retme des itudes andennes.
Rmme des iitides grecques.
Retme de pMlelogie.
Revue des quesHans hisimiques.
Revue historique,
Reime numismatique.
Rheinisckes Museum fur PMMagk.
Rivista di jiMogia,
Ripisia ii siaria amiica.
Miiiheilungen des deuisehen ardmeologisrhen lusiiiuis^
Romiscke Ablkeiiung,
Sekmailers Jahrbuch fiir Geseizgebungy Venvaliung ufid
Volkswirisckefi im deuiscken Reich.
SUzungsheruhte der hayrisehen Akademie der
sdi^tefh
Sitzmtgsberichte der preussischen Akademie der Wissm-
sekqfien.
Sitzungsberichie der Heidelberger Akademie der Wissen-
sdmfien.
SiizmtgshericMe der Akademie der WisseMSckM/ien in
Wien.
Sander schrif ten des oesierreukisdtem mckmaiagmhen
Insiiiuts.
Siudien zur GescMchie des rbmisehen K&hmieSy von M.
Rostowzew-^ 1910.
Wesideuische Zeiisekrifi fur Geschiehie und KumL
Wissemehafilkke Miiiheilungen ams Basmen tmd Herze-*
gmmm.
Woehemekrift fur Massisehe PMhhgie*
Ziiisekrift der Smigny-Siifiung fur EerMsgeseMchte.
Zeiisekrift fm ii^piis^e Sprache mi Aliertumskunde.
Zeiisekrifi fur gesmmie SimiswissemcMfkn.
ZeitschHft fur die NmksUmeniUche WissemckafL
Zeiisekrifi fur Numisn^mtiL
Zeiisehrifi fw mskrrekhiseM Gymmsien.
Zeiisekrifi fur vmgMehifde ReehistmssemcMfL
I
ITALY AND THE CIVIL WAR
The Roman Empire as established by Augustus was the
* outcome of the troubled and confused period of civil war
which lasted, both in Italy and in the Roman provinces, for
more than eighty years, with some longer or shorter lulls.
The civil wars, in their turn, owed their origin to two main
causes, which also determined their course : on the one hand,
the dominating position in the affairs of the civilized world
occupied by Rome and Italy in the third and second century
B. c., which led to the establishment of the Roman world-
state, and, on the other hand, the gradual development of
class antagonism and class war in Rome and Italy, a develop-
ment which was closely connected with the growth of the
Roman world-state.
A description of the social and economic evolution of
the Roman Empire must therefore start with a brief sketch
summarizing the causes which brought about the subjection
of the rest of the civilized world to Italy and subsequently
led to the civil wars in Rome, in Italy, and in the provinces.
Before the outbreak of the civil wars in Rome and Italy the
aspect of the ancient world may be thus described. During the
so-called Hellenistic period the centre of civilized life gradually
shifted from the West to the East. Athens was replaced as
the leader in civilization by Alexandria on the Nile, Antiwh
on the Orontes, and Pergamon on the Caicus. Greece and
especially Athens, which in the fifth and fourth centuries b. c.
had developed, from the economic point of view, a flourishing
state commercial capitalism, ^ began gradually to lose
their importance. The primary cause of the st^dy decline
of economic life in Greece proper was the constant, almost
uninterrupted, succession of wars in which the cities were
involved in the fourth and third centuries b. c. These wars,
in spite of many efforts to minimize their ruinous effects and
to subject them to some inter-state regulation, became ever
23S4-* B
2 '
ri'iAF,
Itaiy and the Civil W ar
more bitter, more cruel, and more disastrous lor ail tli<‘
participants, whether victors or vanquished. The practiee
of devastating the enemy’s land, of d^troying his crn|>s, his
vineyards ancl oIi\'e-groves, of burning down farm-houses, td
carrying off and selling men and cattle as war booty, of
feeding the troop.s from the resources of the invaded lands,
became increasingly common. Some states, for instance th(‘
Aetolian league and the Cretan cities, specialized in con-
ducting wars of robbery on land and sea, and the other
states, not excepting "the great Hellenistic monarchic.^,
followed them on this fatal path.^
Concurrently with the external wars there raged within tli!,-
Greek cities, alike in Greece proper and in most of the islands,
an unceasing class-warfare, which originated in the steady
growth of a well-to-do bourgeois class and the corre.sponding
impoverishment of the masses. This class-war made the
growth and development of a sound capitali.stir .yvsttm \).‘ry
difficult. Indeed, it made a healthy economic life within
the city-.states almo.st impossible. The .strife in the Greek
cities assumed more and more the character of an
purely social and economic struggle. The main aim of the
struggle w'as, not the increase of production by the betterment
of labour conditions and the improvement and rcgulaticjii of
the relations between labour and capital, but the redistri-
bution of property, which was generally achieved by violent
revolutionary means. The war-cry was the immemorial one of
y^<; dvaSourfios Kal ■^(peSiv aTroKoirrj, redistribution of land and
abolition of debts. This cry was so freely used as early as
the end of the Peloponnesian war that the Athenians intro-
duced into the oath of the Heliasts in 401 a clause which
forbade the putting of such an issue to the vote. In the fourth
century the fear of a social revolution was constantly present
to the minds of Aristotle and Isocrates, and in 335 the league
of Corinth formed a sort of association for protection against it .
It is significant of conditions in Greece during tlie third
century and later that a clause forbidding the redistribution
of land and the cancellation of debts was introduefed intti
the oath of the citizens of Itana in Crete.'*
The revolutions which aimed at such a redistribution of
property were utterly disastrous for Greece. Revolution and
reaction followed each other with brief delays, and were
uiarked by the wholesale slaughter or expulsion of the best
I Italy and the Civil W ar 3
citizens. The exiles, as a matter of fact, either tried to return
and to take revenge on their enemies or emigrated to the
Eastern monarchies as mercenary soldiers, as colonists of
the new cities which were created all over the East by the
Hellenistic kings, as civil officials of the Hellenistic states,
or as merchants and business men. A few cities like Athens
were more or less unaffected by these periodical crises and so
remained comparatively prosperous.^
What was lost by the Greek cities of the European mainland
and most of the islands was gained by the Hellenistic monar-
• chies and moi'e especially by the Greek cities of the East.'"
Most of these cities stood under the direct or indirect control
of the Hellenistic kings and enjoyed no political freedom.
The result was that every attempt at a social revolution
within their gates was stopped by the strong hand of the
Hellenistic monarchs, and that the cities were very rarely
in\' olved in external warfare. Thus the accumulation of capital
and the introduction of improved methods in trade and in-
dustry proceeded more freely and successfully in the East
than in the cities of Greece proper. Hence the commercial
capitalism of the Greek cities of the fourth century attained
an ever higher development, which brought the Hellenistic
states very near to the stage of industrial capitalism that
characterizes the economic history of Europe in the nineteenth
and twentieth centuries. The Hellenistic cities of the East
had at their disposal a large internal market. They carried on
an important and steadily growing external trade in competi-
tion with each other. They gradually improved the technique
of agricultural and of industrial production with the aid
of pure and applied science, which advanced with rapid
strides in ail the Hellenistic kingdoms ; and they employed both
in agriculture (including cattle-breeding) and in industry the
methods of pure capitalistic economy based on slave-labour.
They introduced for the first time a mass production of goods
for an indefinite market. They developed banking and credit
and succeeded in creating not only general rules for maritime
commetce (the so-called Rhodian maritime law) but also
a kind of common civil law, which was valid all over the
Hellenistic world. The same tendency towards unification
may be noticed in the attempts to stabilize the currency, or
at least to establish stable relations between the coins of the
various independent trading stat^ The leading part which
CHAP.
4 Italy and the Civii War
was played by the Hellenistic monarchs in the ct»mnKTciul
and industrial life of their countri«, and the (’normmi^
importance of commercial comiderations in shaping their
foreign policy, make it tempting to compare the ccnnoniic
conditions of these monarchies with those of the mercantil*-
period in the history of modem Europe,
Very soon, however, the sound economic cit*vf!oj>ni(iii
described above was first stunted and then gradually atro-
phied by many and various causes. As in the fourth century
B.C., one of the main causes was the constant warfare which
raged almost without interruption all over tlie Hellenistic. -
world. I cannot dwell on this subject here. The fact and the
reasons for it are well known. From the economic point
view these endless wars gradually became a real calamity for
the Greek world. It was not only that large tracts of land
were devastated, cities pillaged, and their residents sold into
slavery. Much more important was the fact that the wars
forced the Hellenistic states, both great and .small, to con-
centrate their efforts on military preparations, on building
up the largest possible armies and navies, on inventing new
devices in military engineering, and thus wasting eiiorimnis
sums of money — as, for instance, in the case of the siege of
Rhodes by Demetrius Poliorcetes. Almost all the income
of the states was devoted to military preparations. This led
at first to sound and wholesome efforts on the part of the
Hellenistic kings to increase, in mutual rivalry, the produc-
tivity of their lands by a rational and scientific exploitation of
their natural resources. Gradually, however, such healthy and
progressive methods of increasing the income of the states gave
place to a series of easier and more immediately profitable
measures. The most important of them was the nationalization
(etaiisation) of both production and exchange, which was carried
out in some at least of the Hellenistic monarchies, especially
in Egypt. By nationalization I mean the concentration of
the management of the most essential branches of economic
activity in the hands of the state, that is to say, of the king and
his officials. Profitable at first for the state, this sy®t*2m
gradually led to dishonesty and lawlessness on the part of the
officials and to the almost complete elimination of competition
an.d of the free play of individual energy on the part of the
population.
Hand in hand with this tendency towards state control
I
Italy and the Civil War 5
went the minute elaboration of a highly refined system of
taxation, which affected every side of economic life. It was
based on the experience of the Oriental monarchies, but it
went much farther both in inventing new taxable objects and
in improving the mode of collecting the taxes. The burden
of taxation lay heavily on the population of the Hellenistic
world. For the native element of this population the burden
was aggravated by the constant use of the age-old system of
compulsory work, of cotvees. This system, like the system
of taxation, was highly elaborated by the logical and con-
• structive mind of the Greeks, and the corvee gradually became
transformed into a regular additional item in the long list
of obligations which bound the subjects of the Hellenistic
monarchies to the state and to the king.
The main sufferers from the policy of nationalization and
from the refined fiscal system of the Hellenistic kings were not
the new settlers in the Oriental lands, the immigrants, who
were mostly Greeks. They knew how to evade those burdens
or to shift them on to the shoulders of the native population ;
and in fact the majority of the immigrant population were
employed by the kings as instruments for the oppression of
the native element — as tax-farmers, as superintendents of
the corvees, as concessionaires of the state in commerce and
industry, as managers of large estates, and so forth.
The disastrous economic system of the Hellenistic monar-
chies produced ever-growing discontent among the masses
of the natives. From the end of the third century onwards
the native population of Egypt, for example, rose re-
peatedly against its foreign oppressors. The leaders of these
revolts were generally the native priests. Their ultimate aim
was the expulsion of the foreigners, including the kings — the
same aim which had been pursued, often with success, by the
Egj^ptians under the Assyrian and Persian dominations.
The revolts forced the kings to enlarge their mercenary
armies, to grant new privileges to the foreign oppressors, and
to increase still further the burdens of taxation and of com-
pulsory work. The opposite system of granting concessions to
the native population, which was from time to time tried
by the Ptolemies, aggravated the evil by encouraging the
belief that the government wbs too weak to enforce its
demands. These developments prevented the transformation
of the Hellenistic monarchic into national states. They
6
fHAr.
Italy and the Civil
remained, with few exceptions, what they had been Irom the
beginning — ^military tyrannies ruling over an enslaved popu-
lation and resting in the last resort on mercenary armies/
Hence the civilization of the Hellenistic period never
became a Greco-Oriental civilization. It remained alniysi
purely Greek, with a very slight admixture of Oriental
elements. The chief novel feature of Greek civilization in the
Hellenistic age was not its Greco-Oriental, but its cosmo-
politan character. This made it acceptable to the \’arious
new national states, which arose both in the East and in the
West. In the East, however, none of the new states — Parthia, '
Bactria, India, Armenia, and the rest — adopted Greek culture
thoroughly. Greek forms and Greek ideas remained a thin
veneer over a local, purely Oriental substratum. ’\Iore<j\'er,
Greek influence in the East was confined to the cities and to
the upper classes of the population, and never aifccted the
masses. Deeper was its penetration into the life of tlie
Western nations — the Italians, the Celts, the Iberians, and
the Thracians. But here also Greek civilization remained
true to its origin and to its real character. It had been, and
remained, a civilization of cities and of city residents. Thus
the Hellenistic civilization was simply a new phase in tlie
development of the civilization of the Greek city. Even in the
Hellenistic monarchies — in Asia Minor, in Syria, in Egypt, on
the shores of the Black Sea— the masses of the country people
were never affected by Greek culture and retained persistently
their old customs and habits and their traditional religiou.s
beliefs.
The desultory intervention of Rome in the affairs of the
civilized world during and after the Punic wars brought
no relief.’ Rather it greatly complicated the situation and
effectively aided the destructive forces. The aim of the
growing Roman Republic was to prevent any strong political
formation in the East which might be dangerous to the
Roman state. The more troubles there, the better. The
greater the number of independent states, the more, advan-
tageous was it for Rome. And the more embroglios in the
domestic afairs of every state, the greater the hope of Rome’s
becoming the controlling, that is, the ruling power in the
East. The freedom which was proclaimed for the Greek cities
after the first (sometimes called the second) Macedonian
war, and which was extended to the Greek cities of Asia before,
I
7
Italy and the Civil War
during, and after the first Syrian war, made the internal
conditions of those cities almost desperate. The Greek cities
in Asia Minor were suffering the same economic decay which
was constantly growing in Greece proper. On the other
hand, the Roman danger increased the tendency of the
greater Hellenistic monarchies to continue the development
of their military forces to the detriment of the healthy eco-
nomic progress of the most prosperous lands of the Near
East. With the exception of Macedonia, however, the
accumulated resources of the Hellenistic monarchies were
• used, not for a struggle against Rome, but for constant inter-
necine wars with each other, in which the lesser states were
protected and aided by Rome in their efforts to reduce the
strength of the greater, particularly Macedonia, Syria, and
Egypt.
Roman intervention in the affairs of the East passed
through many stages of development. The first phase,
that of the first (or second) Macedonian and of the first
Syrian war, was (as has been said) the phase of preventive
wars, carried on with the main object of defending Rome
and Italy against the supposed imperialistic tendencies of
Macedonia and Syria. The second, following the first crushing
blows dealt to Macedonia and Syria, was the phase of a regular
protectorate over the Greek cities and over some minor
Hellenistic monarchies, designed to prevent a revival of the
two humbled powers. The second (or third) Macedonian war
was the most outstanding event of this period. Macedonia,
endeavouring to free herself from the heavy pressure of
Roman interference, was completely beaten and disappeared
as the leading political power of the Hellenistic world. As
a result of this disappearance, the protectorate of Rome was
practically transformed into a mild form of domination.
This was the third phase of Roman intervention. The Greek
cities and the Hellenistic monarchies were alike treated by
Rome as vassals who had to obey her orders.
Exasperated by the ruthless way in which Rome used
her power, Macedonia and Greece both attempted to liberate
themselves from her domination and regain their political
independence. Rome regarded their attempt as rebellion
and crushed it with terrible cruelty. Her treatment of these
two countries created chaotic conditions which were very
dangerous for herself as well as for them. Hatred against
CHAP.
8 Italy and the Civil B^ar
Rome was now the dominant feeling among the Greek popu-
lation throughout the East. Further, the national forces of
Greece and Macedonia were no longer sufficient to defend
their northern frontiers against the barbarians— the Celts,
the Thracians, and the Illyrians. The same conditions were
gradually developing in Asia Minor. Finally, the internal
life of the Greek cities grew more and more complicated and
troubled. Class- warfare raged all over Greece and Asia Minor,
It assumed the form of a bitter struggle between the aris-
tocracy, which was protected by Rome, and the rest of the
population, which was opposed both to the aristocracy and .
to Roman domination. .
These conditions led to the fourth stage in the develop-
ment of the relations between Rome and the Greco-Oriental
world, the phase of complete subjection. Rome now introduced
into the East the system of provinces which she had already
adopted for the government of the former Carthaginian
dominions (Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, and Spain) as well as
of the territory of Carthage (the province of Africa), and
which took the form of a permanent military occupation
under the direction of one of her annual magistrates.
Macedonia became the first Roman province in the Greek
East. Some years later Attalus III, the last king of Per-
gamon, on his death-bed deemed it prudent to subject his
kingdom to the same regime. He was probably convinced
that a vassal, an enslaved king, was not strong enough to
protect the land against the growing anarchy in Asia Minor.
He therefore bequeathed his kingdom to the senate and
people of Rome. His death was followed by a bloody social
revolution, after the suppression of which Rome transformed
the Pergamene kingdom into the province of Asia.
The transformation of one portion of the Greco-Oriental
world into Roman provinces, together with the strict control
exercised by Rome over the remaining, stiU legally independent,
Hellenistic states, brought a temporary relief to the Greek East !
External wars and internal class-struggles were stopped once
and for all by the iron hand of Rome, and the econorfiic life
of Greece and the Hellenized East began to revive at the end
of the second century b.c. But the rule of Rome and her
administration of the provinces soon proved to be very
far from efficient. She took little thought for the prosperity
of her new dominions. Witness the constant growth of
r
9
Italy and the Civil W ar
piracy in the Aegean and the Black Sea, which was a heavy
handicap to the development of sound economic conditions
in the Greek world. Moreover, her rule became increasingly
selfish. Roman governors and capitalists were given almost
a free hand in exploiting the provinces and they usually did
so, in the most selfish spirit, for their own profit. Their
beha\dour led to a growing discontent among the Greeks
and to the whole-hearted, though short-lived, support which
was given to Mithradates, the famous king of Pontus, who
came forw^ard as a champion of Greek liberty against Roman
•oppression.
The Mithradatic war coincided with the beginning of the
bitter civil wars in Italy. In these wars, of which we shall
speak later, the rival leaders of the contending political parties
at Rome regarded the East merely as a field of exploitation,
as a source whence they could provide themselves with
money. As the civil wars were largely fought on Greek soil,
Greece and Asia Minor suffered severely. Requisitions of
food for the men and horses of the opposing armies, requi-
sitions of labour, of means of transport, and of quarters for
soldiers and officers, and, above all, the heavy contributions
imposed on the cities which were forced to support a leader
who happened to have been defeated, brought almost complete
ruin on the Greek cities of the Balkan peninsula and of Asia
Minor. The ruin was aggravated by the Roman capitalists,
who were ready to advance money to the cities, provided that
they were willing to pay excessive interest. At the end of
the civil w'ars the Greek East lay ruined and prostrate beneath
the feet of Roman capitalists and profiteers.
While this gradual economic decay was going on in the'
East, Italy became the richest country of the ancient
world.® We are ill informed on the economic conditions
prevailing in Italy before the Eastern conquests of Rome
and before the appearance of the first general survey of
Roman economics (more particularly Roman agriculture)
given by Cato in his treatise De re rustica. But even from
the scaiTty evidence which is available we may infer that
Italy in the early period of her history was not a poor country.
South Italy, Sardinia, and Sicily were for a long time the
richest grain markets of the world. The Greek cities of the
peninsula exported large quantities of grain to Greece, while
the Carthaginian dominions (Sardinia and part of Sicily) and
10
C1IAF.
Italy and the Civil W a?'
Etruria fed. with their corn the Punic cities of Africa, which
devoted themselves to commerce and to the production of
wine, olive-oil, and fruit for the Western market, including
Etruria herself.
Apart from corn, certain regions of Italy, particularly
Apulia, and parts of Sicily produced from time immemorial
some of the finest kinds of wool. Campania and Etruria
possessed, along with a flourishing agriculture, a highly
developed industry, famous for its metal wares and its potteiy.
It is probable also that at a very early date the Greek cities
of Southern Italy and of Sicily took up the culture of the viiie^
and olive on an extensive scale in competition with their
motherlands and with the Punic cities of Africa. Moreover,
these Greek cities, as well as the Punic cities of Africa and of
the Punic dominions abroad, shared in the economic evolution
of Greece and gradually became centres of the Hellenistic- -
that is to say, the capitalistic — system. The economic organiza-
tion of Sicily under Hiero II, as revealed by the .speeches
of Cicero against Verres, in which the fundamental fiscal law
of Hiero II is constantly quoted, did not differ \'ery greatly
from that of other contemporary Hellenistic states. \\V
know, too, how flourishing was the territory of Carthage and
other Punic cities, how intense was the concentration of their
agriculture on the higher forms of production, and how
jealously they watched their subjects, vassals, and allies, to
prevent them from introducing those higher forms of culti-
vation and to limit them to the production of corn, which
was imported into the Punic cities. This policy of Carthage
is clearly attested by the measures which she took both in
Sardinia and Sicily to promote corn-growing, and by the
character of Mago’ s treatise on agriculture, which was a Punic
adaptation of Greek scientific treatises on the subject to the
conditions of Northern Africa.
In Central and Northern Italy the situation was different.
So far as we are able to judge, the Celtic peoples of Northern
Italy lived the primitive life of shepherds and peasants, witli
p^ture predominating over agriculture. The breeding of
pigs and sheep was one of their main occupations. We have
no data to show that the Celts of Northern Italy shared in
the gradual progress which was achieved in Gaul by the
other Celtic tribes. Before they could make a start, they were
conquered by the Romans, and, to a large extent, driven
I Italy and the Civil War ii
out of the most fertile districts. The economic organization
of Etruria was similar to that of some Greek cities of Asia
Minor in the archaic period. So far as the evidence goes, the
cities of Etruria were residences of the Etruscan aristocracy,
which consisted of large landowners, owners of shops and
factories, and merchants on a great scale. Their prosperity
was based on the work of the enslaved population — serfs
who tilled their estates for them and pastured their herds,
slaves and serfs who toiled in their workshops. I greatly
doubt whether the higher types of cultivation were introduced
•into Etruria outside the suburban gardens of the aristocracy.
There is no evidence to show that the archaic conditions,
which were created probably at the time of the conquest,
underwent any serious change in the six centuries of the
existence of the Etruscan federation of cities. The frescoes
of tlie Etruscan graves, which depict .some of the features of
Etruscan life, remained, so far as the subjects are concerned,
almost unchanged for at least three centuries (from the fifth
to the third century b. c.) and portray the same life of leisure
throughout that period.
Our information on the early economic life of the Latins,
of the city of Rome, and of the Umbro-Sabellian and Samnite
stock is very scanty indeed. It is well known, too, that
the chief questions concerning the agricultural life of the
early Roman community are matters of warm dispute. No
reader will expect a full discussion of those questions in
a volume devoted to the Roman Empire. Suffice it to give
a short sketch of the conditions which, in my opinion, pro-
bably prevailed in Latium and the other parts of Central
Italy. Whatever the early beginnings of economic life in
Latium may have been, there is no doubt that the Etruscan
domination was decisive for its further development. The
Etruscans, together with some families of the Roman aris-
tocracy, formed the upper class of large landowners and
merchants in Rome. The masses of the native population
were fojced to toil and sweat for their new masters. The
overthrow of the Etruscan dynasty by the aristocracy of
Rome did not alter the prevailing economic conditions. Much
more important for Rome was the need of maintaining and
developing a strong military organization able to defend
her from attacks coming from the North and from the rivalry
of the other Latin cities.
DESCRIPTION OF PLATE 11
. i' OF A LID OF A PRAF^P^TTXtt? < i'
. at .Palestnna in the * terr^^nA Vr-ar^^;r.ci » ClSld* l^oiiiifi
Terme, now in the Museo della Villa Hi Museo (k^lk*
Mentioned in W Helbig-W Ameliinff**V^t^^ ^*.“**°- Probably unpublished.
handles are compSvflvfrea^?^^^^^^ p. izo". Similar
^nn.d. InstJTm vi Pr^n^tine cistae, R. Schone ,n
Mon. d. SupSF' A 71 - A if’ PP- f •’ 4 ^ cp. So. 58 ;
Helbig-Ameinng. fSw, H, No 1768^ “118 PP' ^593 «■ :
Spiegel, 1912, p. 71, ,' ’ ^ »P* 3Xo, G. Matthies, i)i^
for the bath^^LiheHalaestra *^and keeping articles used
engraved designs, commonl^'found adorned with
cent. B.c.) repreWteXST.eS IVth-IIIrd
armour, including greaves and leanii!^^” weanng helmets and complete
the dead body of a Lmrade Tnbear^H®MaH^ a"'® carrjdng'
for the helmet and a“sS The Sn;ra^ same kipd of Armour exLpt
but they certainly belong to the sarn^tlmit^FHf^^*^® &gvires is archaic,
cannot be earlier than the IVth cent^t ^ engravings on the lid, which
a dead comrade is well known in archai<?r warriors carrying
IS the Spartan black-figured kvlix of the^^Fr famous example
oP Sprtans carrying the bodies of comrades kineH^“^®'i'”l+i^°"’‘"® proces.sion
Jahrb. d. d. arch. Inst., i6 (igoi) no iso ^ ?tt Pemice in
painting, 1921, p. 93, pi. X^V ’ pThip^A P P«schor, Greek I'a.'ir-
similar originals ivith some modificatSnf I reproduce
heavy style of the figures their DecS «;.B;-eiP however, that the
la their armour {e.% the heffi Ssure ttf pecuiiaritie.s
whmh were probably made at Praeneste hv M the statuette's,
certain, too, that the owneil ofihftSL Feff batmi.ed artist.s, 1 feel
5®prosenting members of their own armed forrfai^^i bgurcs of soldiers tis
that the appearance of the Roman soldiei^
chfierent from that of the figures on tKr^en^^ very
and may serve e^edtenf ^roup is very
the IVth cent., when the Roman state Roman and Latin life in
^^f'Sacrifice of its members Comi^tf^t^ military strength and on
winch originally adorned a woodei^^t>*f ’»ne-plaqucs
S5S:
character of the Latin art of the cenV’ G^^^tt^ fP' general
ne.rAS'L^'Sl^SySS '-IGuSn-S
a modern addition, and^rmt^^fFthe^oi^nST^ behind the peasant, which is
ploughing his own or his master^s field "Ra ^^presents an Etruscan peasant
perhaps also boots. The ploSh c^nSs of « T ^ ^ a hide
SvSte>’ (» 5 ,rt). anil Sis hZtsj*™. ^ ?'?■*
v^Lniaists 01 a wooden Shar^ K^otva
K 245 . A. Milam, atudi e Mater di A~rrhZi Pyo^- a. GUavi. 1877,
mscan and archaic the m-rmT k ''f h p. 127). Thoiiih
peasant Ufe of Latium 'in the ^ ®^®^y “sed to illustrate the ram i
were not of Etruscan but of ItMian Etruscan peasants
the peasants m many remote comers of Ttaly.^^^ plough is still used by
1
Italy and the Civil War 13
It was during this darkest period in the history of Rome
that the foundations of the Roman peasant state were laid.
How and when the former serfs of the aristocracy became free
peasants, owners of small plots of land and members of the
plebeian class, we do not know. It is probable that there was
no radical reform like that of Alexander II in Russia, but a
gradual evolution bringing with it both an emancipation of
former serfs and an increase in the numbers of free plebeian
landffwners, who had never disappeared from Roman eco-
nomic life, even in the times of the Etruscan domination,
’ihhh devc’lopments are probably to be explained by the
military needs of the Roman community, especially at critical
moments in its life, like the war against Veil, the invasions
of the Gauls, the struggle with the Latin cities and with the
Volscians and Aequians, and, finally, the Latin and Samnite
wars of the end of the fourth century. The Servian reform,
which in the shape in which it is known to us belongs to the
fourth century b.c., was the formulation and consecration
of the results of an economic and social process which took
place in the dark fifth century.
However it came about, Rome in the fourth century,
and especially the second half of that century, was a city of
peasants. I can see no reason to doubt that the Licinian
laws (367-366 B.c.) contributed to the growth of this peasant
state, alike from the political and from the economic point
of view, by limiting the possibility of increasing indefinitely
the size of plots owned or rented by one family. The exact
number of iugera prescribed by the Licinian law for the
largest plots may be an antedating of the prescriptions of
a later agrarian law of the second century, but early legis-
lation in the same spirit is very probable. The existence of
such a law explains both the character of the so-called Servian
constitution and the fact that fresh increases of the territory
of the Roman state in the fourth century resulted in an
increase of peasant plots corresponding with the increase of
the pea^nt population of Rome. There does not seem to be
the slightest ground for disbelieving the statements of some
of our sources which depict certain aristocratic families of
Rome as families of rich peasants living the same life as the
rest of the Roman citizens.
Thus the basis of the economic life of Rome in the fourth
centurj' was peasant husbandry, a primitive agricultural
riiAP.
14 Italy and the Civil War
system of life in which all the members of a famil}- wtirked
hard in the fields, employing in exceptional cases the help
of some slaves and of clients, who from time immemorial
were attached to aristocratic families by religious ties. Peasan t
husbandry and concentration on corn-growing were the main
features of the economic life of Latium in general as well as
of all the new territories of the new tribes {irihm) and fd
the new colonies, Roman and Latin, which were gradually
included in the ager Romanus. Every new Roman settlement
was a peasant settlement, every new centre of urban life, every
new colony was a fortified village of peasants.
The little we know of the conditions in the uplands between
Latium and Campania, in the Sabine mountains, in Lmibria,
Picenum, and Samnium indicates a close resemblance to those
which prevailed in Latium, with a preponderance per]iap.s
of tribal grazing over individual landownership and agri-
culture. The development of town life in these lands was .slow,
and it was confined mostly to the districts bordering on the
territories of the Greek cities and the Hellenized cities of
Campania. Even in Campania such a city as Pompeii, witli
its early houses of the atrium-and-garden t3"pc, was .nnn t!
a city of well-to-do peasants than of rich merchants and
great landowners.
The greater the growth of the influence of Rome, the more
extensive her conquests, and the more numerous her colonies,
the more widely did peasant husbandry spread over Italy. At
the same time the isolated centres of capitalistic husbandry
decayed. The history of the Greek cities of Southern Italy
need not be repeated. One after another, with few exceptions,
they fell victims to their Samnite neighbours. Some of them
perished ; some — all the cities of Campania, except Naples and
a few others — entered on a new life of Samnitic cities, that is
to say, of cities of peasants like Pompeii ; few kept their purely
Greek character. The fate of the Etruscan cities after the
Roman conquest is unknown. Most of them were colonized
by Latin settlers ; some probably lived their old life, the life
of landowners and serfs.
The Punic wars on the one hand accelerated the deca\^
of the few centres of progressive economic life in Italy and
in the Carthaginian dominions (as well as in the Greek part of
Sicdy) and on the other eiflarged the range of Roman coloni-
zation. Roman and Latin colonists spread to the former
I Italy and the Civil War 15
Celtic lands in the north of Italy ; some went to settle in
the devastated regions of Central and Southern Italy. The
new provinces of Rome — Sicily and Sardinia, and probably
also Spain — did not immediately attract large numbers of
Roman colonists. They preserved the features of economic
life that had prevailed before the Roman conquest. The
former kingdom of Hiero was ruled in his spirit and by his
methods. The Punic parts of Sicily, Sardinia, and Spain
remained for the Roman state what they had been for
Carthage — granaries and storehouses of various metals.
In fact, as is shown by the picture given by Cicero, even
the Greek part ^of Sicily was reduced by the Romans to the
position of a corn granarj^ for Rome. Notwithstanding the
annexation of the first dominions of the Senafus Pop^tlusq■ne
Romanns, the Roman state remained for a while a state of
peasants. It w’as the peasant armies of Rome that van-
quished the Phoenicians and it was the same peasants who
conquered the East. The story of the Eastern conquests has
already been told.
What were the economic results of Rome’s victories over
Carthage and the Eastern states ? We must bear in mind
that these victories w-ere victories at once of the Roman state,
that is, the peasant population, and of the military and political
leaders of the state, who were members of the ruling hereditary
aristocracy of Rome, the Roman senate. Being an achieve-
ment of the state, the victories meant for the state as such
an enormous and steady increase in wealth. Besides acquiring
immense sums of coined money and masses of precious objects
in gold and silver, Rome became a large landowner. V ast tracts
of arable and pasture land, forests, fisheries on lakes and rivers,
mines, and quarries, both in Italy and in the former dominions
of Carthage which were now Roman provinces, became the
property of the state. The arable land, which accumulated
gradually, was mostly divided among Roman citizens, who
w'ere planted out in new peasant settlements. Nevertheless,
the increase in the number of Roman and Latin citizens
did not Iceep pace with the increase of the ager Romanus,
even in Italy, especially after the Gallic and the Punic wars.
The foundation of new colonies was dictated more by political
than by economic considerations. It is not surprising that
most of the colonies were sent out to the north of Italy to
protect the peninsula against dangerous invasions from the
i6
CHAP.
Italy and the Civil W ar
North : Rome never forgot the story of her capture by the
Gauls, nor did she forget that the Gauls furnished Hannibal
with bis best soldiers. The south of Italy, devastated and
decaying as it was, was less exposed to danger and, of cour.se,
less attractive to Roman and Latin settlers, except for
Campania which, however, was only partially settled with
Roman colonists and retained as a whole its Samnite aspect.
We must assume that most of the cities of Campania remained
faithful to the Romans during the Punic wars.
Large tracts of land, even arable land, thus became the
property of the Roman state, not of individual Roman
peasants. But it was not only the state that was enriched
by dhe Punic and the Oriental wars. The citizens of Rome
shared in the enrichment. The lion’s share fell to the leaders
of the Roman army, members of the senatorial class. From
time immemorial they were the richest among the Roman
peasants, like the corresponding class in the Latin and the
allied cities. During the wars of conquest they increased their
wealth. Large numbers of men and cattle fell into their
hands.® When cities were looted, they had the larger share
of the booty. They returned to Italy with their ‘ belts’
(or, as we should say, pockets) full of money, and, if they
did not dispose of them at once, with gangs of slaves and herds
of cattle. Further, it was men of the senatorial class that were
sent by the senate to administer the new provinces, the former
dominions of Carthage. We have seen that these dominions
and the Greek part of Sicily, the kingdom of Hiero 11, re-
tained their ancient status or, in other words, were regarded
by the Roman people as part of their property, as their
estates {praedia popuU Romani). As conquered lands, they
were ruled by military officers, magistrates of the Roman
people, with almost unlimited power. The same system,
as dready stated, was applied to the annexed territories of
the East. The government of the provinces thus became
a new source of wealth for the senatorial class. Finally, by
force of circumstances, by the fact of their growing wedth,
this class was led to take part both in the credit operations
which, as we have seen, were the naturd consequence of the
Eastern conquests and, despite a strict prohibition, in the
commercid activity which followed from the concentration
of capitd in the hands of Roman and Itdian citizens.^
Apart from the senatorid class of Rome and a corre-
t
I Italy and the Civil War 17
sponding dass in the allied dties ot Italy, large numbers of
Roman and Italian citizens shared in the profits which were
derived from the dominating position of Rome in the civilized
world. A large and influential class of business men grew up
both in Rome and in Italy. Its members started on their
career of economic prosperity by helping the state, including
the allied cities, to exploit the extensive real estate which
it owned — arable land, mines, forests, fisheries, houses, shops,
&c. During the period of the wars of conquest they supplied
the armies with food, clothing, and arras ; they bought up
war booty from the state and from the generals, the officers,
and the common soldiers ; they sold various goods to the
soldiers during campaigns, and so forth. When the wars
were over, they used the money acquired by these activities
to lend to the allies and vassals of Rome, whether kings or
cities; they farmed the collecting of taxes and other state
revenues in the provinces ; they also settled down in ever-
increasing numbers in the provinces, taking an active part in
the highly developed business life of the East, as money-
lenders, merchants, owners of land and herds, and proprietors
of houses and shops in the cities.^^
Some of these business men never left Italy. Some went
to the East, remained there for a long time, and gradually
became absorbed in the local population.^'^ But perhaps
most of those shrewd and energetic fortune-hunters, after
having made their money in the East, returned to Italy
and invested their capital there. When Sicily, Sardinia,
and parts of Spain, Gaul, and Africa became Roman provinces,
the Roman business men extended their activity to these
provinces as well. The richest members of this new body of
capitalists, the equestrian class, lived mostly in Rome itself
and aspired to the honour of admission into the senatorial
order by being elected to one of the magistracies. But the
majority remained in their native cities, whether Roman and
Latin colonies in Italy or Italian cities allied to Rome. There
they ranked next to the municipal senatorial class, and, along
with it, formed the upper section of the population.
The influx of money, slaves, goods of mfferent kinds, and
cattle from the provinces stimulated the economic life of
Italy. The capita which was now concentrated in the hands
of Roman citizens and of residents in Italian cities remained
partly in the provinces, but mostly came to Italy. The
, 2354-z C
CHAP.
I B Italy and the Civil W ar
raaiority of the new rich acquired their fortunes in a specu-
lative way. Naturally, aftar gaining wealth, they wanted
to find for it the safest possible investment, which would
guarantee them a quiet and pleasant life in familiar surround-
ings. The safest investment which would secure an idle
and pleasant life in the cities was landed property, the next
best was investment in Italian industry. This tendency on
the part of the large capitalists was welcome to the state.
We have seen that it now owned an enormous amount of
real estate both in Italy and in the provinces. Unless these
large resources were to lie idle — ^which of course was not*
for the public interest, when money was needed for public
buildings, for aqueducts, for the construction of military
roads, and for the public worship of the gods, including the
games — ^they had to be exploited in one way or another.
The only way was to attract private capital and to interest
it in their exploitation. It is not surprising, therefore, that
the state encouraged the new capitalists to invest their
money, above all, in the large areas of arable and pasture
land which lay waste, especially in North and South
after the horrors of the Gallic and Punic wars. There was no
other means of bringing these lands under cultivation again.
The number of Roman and Italian citizens resident in Italy
and engaged in agriculture was reduced not only by losses
during the wars but also by a steadily increasing' emigration
first to the East, and later to the West as well. There were .
no peasants available for settlement on the waste lands. On
the other hand, there were large masses of slaves and there
was a group of men willing to use them for the cultivation of
the land. It is no wonder that the Roman senate gave these
men every facility to restore the shattered economic life of
Italy either by letting to them large tracts of land in the
regular way through the censors, who had charge of such
matters, or by allowing them to occupy the land informally
with the obligation to pay to the state part of the produce of
the land thus reclaimed.
That was the reason why in the second centur*^' b. c. a
rapid concentration of landed property was steadily taking
place. The landowners were either members of the senatorial
and equestrian classes in Rome or the most energetic, shrewd,
and thrifty^ of the residents in the Italian towns, whether
allied cities or Roman and Latin colonies. These men never
I Italy and the Civil War 19
intended to take up residence'on the farms and work the land
with their own hands. From the very beginning they were
landowners, not farmers, and therefore they swelled the
numbers of landed proprietors in the cities to the detriment
of the peasants, who lived in the country and were genuine
farmers. The same class of men, on the other hand, by
investing their money in industrial concerns and creating
new shops and factories, which were run by means of slave-
labour, revived the old-established industries of Campania and
Etruria, at the expense of the small free artisans.^*
• The members of the old and of the new aristocracy of
Rome and Italy*, most of whom had acquired their wealth in
the East and had become acquainted with the capitalistic system
which prevailed there, introduced this system into Italian
agriculture and industry. They were aided in their efforts
by the Greek manuals of scientific and capitalistic agriculture,
which were translated into Latin from Punic and from Greek
and thus were made accessible to everybody in Italy. We
may safely presume that similar manuals existed for industry,
manuals at least which aimed at making generally accessible
the developments of Greek technique in that particular field.
In the Hellenistic East capitalistic activity in the sphere of
agriculture was concentrated almost wholly on the production
of wine and olive-oil, the chief articles exported by Hellenistic
landowners ; good returns were expected also from scientific
cattle-breeding ; corn-production was left almost wholly in the
hands of the peasants, who were either small landowners or
the tenants and serfs of great landlords. It need not surprise
us that this system was taken over by the pupils and heirs
of the Hellenistic landowners, the aristocracy and the bour-
geoisie of Rome and the Italian cities. These men applied
the capitalistic system of management to industrial concerns
also, especially in Rome, Etruria, and Campania.
For many parts of Italy the capitalistic tendencies of the
second century b.c. and the introduction of Hellenistic
methods into Italian husbandry were, as we have seen before,
not nov^ties but revivals. The development of the capital-
istic system was facilitated by many factors besides the
existence of an ancient tradition and the fact that the rich
natural resources of Italy made it a good field for the
purpose. One of the most important was the abundance
and the cheapness of labour. Enormous masses of slaves,
, C2
DESCRIPTION OF PLATE III
PART OF THE MURAL DECORATION OF THE TAHLIMry oi:
THE HOUSE OF LUCRETIUS FRONTO AT POMPEII. Pumpeii. 5 !v
article in Jahrb. d, d, arch, Insl, xg {1904), pp. 103 ff., pi V, i. A iletailrrl
description is given on pp. 104 Time of Augustus.
Front of a rich villa, consisting of beautiful porticoes (two storeys) and of
the entrance to the central apartment {atrium). Before the entrance is seen
a round temple-pavilion with a cupola. Behind the villa, a beautiful park with
various bmlto^ scattered all over it. Between the wings of the porticMS a
lawn in the English style with flower-beds. pu . ,
2. THE SAME AS NO. I. My article, 1 . 1 ., pi. VI, 2.
j-v another i^a of the same type, formed by a long portico. Behind
the portico are the villa buildings dotted about a splendid park extending over
the slopes of two Ms which rise behind the villa’: The portico of
follows the hne of the shore of a little bay or an inland l&e. The shore has
been transfomed into a quay, which is adorned with Herms. Close to the .shnrr-
are^o small temples. In the sea (or the lake) lies a pleasure-boat. Cp pi MO
these ^o frescoes give us an adequate idea of the appearance of tlie viilp'^
of nch and influential Romans in the 1st cent. b. c., e, g!^tlie well-known i-ilhs
01 C/icero and his contemporaries.
a-f group OF BRONZE FIGURINES. Found pr(>sumabh- at Civita
Castellana. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New Ymk. G il K’ichtcr
of the Metr. Mus., Nos. 712-725 ; Helen McClees, The Daily Life of the Greeh^
Romans, 1924, pp. 109 ff. The date is uncertain (sec fufthef below)
This group consists of figurines of two bulls, two cows, a pig and a sow
^ she-goat. There are also two double yokc-s a
p ough and a cart. The arrangement of figs. 3-5 is that adopted bv the Metro-
pohtan Museum The two bulls certainly go with the plough and one of the
double yok^, the two cows with the cart\nd the other yke, orX rma
The ensemble gives a complete picture of the stock and implements of a fartn-
ste^. The plough resembles that on pi. II, 2. It was made’^ of wood the ioi ™s
of the^oden original being carefully reproduced. The pole is attached to the
share-beam by pegs, and the share-beam to the share by thongs or ropes The
wSds ‘ a front-board and tail-liard, ^ountXn sIlM
wneels . The whole is purely realistic, and the style does not permit of a
Hellenistic period ; the workmanship, howe 4 r™ItMLn not
coinadence, similar groups of domestic animals are rep"l
sented on the archaic ships frequently found in early Etruscan Italian and
graves. The best example is that from the Tor^ba del Duce oftitulonia^
On the gunwale of the ship found in this grave are tied a do? a
united by a yoke (with remains of an iron plough), pigs goats and sheen • ainin-f
an are provided with baskets out of which they feed.® llside the bar^e^is
chaff or earn of corn. It is difficult to suppose that the figurinf
C^tellana belong to such an early period as the Vlllth cent^B c Tf
nght in ascribing them to the Helle^stic period, we must ^sumeW„ 1 , If.
almost uncLnged ^rTenbirier si?
Falchi in Not. d. Scavi, 1887, p. <;o2 and nl -JCVIT • rr J , cptunes. See
Mpntelius, La cioilisation in itX pl rsi-iSS^' ?'£ndkl?V-icll'
VlUanovans and Early Etruscans, 1924, p. 11^8, pL XXII, i
iiiilii
3. < 1 KEN AND PLOUGH
4. COV^S AND CART
5. PIGS, SHEEP, AND GOATS
III* LIPE IN' ITALY IN THE LATE EEPUBLICAN PEEIOD
I Italy and the Civil War zi
mostly from Greece and Asia Minor, poured into Italy — they
were partly skilled artisans, partly men who used to work on
the scientifically managed estates of the Hellenistic kings and
the Hellenistic bourgeoisie — and the stream never ceased to
flow all through the second and first centuries.
On the other hand, there were now splendid opportunities
for selling the goods which were produced in Italy, particularly
olive-oil and wine, metal plate and pottery. The chief
markets of Italy were the Western parts of the ancient world :
Gaul, Spain, Africa on the one hand, and the North and the
Danube provinces on the other. After the second Punic war
Carthage w'as no longer the leading commercial power in the
West. Her activity was confined to the improvement of her
agriculture, especially to extensive gardening and the culture
of the vine and olive.“ The heritage of Carthage passed to
her ancient rivals, the Greeks of Sicily and of South Italy,
now the faithful allies of Rome. The Eastern part of the
Greek world, which was then suffering gradual economic
decay, had no share in it. The destruction of Carthage com-
pletely and finally eliminated the Punic city as a commercial
and economic power. There is no doubt that it was the
Italian capitalists and landowners, led by Cato, who insisted
on the destruction of the city. They were now large pro-
ducers of wine and olive-oil, and they had every reason for
endeavouring to get rid of a dangerous rival and to transform
her territory from a land of gardens, vineyards, and olive-
groves into one of vast cornfields.^®
We must not underestimate the importance of the Western
and of the Northern markets and their purchasing powes.
Gaul was a rich country, very eager to buy wine and olive-
oil and manufactured goods, which the Greek cities of Gaul
and (in the last quarter of the second century) that part of
the country which was occupied by the Romans <hd not
produce in sufiftcient quantities. In Spain and Britain the
conditions of life were almost the same as in Gaul, The
ruling class in Britain and in part of Spain belonged to
same CStic stock. The Ibman portion of the Spanish
peninsula had been accustomed for centuries to Gre^ and
Phoenician imports. Even Germany and the Danube lands
became gradually acquainted with the products of Greco-
Italian economic activity.^
The developments we have described, which took place in
22 :,.
Italy and the Civil War
CHAP.
Italy in the second century b.c., had far-reaching conse-
quences for the political, social, and economic life of the
country. Rome ceased to be a peasant state ruled by an
aristocracy of landowners, who were mostly richer peasant.s
There arose now all over Italy not only an influential class of
business men, but a really well-to-do city bourgeoisie. In
fact It was in the second century that Italy became for the
first time urbanized, in the Greek sense of the word. Many
ancient cities, partly Greek or Etruscan, enjoyed an un-
expected revival of prosperity. Many towns, villages, market-
places and hamlets not only received a city-constitution but
also assumed the social- and economic aspect of real cities
ihis was due to the growing importance of the already
mentioned class of municipal shopowners and landed pro'-
petors who during their stay in the Hellenistic East had
become habituated to the comfort of city life and had assinii-
lated the id^ls of the bourgeois class, and returned to promote
city life and bourgeois ideals in Italy.
bourgeoisie took no active part in the
1? p position was still
^ y the Roman aristocracy. The boutgeoisiB was too
busy m organidng its economic life, and in building up the
cities (such as Pompeii, with its beautiful houses of the Tufa
penod, adorned with artistic fronts and gorgeous wall paint-
mgs and monies) to aspire to any share in the public life
class was perfectly satisfied
with the policy of the leaders of the Roman state. Their
fhic political ideals mostly coincided
anstocracy. Like the members of
tha.t dass, they generally invested their money in Italian lands
which were chiefly cultivated as vineyards and olive-grove<^
or used as pasture lands. Hence the tacit support which
hey gave to the ruthless policy of Rome towards Carthage
and to such measures of the senate as the prohibition of
Rom?i7”*T\^”+u^® newly acquired western produces of
Rome. Like the senators and the Roman knights they
ana Asia Mmor. Hence they supported the poliev nf
Ae senate m the East. They had, too, a large S in
the financid and economic exploitation of the provinces in
general, and were therefore staunch supporters of the g-overn
ment when it took the first steps on the path of imperialism.
I
Italy and the Civil War 23
The growing enrichment of the two upper classes of
Roman citizens and of the Italian bourgeoisie had a pro-
found influence on the political, social, and economic life
of the Roman state. The investment of large capital in
vine and olive land increased the value of land in many
regions of Italy and induced many a peasant to sell his
holding and either to settle in the cities or emigrate to the
provinces. The peasant population in the districts which
were suitable for planting with vines and olive-trees, or
for cattle-breeding on capitalistic lines, gradually decreased.
» The never-ending wars which were carried on by the Roman
senate after the defeat of Hannibal weakened the economic
strength of the Italian peasants. This was one main reason
why capital got hold of large tracts of land not only in Southern
but also in Central Italy, the stronghold of the Italian
peasantry, and why a large part of the peasant population of
Central Italy was transformed from landowners into tenants,
tilling the estates of Roman and municipal capitalists. In
Etruria the evil was widely spread as early as the first half of
the second century. This special case may be explained by
the peculiar conditions which prevailed there. From remote
antiquity Etruria had been a land of large estates and of
huge masses of serfs.“
All these important developments caused, as is well
known, an acute crisis in Italy. With the decrease of the
peasant population and the increase of the numbers of slaves
and of tenants, and with the accumulation of capital, particu-
larly in the city of Rome, the Roman commonwealth was
threatened by grave dangers. The traditional Roman aristo-
cratic regime, based on a peasant army, gradually degenerated
into an oligarchy of opulent noble families, while the military
strength of Italy, based on the Italian peasantry, dwindled.
We have to remember that only landowners were obliged to
serve in the Roman army — another reason, by the way, why
peasants who were overburdened with military service should
sell their lands to large proprietors and remain on them in the
capacily of tenants. '
The first act of the political and social drama, which now
began to be enacted in Italy, was the attempt at a radical
political, economic, and social reform initiated by Tiberius
Gracchus, apd carried on after his death by his brother Gains.
Both Tiberius and ^Gaius were supported by the rural popula-
CHAP.
24 Italy and the dvii War
tion of Italy and by the landless proletariate of the Italian
cities. Their chief aim was similar to that of man}' re^•o-
lutionary leaders in the Greek cities. Redistribution of land
and the consequent restoration of the peasantry and of the
army formed at once the starting-poiitt and the goal of their
reforms, while the introduction of a popular government
under the leadership of one man was the necessary sequel
of such a revolutionary movement. It is no wonder that
the tenants and the landless proletarians gave the Gracchi
whole-hearted support.^® This is not the place to describe
the internal troubles which followed the first attempt at a*
political and social revolution. It will be enough to indicate,
in a few words, the underlying forces which gave the move-
ment its peculiar and complicated aspect.
The great crisis of the Roman state was not surmounted b\’
the Gracchi. Their activity did not even produce a redistri-
bution of land on a large scale, much less a complete change
in the political structure of the Roman state or a regeneration
of the Roman peasantry. The Roman peasant-state could
not be restored : it was dead for ever. Some new peasant
plots were of course created, some landless proletarians were
provided with holdings, some large estates were confiscated.
But soon the process was first arrested and then finally
stopped by the stubborn resistance of the ruling oligarchy.
The only result of the Gracchan revolution was that it stirred
up large masses of the Italian population and, for the first
time in the history of Rome, drew a sharp line of cleavage
between rich and poor, ‘ oppressors ’ and ‘ oppressed ’ . The.
struggle between those two classes once begun could not be
ended.
The main issue of the struggle — the land question — was,
however, somewhat obscured in the next stage of the develop-
ment of civil troubles in Italy. Instead of, or along wath,
the land question another purely political question occupied
for a time the foreground. This was the question of the
political rights of the Roman allies, especially the bourgeois
class in the Italian cities. Their hopes of becoming rnembers
, of the Roman commonwealth, with the same rights as the
citizens of Rome, had been aroused by the promises of
the Gracchi and were, as it seemed, hopelessly dashed bv the
oligarchic reaction. But the allies did not yield. A bitter
and bloody , war ensued, a war which brought ruin and de-
I Italy and the Civil War 25
vastation on Central Italy and particularly on the flourishing
lands occupied by the North-Samnite tribes. It ended in
a compromise. The allies gave up their scheme of a new
Italian federal state, the Romans granted the franchise
practically to all the citizens of the allied cities. The claims
of the allies could not be disregarded, lest the Italo-Roman
state should cease to exist.^^
After this episode the main struggle was resumed on
a larger scale. The incorporation of the Italians in the
Roman citizen body swelled the numbers of the discontented,
among whom the landless proletariate bulked largely ;
almost all of them were ready to take an active part in
the contest. On the other side, the municipal bourgeoisie
strengthened the ranks of the supporters of the existing
order. Not only was the struggle enlarged and complicated
by the new participants, but its aspect changed almost
completely. When the dangerous invasion of some Celto-
Germanic tribes into Italy, shortly before the ‘ Social’ war,
and the ‘ Social ’ war itself had shown the impossibility of
adhering to the principle of enrolling in the army Roman
landowners only, the character of the Roman army and its
social composition gradually underwent a radical alteration.
After the reform initiated by Marius it was no longer a militia
of Italian peasants but a more or less professional long-
service army of proletarians and poor peasants. On the
other hand, the popular assembly of Rome, which consisted
after the ‘ Social ’ war of a ridiculously small minority of
the Roman citizens, ceased to be a true representative of
the aspirations of the Roman citizens and became a tool
in the hands of clever politicians. Far more important as
expressing the wishes of a large body of Romans, and far
more efficient as an instrument in the hands of ambitious
leaders, was the new army.
The new army owed its origin not merely to barbarian
danger and civil war but mainly, like the civil wars them-
selves, to the Roman Empire, the Imperium Romanum, the
Roman world-state. Without such an army the world-
state could not continue to exist; it was bound to faU to
pieces. This was shown by every war that had been con-
ducted by Rome between the condusion of the great Oriental
wars and the reform of Marius. Such minor wars as that
against Jugurtha in Africa and that against the Cdto-Iberians
26
CHAP.
Italy and the Civil. ar
in Spain cost the Roman state enormous losses in men and
money, and added nothing to the glory of the Roman arms.
A serious complication, the invasion of Italy by Celtic and
German tribes, demonstrated finally both the weakness of
the Roman militia and the incapacity of the non-professional
generals to transform this militia into a real fighting force.
Two improvements, closely connected with each other, were
therefore needed : a new professional army, and new pro-
fessional generals who should devote their whole life and
activity to military problems.
As the army in its new shape was the greatest organized
force in Rome, its chiefs were bound not only to represent
the military strength of the state but also to become its
political leaders, and so gradually to depose both the sena-
torial class and the popular assembly of Rome, the Senatus
Populmque Romanus, from the position which they had
hitherto occupied. The main task which confronted these
new leaders was the adaptation of the city-state system to
the needs of a world-state, its transformation into a new
form of polity capable of governing the vast territories
which now formed the Roman Empire. Thus the struggle
which had been begun by the Gracchi as a fight for the
restoration of the old peasant-state, and had been supported
by the masses of landless proletarians and poor peasants
who fought under the old war-cry of ‘ redistribution of land ’ ,
became a struggle for the complete remodelling of the state
and for the remoulding of its machinery into an instrument
better adapted to the needs of a world-empire.
The first to realize the new aspect of the struggle, and to
use the new factor in the political life of Rome to carr}" out
his policy, was L. Cornelius SuUa, one of the Roman generals
in the ‘ Social ’ war. The main political idea which animated
him in a bitter revolutionary fight against the supporters of
the Gracchan programme — ‘ all power to the political as-
sembly of Rome led by the elected magistrates of the city
proletariate, and restoration of the old peasant-state ’ — was
the adaptation of the rule of the senatorial minority to the
needs of the Empire. His own role in the new state was that
of a helper and moderator, whose influence on public affairs
was based on his personal popularity both with the army
and with the great body of Roman citizens, especially the upper
dass^. It may appear strange that in a struggle of such
I Italy and the Civil War 27
a character he was supported by an army which consisted of
proletarians and poor peasants, and which would seem bound
to be on the side of his adversaries. But we have to remember
that the new array always had in view its personal interests
only ; and Sulla promised his troops greater and more tangible
advantages than did his foes — war booty in his campaigns
against Mithradates, land and money after their return to
Italy, and (not least attractive) a higher social standing in
their native cities for the rest of their lives. We must bear
in mind also that the army of Sulla stiU consisted of the old
’ stock of Roman citizens, who were afraid of the new mass
of citizens enfranchised by the ‘Social’ war. The latter
were supported in their claims by Marius and his partisans
and successors. .
After the death of Sulla the civil war was immediately
resumed and became essentially a struggle for power, a
struggle between the most capable and most ambitious
mem&rs of the senatorial aristocracy for the controlling-
voice in the government of the state. The combatants stood
for no definite political programme, no radical social or
economic reform. The fight was a fight of personal influence
and of personal ambitions alike in the capital and in the
field. An extraordinary military command, which was the
only way out of the serious entanglements that periodically
arose from the complicated political and military life of the
world-empire, gave to the best men of the Roman aristocracy
the chance of getting into closer contact with the army
and of attaching it to themselves personally by strong ties
of gifts and promises ; and this in its turn made the army-
leader master of the state, so long as he kept his popularity
with the soldiers. His rivals used the same methods and
the same means. Thus the civil war became practically
a war between well-organized and well-trained armies led
by ambitious politicians. The majority of the Roman citizens
and, naturally, the provincial population took no active part
in tha^ war. All that they wanted was peace and order.
The combatants were the professional soldiers of the Roman
Empire. They fought because they expected a rich com-
pensation at the close of hostilities in the shape of land and
money.^“
That is the reason why the next act in the tragedy of
the civil wars, the contest between Caesar and Pompey,
28
CHAP.
Italy and the Civil W ar
was so confused and so little clear in its main issues. The
war was won by Caesar because he was a better organizer,
a military genius, and a man of immense personal influence
with his soldiers. Pompey’s public career had differed but
slightly from Caesar’s, and the difference, of course, was
beyond the understanding of the soldiers of either army.
The support given by Pompey to the senatorial regime was
never taken seriously even by the senators. They chose as
their leader the man who seemed to them less dangerous
than Caesar, and they expected to find in him a milder master
in the event of victory. The mass of the Roman citizens -
took no part on either side, unless they were obliged to.
Caesar perished at the hands of a group of conspirators
before his civil work had wellnigh begun. We have no
means of judging what would have happened if he had had
time to reorganize the state. There are some indications
that he had a definite programme of reforms in his mind, but
it is beyond our power to reconstruct it in detail. His
‘ monarchy’, as opposed to Pompey’s ‘ principate ’ , seems
to me a dream of modern scholars, who are influenced by the
propaganda carried on by the enemies of Caesar during his
lifetime and after his death. In the eyes of his murderers
Caesar was certainly a ‘ monarch ’ and a ‘ tyrant ’
The ensuing conflicts between the murderers of Caesar
on the one side, and the generals and the adopted son of
Caesar on the other, show the usual chaotic character of
a struggle for power. The veterans of Caesar supported
Antony and Octavius because they expected from them, and
from them only, the fulfilment of Caesar’s promises of lands
and money. Some enthusiasts, mostly intellectuals, who
believed in the tyranny of Caesar and the blessings of liberty,
as represented by the senate and the murderers of Caesar,
fought on the side of Brutus and Cassius. The rest who
fought on either side fought because they were mobilized,
because they were promised land and money, and because
they believed that they were fighting for the restoration of
peace and order.
The victory of Octavius and Antony over the murderers
did not clear up the situation. Meanwhile Octavius — after
his adoption by Caesar sometimes called Octavianus, and
later named - Augustus — endeavoured gradually to create
among the Italian .population the impression, dready used
I ■ Italy and the Civil JVar 29
as a means of propaganda by' the murderers, that Caesar’s
intention had been to establish a pure monarchy and that
Antony was endeavouring to achieve the same aim. As
Octavian spent almost all his time in Italy, and Antony'
almost all his time abroad, residing in the East, the propa-
ganda was fairly successful. The mistakes committed by
Antony, his liaison and later his marriage with Cleopatra,
made the rumours spread by Octavian that Antony was
intending to make Italy a province of Egypt — ^which was of
course nonsense — the more credible to the masses of the
-Roman citizens in Italy. The legend was confirmed by
Octavian’ s publication of the last will and testament of
Antony, which he was alleged to have deposited with the
Vestal Virgins. It is hard to believe in the authenticity
of this document, unless we assume that Antony was prac-
tically insane.
The Roman citizens, however, were alarmed 'by the
prospect of losing their privileges and of being submerged
by the population of the provinces. Accordingly, in the
contest between Octavian and Antony the citizens of Rome,
especially the powerful city bourgeoisie all over Italy and
even the majority of the higher classes, the senators and
knights, were ready to support Octavian against Antony,
and that not merely for the sake of getting land and money.
The battle of Actium was the first battle in the civil wars
which was won, not by the armed proletariate fighting for
its own material profit, but by the mass of the Italian citizens,
inspired by the idea that they were struggling for the exis-
tence of the Roman state and liberty against Oriental bar-
barism and slavery. Octavian fought his last battle in the
civil w'ar, not as a revolutionary leader fighting for personal
power, but as a champion of Roman ideas, a champion of
the Roman past and the Roman future. He fought for them
against the spectre of an Oriental kingship. If the power of
Octavian, won by the battle of Actium, was to endure, it
was essential for him never to forget how and why he had beati
victorious at Actium. ,*
The period of the civil wars was a period of great suffering
for almost every member of the Roman state, not only in Italy
but in the provinces. In Italy many perished in battle or
died of disease during the campaigns. Many prominent
leaders were killed during the renewed periods of political
CHAP.
30 , Italy and the Civil War
terrorism, many both rich and poor were deprived of their
possessmns, which were sold by the leaders to fill their emptv
treasuries or divided among the victorious soldiers, the
VCTerans of the revolutionary armies. The economic con-
ditions were thoroughly unstable. Nobody knew precisely
what would happen to him., to-morrow. Psychologically,
Italy was completely unbalanced and wanted one thing and
one thing only — ^peace.
The strength of this craving for peace is shown, for
instance, by the early poems of Horace and Vergil. It is very
instructive to follow ^ has often been done, the psycho-.
development of Horace in the dark years«ifter the battle
01 miippi. Like niilhons of the inhabitants of the Roman
Umpire, and especially those who were Roman citizens, he
ultimately, after a period of sheer despair, fixed his hopes on the
final victory of Augustus, who promised to put an end to civil
war. Augustus was well acquainted with the pre\-ailing
mood of the population of the Empire. Peace was the
universal cry. Everybody was ready to accept Augustus
and his rule, provided that he would restore peace and
tranquillity. Restoration of peace was therefore imposed on
Augustus ; it was, so to say, an indispensable condition of
he permanence of his power. We shall see in the next
chapter that Augustus recognized and understood the feel-
ings of the people, and acted accordingly.
However complete may have been the change in the mood
° a ^ compared with the times before
and after the death of Caesar, it is clear that from the eco-
nomic and social point of view the situation in Italy did not
during the civil wars. Italy remWd the
centre of the wonomic life of the ancient world, almost as
SlTof'ff and prosperous as before. Varro, in the second
Mf of the iieriod of civil war, depicted Italy as the most
omshing country in the world as regards natural resources
and cultivation. He was perfectly right. The civil war<
itfe Sf thT?iT“T^ of tto social a«d e^onSc
le qt the past. The same gorgeous villas with their marble
porticoes surrounded by shady parks, gleamed on the hills
md on the sea-shore, m Latium, in Etruria, in Campania
The same naodel farms, run on capitalistic lines and organized
on HeUemstic patterns with a dense slave-population which
worked in the vineyards, the olive-gro^esnhe ^
I Italy and the Civil IV ar 3 1
and in the fields and meadows under the supervision of slave
managers, were spread all over South and Central Italy.
The owners of these villae rmticae were the big capitalists
of Rome and the rich municipal bourgeoisie. Scores of
such villas have been excavated since the eighteenth century
in the neighbourhood of Pompeii, Stabiae, and Herculaneum,
and some of them possibly date from at least the first century
B. Pasture lands on which grazed hundreds of thousands
of sheep and goats, oxen and cows, tended by groups of
armed slave-shepherds, were the distinctive features of the
-economic life of Apulia, Samnium, some parts of Latium,
and a large portion of Sicily, Sardinia, and Corsica.^^ Villages
and scattered farms of small landowners were still charac-
teristic of part of Etruria, of Umbria, Picenum, and the Po
valley. In villages and farms of the same type lived the
tenants of the large landed proprietors, producing -corn for
themselves and for the markets of the neighbouring cities.
In these parts of Italy men like Domitius Ahenobarbus,
the contemporary of Caesar and Pompey, possessed such
large tracts of land that they were able to promise to thou-
sands of their landless soldiers plots of ground which would
provide them with adequate means of subsistence. He and
Pompey were able to form large regular armies from the
ranks of their tenants {coloni) and slaves. Pompey was not
exaggerating when he said that he had only to stamp his
foot on the ground to get thousands of soldiers. Without
doubt he meant chiefly those veterans who were his clients
and the people on his own estates.^
The cities of Italy were inhabited by a well-to-do, some-
times even rich bourgeoisie. Most of them were landowners ;
some were owners of houses, let at rent, and of various shops ;
some carried on money-lending and banking operations.
The largest and the richest city was Rome. Rome grew
feverishly during the second and the first century b. c.
The best sites were occupied by the beautiful palaces of the
powerful magnates of Rome, senators and knights. Business
was daily transacted at the exchange, near the temple of
Castor in the large public place of Rome, the Forum. Here
crowds of men bought and sold shares and bonds of tax-
farming companies, various goods for cash and on credit,
farms and estates in Italy and in the provinces, houses and
shops in Rome and elsewhere, ships and storehouses, slaves
, , DESCRIPTION OF PLATE IV
the fumeral
Rome, Via Casilina, near
ii'Imi. ii Corr, Amk.^
reliefs) ; cp. Inst., ii
period. '
The monument has i
Eurysaces was to remind the sjiectator of“Ms traL
SwyysdciSj . ^tstoYis^ ft
D'essau,' J. 1 ! S,
of ins wife, CIL., i. 1016
Ms friends, CIL., L 1017
monument of Marcus VerghiusE'ur^'ac^'Lw' =
^ apparitor i^ttend^nt oil ma^S^^ Th?bLtmUeTs''SMh'
here from the drawings of the Mon. Ant reliefs, which £
bakery trade: the first is that of
the third kneading, the fourth
delivery of the bread to the 1
tractor (I). Itisat^^:„' '
or early Imperial period, i
both slave and free, were eng
vergilius eurysaces.
18^R and O. Jahn in A^in.
r«i' (the monument) and 240 ff. {the bas-
II, tab. 58. Late Republican or early Augustan
a |)eculiar form, not to explain. The idea of
'''' both by the lonm of tie
The same inscriptioo is
monimenium Mmc&i VergiM
^ See CiL.,
7400 eg. the funeral inscription
■d of one of
This is the
ae monument : E$t hoc .
ms ; apparei (with slight variationsl
. A, S ^ j x*., _ j* *
Vi. ’1958 • D^sau, L 746o’^d,'n
The inscription means :
^ , *" ; he was ' aI:so
which are reprodiiced
represent various operations of the^
sieving and washing grain, the second grindinff
baking (2 and 3), while the last stows the
typical oictareof a Eurysaces worked as a con-
55:5 a big business concern of the late Republican
> P^'^baps hundreds of ivorkfog-men.
IV. TOMB OF EURYSACES
I Italy and the Civil IV ar 33
and cattle. In the shops of the Forum and of the adjacent
streets thousands of free artisans and shopowners and thou-
sands of slaves, agents, and workmen of rich capitalists
produced goods and sold them to customers. In the less
central parts of Rome masses of unemployed or half-idle
proletarians lived in large tenement houses willing, for a living,
to sell their votes and their fists to anybody who had money
enough to pay for them.®®
One wave of terrorism, one spasm of civil war, after
another came and went. They carried away some of the
«nembers of the groups mentioned above. But the groups
as such remained intact and unchanged, the missing being
replaced by their heirs and by new-comers. A group of land-
{}wners, residing in one of the cities of Italy, became deprived
of their paternal lands, and veterans of the revolutionary
armies — themselves born in Italy — farmers, peasants, and
landowners, took over their country houses, their fields,
sometimes their city residences. The deprived landowners
were, of course, ruined. They emigrated to the large cities or
to the provinces, increased the numbers of worldess prole-
tarians, entered the ranks of the revolutionary armies, and
so on. But the change was hardly felt by Italy in general.
The veterans were all Roman citizens. All, or almost all,
of them were born in the fields and in the mountains of
Italy. Generations of city proletarians hardly existed even
in Rome. The proletarian of to-day was a landowner of
yesterday, a soldier or a business agent, an artisan or a menial
workman of to-morrow. Islands of such new settlers in
a densely populated land were readily absorbed both in the
country and in the cities. How easy the absorption was, is
shown by the example of Pompeii, where a colony of Sulian
veterans gradually amalgamated with the original population
of the city.
We must not, indeed, minimize the importance of the
periodical redistribution of landed property during the civil
wars. Recording to careful calculations, not less than
half a million men received holdings in Italy during the
last fifty years of that troubled period.*® After tlie great
changes of the ‘ Social ' war these redistributions were per-
haps the most potent factor in the history of the Romaniza-
tion and Latinization of Italy: witness Pompeii, where the
Oscan language was almost completely replaced by Latin :
2354- a D
CHAP.
34 Italy and the Civil War
in the first century B.c. On the other hand, we must not
exaggerate the importance of this change of ownership from
the strictly economic point of view. Even if we admit that
most of the veterans became regtilar peasant farmers who
worked the land with their own hands— which, of course,
was true only of a portion of them — ^the creation of such new
peasant properties could hardly change the economic trend,
which moved towards the formation of estates owned by
men who never resided on them but regarded them merely as
one of their sources of income. In any case it is certain that
as the civil wars proceeded, even the grants of land to veterans
tended more and more to create, not new peasant holdings,
but new landed estates for city residents. This is shown by
the constantly increasing size of the holdings which were
given to the veterans. For the most part, therefore, the
veterans increased the numbers not of the peasants but of
the city residents, not of the working but of the bourgeois
class in Italy Nor did the redistribution of land affect
the growth of large estates. Some of the large estates which
were confiscated by the military leaders in the civil wars
may have been parcelled out among small landowners. As
a rule, however, either such estates were kept by the tem-
porary rulers of the state and formed the basis of their
personal influence, which rested on the number of clients
dependent on them, or the land was sold for cash to fill their
continually depleted treasuries.
Much more important were the changes in the provinces.
Though the provinces, apart from the Roman citizens re-
siding in them, took no active part in the civil wars, they were
the real sufferers. They had to bear the enormous expense of
these wars. The heaviest burden fell on the provinces of the
East, which have already been dealt with. Let us glance for
a moment at the situation in the West.
For the first time in the history of Rome the Western
provinces underwent a systematic colonization from Italy.
The attempts of C. Gracchus and of some of his accessors
to carry out such a colonization in the West, particularly in
Africa, had proved futile. Nothing of importance was achieved.
But during the civil wars one wave of Roman emigrants
after another flowed to Gaul, Spain, and Africa. The most
notable settlements were the new Roman colonies organized
by the leaders of the revolutionary movement, especially
I
Italy and the Civil War 35
j those of Marius in Africa * and of Caesar, Antony, and
Augustus in Gaul, Spain, and Africa, and even in some parts
' of the East, particularly Asia Minor. These organized settle-
ments, however, were not the only ones that appeared in
i the provinces during the civil wars. Important bodies of
Italians settled there on their own account. As traders,
i money-lenders, agents of the tax-farming companies, they
i' associated themselves with the Roman colonists and the
native population of the cities in Gaul, Spain, Africa, and
Numidia. The story of many a city in Africa and Numidia
shows how important an element such bodies of Roman
> citizens were in the civic life of these countries. We may
; take as examples the city of Thugga in Africa and the city
I of Cirta, the capital of the Numidian kings, in Numidia.
' Neither of these settlements was originally a military colony,
but in both the population of Roman citizens played a leading
! part in economic and social life. There cannot be the slightest
i doubt that there were similar emigrations to the Greek and half-
Hellenized native cities of Southern Spain and of the earliest
Gallic province of Rome. And, although no direct evidence
is available, we may suppose that some of the Italian emi-
grants, the poorer coloni of the large estates of Italy, readily
listened to the suggestions of their masters that they should
] emigrate to the happy lands of Africa, and there rent better
\ and larger plots of land from the rich landowners of the
t province.
j The flow of Roman citizens which in the earlier times
I set mostly towards the East was thus diverted in the first
I century B. c. to the West. The conditions in the East were
so bad, the dangers which threatened the Roman settlers
(as had been shown by the massacre of Mithradates) were
so real, the opportunities so reduced by Roman misgovem-
ment, that the large mass of emigrants preferred to go to the
new lands of the West and to try their fortune there. If
Gaul, Spain, and Africa became more or less Romanized,
this result was due to the intense colonization of these lands
during the civil wars. New capital, new energy, new habits
of life reached the Western provinces from Italy, and after
the Italians came Greeks and Orientals. How many of these
new settlers went to the provinces as manual workers and
peasants we do not know. The majority were certainly not
■■ See^.i^elow, Cfeiv VII> p* 279.. ■■ ■
1)2
CHAP.
36 Italy and the Civil War
common peasants, tenants, and artisans ; most were land-
owners, traders, and business men who settled down, not
in the country, but in the cities.®®
If we seek for a general formula to express the political,
economic, and social conditions of the Roman state in the
first century b. c., we can hardly find one that is short and
comprehensive. From the political point of view, the Roman
state was an Empire ruled ie jure by the mass of Roman
citizens, who as a matter of fact were represented by a govern-
ing body of rich and noble citizens, members of the senate.
The provinces were regarded as estates of this ruling com-
munity. Within the community the structure of the city-
state was maintained almost intact, with only some slight
modifications. From the social point of view, the community
consisted of a rather small ruling class, residing in the city
of Rome and mostly large landowners in Italy and in the
provinces. A numerous and influential class of business men
and landowners formed, along with the senatorial class,
the upper section of the population both in the capital and
in the cities of Italy. Some of these business men were
immensely rich, some less opulent. The majority of them
lived the life of rentiers. The real working-class consisted of
retail-traders and artisans in the cities, of slaves in the offices
and shops of the bourgeoisie, of free peasant landowners in
the country, and of a huge and ever-growing multitude of
slaves and tenants on the estates of the landed bourgeoisie.
The same distribution in groups was reproduced among the
bodies of Roman citizens in the provinces.
From the economic point of view, we have almost the
same type of capitalism which had existed in the East before
and during the Hellenistic period. Goods were freely ex-
changed inside the Roman state and with its neighbours.
The most important branch of trade was, not that
which dealt in luxuries, but the exchange of articles
of prime necessity — com, fish, oil, wine, flax, hemp, wool,
lumber, metals, and manufactured products. Foodstuffs
and raw materials came from the outlying parts of the Greco-
Roman world; oil, wine, and manufactured goods from
the Greek cities and from Italy. Money business and bank-
ing affairs became almost the exclusive privilege of Italy
and above all of Rome, as most of the coined money was
concentrated in the hands of Roman capitalists. Pditical
1 ,
Italy and the Civil War 3 7
conditions contributed very largely not only to make this
business a monopoly of Rome, and especially of the bankers
of the capital itself, but to give it the character of usury,
which hampered very seriously the sound development of
a normally growing capitalistic system. Another handicap
was the rather slow growth of industry, an arrest both of
the development of industrial technique and of the transition
from the workshop to the true factory. The workshop
persisted in being the leading method of production, and
even the fact that many shops of the same kind belonged
•to one man did not transform them into a factory in the
modern sense of the word. We must, however, bear in mind
that the work in the workshops was highly differentiated,
and that most of them, especially in large industrial centres,
produced their goods not to special order but for an indefinite
market. Among the large industrial centres of the ancient
world some Italian cities tegan to play a prominent part, such
as Capua and Cales for metal wares and pottery, Tarentum
for woollen stuffs and silver-plate, and Arretium for a special
kind of red varnished pottery, although Italy never became
a leader in industrial development. This role was reserved
for the cities of the Greek East.®*
II
AUGUSTUS AND THE POLICY OF RESTORATION
AND RECONSTRUCTION
There is a wide divergence of opinion among modernr
scholars about the character and the significance of the
activity of Augustus. Beyond doubt he was a great man,
and the constitution which he gave to the Roman state
went on developing for at least two centuries on the lines
which he had originally laid down. Beyond doubt, also,
with him there begins a new era in the history of the ancient
world, an era which we are wont to call the age of the
Roman Empire — ^inadequately, to be sure, for the Roman
Empire {Imperium Romanum) existed long before Augustus.
On these points all modern scholars are in complete agree-
ment. But as soon as we endeavour to define more
closely the character of what we call the reforms of
Augustus, the divergences begin, and they seem to be irre-
concilable. Some scholars insist on the point that the work
of Augustus was a work of restoration and of restoration
only, that his main object was to bring back the ancient Roman
state. Others claim for Augustus the title of a revolutionary
reformer, who succeeded in creating under the cover of
certain ancient formulae a brand-new constitution, a purely
monarchical rule by the chief of the Roman army. Others
again take up an intermediate position.^
I do not propose to discuss all these theories in all their
variations, but to adduce some facts and to put forward my
own explanation of them, concentrating attention on the
social and economic aspects of the question. It has been
shown in the last chapter that the termination of Ihe civil
wars was imposed by the almost imanimous will of the
population of the Roman Empire, especially its more active
and influential portion, the large masses of Roman citizens
in Italy and in the provinces. All classes of this citizen-
population insisted on one main point, the termination of
V. STATUE OF AUGUSTUS FROM PRIMA PORTA
(Rome, Vatican)
n The T^olicy of otugustus 39
civil war and the restoration of jf«ace. If Augustus desired
to consolidate his power, he had first of all to make the
restoration of peace possible. The world was ripe for the
acceptance and the maintenance of peace. Everybody was
wearied and disgusted, and confidently e.xpected the battle
of Actiuin to be the last battle of the civil wars.
Yet tlie leading part of the population of the Empire
was not ready to accept any and every solution of the problem.
The citizens of Rome had fought for the restoration of the
Roman state, not for the creation of an Oriental monarchy,
•even under a disguise. They wanted peace, but peace for the
Roman state. "This meant that they were ready to support
Augustus so long as he was willing and able, in restoring
peace, to maintain all the privileges which the Roman citizens
of all classes enjoyed in the state. By his appeal to the
patriotism of the Roman citizens in his struggle with Antony,
Augustus had pledged himself to keep the promise tacitly
made to them not to diminish the rights and the privities
of Roman citizens, but rather to increase them, or in any case
to define them better and consolidate them. Under these
conditions the citizens of Rome were ready and willing to
recognize Augustus as their leader and as the constitutional
chief of the Roman community, of the Senatus Populusque
Romanus.
Thus far the task of Augustus was clear and comparatively
easy, and it was, in the main, a work of restoration. No
far-reaching reforms were needed or expected. Most of the
reforms which were necessary to adapt the Roman constitu-
tion, the constitution of a city-state, to the requirements of
a world-state had already been introduced by the prede-
cessors of Augustus, the military leaders of the Roman
state during the civil wars — Marius, SuUa, Pompey, Caesar,
Antony, and Augustus himself. All that was required was to
put the machinery of the Roman state in motion again and
let it work.
But.,with restoration alone a lasting revival of the Roman
state could not be regarded as secured. The civil war had
created two new elements in the state machinery which
could not be disregarded and discarded in a work of pure
restoration, since they were the chief moving forces in that
machinery. These elements were the now permanent army
and its commander-in-chief the Emperor Augustus, ImperaSor
CHAP.
40 The ToUcy of ^Augustus
Caesar divi filius Angiisius. The army was there. It could
not be disbanded, as it was urgently needed to guard external
and internal peace. No tranquillity and order, no peace and
prosperity were possible without a strong, well-disciplined,
well-paid army. And the army, or at any rate the nucknis
of it, had to be an army of Roman citizens, if the Roman
citizens were to keep their position of masters and rulers in
the Empire. The civil war had shown, on the other hand,
that a permanent well-disciplined army was efficient only
if commanded by one man, a man whom the army recognized
as its chief, not one who was imposed on it by the Roman
people and the Roman senate, but one who*was loved and
trusted, if not formally chosen, by the soldiers and officers.
Herein lay the great antinomy of the new conditions in
the Roman Empire. The new state was to be a restoration
of the old one, a restoration of the constitutional state of
the Republican period, but at the same time it had to keep
the main instruments of the revolutionar}^ period, the re\'o-
lutionary army and its revolutionary leader. Many solutions
of this problem had been proposed by the predecessors of
Augustus. One, the solution of Sulla and perhaps of Pompey,
was that the army should be given back to the senate and that
the chief of the army should rule in the capacity of an ordinary
magistrate of the Roman state. The other, which seems to
have been the solution planned by Caesar, was to keep the army
under the command of the supreme magistrate of the Roman
people, completely debarring the senate from all relations with
it. Augustus chose, in the main, the second solution.
It was out of the question to give the army back to the
senate. To have done so would have involved a renewal of
the civil wars, as the army was not willing to accept such
an arrangement. The only possibility for Augustus was to
remain head of the army, its commander-in-chief, and not
to allow any one to have an equal share in the command.
Practically this meant the creation of a military tyranny
along with the restored constitutional state, the maintenance
of a revolutionary institution side by side with the normal
administration of the state. And — ^what was of no little
moment — it meant also that it was in theory fully open to
the army to replace its commander by another, if that com-
mander ceased to be loved and trusted by it or did not fulfil
his obligations towards it.
II
41
The To iky of ^Augustus
The political work of Augustus was, therefore, not a restora-
tion of what existed before the civil wars but a consolida-
tion and readjustment of what was created by the civil wars.
Some measures were taken to make the army as inoffensive
as possible from the political point of view. The legions
were stationed not in Italy but on the frontiers of the Roman
state. In Italy there was only a small body of troops, the
praetorian guard of the emperor. The legions and the guard
consisted of Roman citizens only, and were commanded by
officers who belonged exclusively to the two upper classes
of Roman citizens, the senatorial and equestrian classes. The
auxiliary forces*, which were supplied by the provinces, were
regarded as iri'egular troops, troops of the ' allies ’ , and were
commanded by Roman officers. The fleet, which was stationed
in Italy, was manned by Roman citizens of the lowest class,
the freedmen, and by provincials. The freedmen served
also in the seven regiments of the city firemen. Alongside of
the urban cohorts they acted as the policemen of Rome.
All these measures, however, were futile. As a matter of
fact, the army was the master of the state, and in the restored
Roman Republic the emperor ruled wholly through the
army and for so long as the army was willing to keep him
and to obey. An army of professionals, who served for
sixteen, twenty, or twenty-five years (according as they
belonged to the praetorian or legionary or auxiliary branch
of the service), an army of actual or prospective Roman
citizens, actual or future members of the sovereign Roman
people, could not be easily eliminated from the political life
of the state, and, if it was not eliminated, it was bound to be
practically (though not constitutionally) the decisive political
force.
There was no other solution of the problem. If the
Roman citizens who had won the war for Augustus were to
remain the ruling class in the Empire, they had to fulfil
their first duty, the duty of defending the state from enemies
and of protecting their own power within the Empire. The
army had to be permanent, and had to be an army of pro-
fessionals : no militia could defend the frontiers of the ■
Roman state. The military technique of that age was too
complicated to be learned in a short time. A short-service
army in the Roman Empire was an impossibility, as an
efficient fighting force required many years of assiduous train-
CHAP.
42 , The Tolicy of Augustus
ing. If the army was to be an army of professionals, it
could not, as a rule, be levied compulsorily. It had to be
recruited more or less from volunteers, so long as there were
enough men willing to enlist. Men levied compulsorily
would never make good professional soldiers, ready to
devote their lives to the service. This^being so, the army must
be adequately paid, and the service must be as attractive
as possible. Thus the expense of the army was a very heavy
burden on the finances of the state.
In fact, however, the army remained quiet all through
the long period of the rule of Augustus, even towards the
end of his rule when the serious complications on the Danube
and on the Rhine— the ‘ revolt ’ of the Pannonians and of
the Dalmatians and the ' united front ’ of the German tribes —
made military service very dangerous and rendered the task
of completing and increasing the legions, cohorts, and alae
very difficult. Y et, even in these difficult times, when recourse
was had to compulsory levies, the army was almost com-
pletely quiet and did not attempt to take any part in political
life. The explanation of this fact is to be found in the character
of its composition in the time of Augustus.
The army of Augustus was no longer an army of prole-
tarians. Military service, especially in the first years of
Augustus’ reign, was comparatively remunerative and not
very perilous. Efficient service meant advancement, and
advancement did not stop after the service came to its
normal end. Good non-commissioned officers either remained
in the army on higher pay or entered the ranks of civil
officials, personal agents of the emperor. Common soldiers
were sure to receive at the close of their service a parcel
of land or a good bounty sufficient to build up a home and
to raise a family. Many people, therefore, even people of
higher social standing, were now wilhng to join the ranks.
Moreover, the army did not now consist exclusively of
Italian-born men. After the civil wars Italy by itself was
no longer able to supply the army with recruits.^ So the
Romanized provinces, and even some parts of the East,
came to the rescue and furnished good and trustworthy
soldiers, none of whom probably were proletarians. Not ail
of them were Roman citizens, but Augustus was ready, in
case of need, to grant the franchise to every recruit who
promised to be a good soldier and who was Romanized enough
II 'The ToUcy of tAugtistus 43
to understand written and spoken Latin, or civilized enough
to learn it quickly and efficiently. These provincial soldiers
were perhaps even more loyal and more reliable than the
Italians, since for many of them service in the army meant
an enormous advance in social status. Equally reliable
were the auxiiiar}^ troops, who consisted of provincials,
slightly Romanized or even almost untouched by Greek or
Roman civilization. For them enrolment in the army meant
Roman citizenship after the end of their service, and that
was a high privilege. Little wonder if for them political
questions and political aspirations practically did not exist. -
The most important point, however, was that the army
was drawn from the population of the Empire in general,
and represented ail classes of the population — the sena-
torial and equestrian orders, the Roman citizens of Italy
and the provinces, the Romanized and Hellenized residents in
the Western and Eastern provinces (whether they lived in
town or country), the countless tribes and peoples which
did not yet share in the ancient civilization of the city.
As such, the army reflected the mood of the population.
Moreover, Roman citizens had learned from time imme-
morial to obey the state. The state was now embodied in
the person of Augustus who was its legal head, recognized
as such by the senate and the Roman people. To obey him
was, therefore, the duty of every loyal citizen of Rome and
still more of every ally and provincial. There cannot be any
doubt that with the masses of the people throughout the
Empire Augustus was exceedingly popular, if we may use
this modern word to describe the half-religious awe which
the Romans felt towards the new ruler. For them he was
really a superman, a higher bdmg, the saviour, the restorer,
the bringer of peace and prosperity. We may explain the
termination of the civil wars as we will. We may say that
war ceased because the population of the Roman Empire
was tired and disgusted and unwilling to fight any more.
But we must recognize that the personality of Augustus
had placed a very important part in making the renewal
of civil war impossible. And, even if we believe (as I do not)
that Augustus’ share was confined to gathering in the harvest
which had ripened under his predecessors, we must not forget
that the mass of the population of the Empire connected the
restoration of peace and prosperity with the person of Augustus.
CHAP.
44 The To iky of tAugustus
To my mind there is not a shadow of doubt that the term
‘bureau "of propaganda’, used by some modern scholars
to characterize the activity of the Augustan poets, is utterly
wrong. But if we allow that Vergil and Horace were working
in concert with Maecenas and Augustus and setting them-
selves to spread the ideas of these two men and to advocate
their schemes — which seems to me too narrow a view — we
must say that their propaganda was entirely successful.
Their enormous popularity all through the Roman world
is eloquent testimony. No propaganda can be successful
unless it grasps the prevailing mood of the masses, unless
it appeals to them. We may, therefore, be .quite sure that
the leading ideas of Vergil and Horace were the ideas of
thousands and thousands in the Roman Empire, who believed
with Horace (for whom personally it might, no doubt, ha%’e
been a poetic flight only) that Augustus was one of the mightier
gods. Mercury or Apollo or Hercules, who appeared among
men (ein^ai^s), that he was the Messiah and the Saviour
of the mighty and holy Roman Empire.
Another ‘propaganda bureau’ was provided by the
beautiful monuments of art which were erected by the senate,
the Roman people, and some private citizens of Rome in
honour of Augustus. These monuments impressed the popu-
lation, not because they were beautiful, but because in their
picturesque language they said the same things as the
poets expressed/things which everybody felt to be perfectly
true. As one example out of many may be taken the altar
of the Gms which was recently found in a private
sanctuary built by a Roman citizen at Carthage. It is pro-
bable that it reproduced a similar monument in the city of
Rome. One of the sculptures on the altar shows the mighty
goddess Roma, seated on a pile of arms. Her left arm leans
on a shield ; in her outstretched right hand she holds a pillar
with a round clipeus, the shield which was consecrated to
Augustus by the senate and people and which adorned his house
on the Palatine. The shield has just been brought down
by Victory descending from heaven and placed in the hand
of Roma. Before the goddess is seen an altar on which rests
a large cornucopiae with’ a caduceus and in front of them the
globe — the or bis terrarum.
Is not this a beautiful and perfectly true symbol of Au-
gustan Rome, of the mighty world-Empire consolidated by
II
T'he T^olky of Augustus 45
Augustus ? The majestic figure of Roma is resting. War
is over, Rome is victorious, there is no need of arms and
weapons any more. They may serve now as the main base of
the Roman power. Peace is restored. Rome looks proudly at
the symbols of her world-Empire : the basis is piety, the
foundation is religion, which is indicated by the altar ; it sup-
ports the prosperity of the world as symbolized by the
cornucopiae, the caduceus, and the globe.
The same ideas recur in the classical sculptures, breathing
the best Roman spirit, of the Ara Pads at Rome, the Altar
bf Peace built on the Field of Mars, especially in the idyllic
scenes with th*e figure of Terra Mater surrounded by the
elements and symbolizing the creative forces of nature as
restored and protected by Augustus.®
What has been said of the mood of the population of the
Roman Empire in general is not intended to imply that
everybody was of the same opinion. There were, to be sure,
exceptions, and the most striking was the majority of the
senatorial class. Nobody would expect those rationalists
and Epicureans to look upon Augustus as a divine being,
son of the equally divine Julius. They regarded him as one
of their own class, one who was more successful than them-
selves. Some of them hated Augustus because he had prac-
tically put an end to the exclusive domination of the senate ;
some had personal reasons, some were actuated by jealousy
and regarded themselves as having the same right as Au-
gustus to be leaders of the state, prindpes. Hence the not
infrequent plots and conspiracies against the life of Augustus.
The attitude of the senatorial class, however, was of no im-
portance. Besides, the majority of the senate and of the
senatorial class, glad to have peace restored again, indulged
not so much in displays of republican spirit as in demon-
strations of contemptible servility.
The quiet temper of the army, which reflected that of the
people in general, made it possible for Augustus, despite
the lateit contradiction in the political system of the Roman
state, to carry out the work of restoration undisturbed by
new outbursts of civil strife. The fulfilment of his promise
to the Roman citizens meant not merely the maintenance of
their political privileges, but, above all, the avoidance of
encroachment on their social and economic position, and
indeed the increase of their opportunities in comparison with
DESCRIPTION OF PLATE VI
1. ONE SIDE OF A MARBLE ' ALTAR FOUND , AT
CARTHAGE. ■ Cartilage, in the house of Ch. Sanmagiie near the
hill of St. Lonis. A. Merlin in Bulletin arch, du ComitS desdmvam
historiques, 1919, pp. clxxxvi ff. and ccxxxiv, note i ; M. Rostovtzefif,
‘ Augustus V Univ, of Wisconsin Studies in Language and^
Literature, 15, pL I. •
The inscription on the temple to which the altar belonged
reads: Genti Augustas P, Perelius Hedulus sac{erdos) perp{eiuus)
iemplum solo privato primus suapecunia fecit. ' To the Gens Augusta
P. Perelius Hedulus, priest for life, built this temple at his own
expense on his own ground, being the first to do so. ' For a description
of the bas-relief, see p. 44.
2. A SCULPTURED MARBLE SLAB IN THE MUSEUM OF
FLORENCE (Uffizi). Found at Rome in 1568. Generally regarded
as one of the bas-reliefs which adorned one of the entrances into
the sacred precinct of the A ra Pads of Augustus in the Campus
Martins at Rome. Doubts on this subject are expressed in my
article in the Mimoires presentees par divers sav. d F Acad, des Inscr.,
14 (1924). A good bibliography and an excellent description of
the bas-relief in Mrs. Strong’s La Scultura Romana da A u gusto a
Costantino, 1923, p. 38 and pi. VI.
The bas-relief is a beautiful illustration of the most cherished
ideas of Augustus. In the centre is Terra Mater, with fruit in her
lap and two children on her knees, seated on a rock surrounded by
flowers and ears of corn. She is the Tellus of the Carmen Saeculare
of Horace (29 ff.) :
Fertilis frugum pecorisque Tellus
Spicea donet Cererem corona *
Nutriant fetus et aquae saiubres
Et lovis aurae.
The two animals at the feet of Terra Mater represent agriculture
(the bull) and grazing (the sheep). The two figures to left and
right seated, the one on a swan and the other on a sea-dragon, are
personifications of the rivers and the sea, or the air and the water, or
perhaps the Aurae of whom Horace speaks. I take them to be a
combination of the first and the last : the beautiful A urae gently
blowing over the sea and the rivers. Cp. the similar figures on the
armour of the statue of Augustus (pi. V) and on the patera of Aquileia
(pi. XII, I). .
VI. THE LEADING IDEAS OF AUGUSTUS
II
The Toiky of %Augustus 47
the otluT classes of the population of the Empire. Here again
the work of Augustus was not a work of antiquarian restora-
tion but a consolidation of what he found firmly established
in the ccoimmic and social life of the Roman state and what,
to a great e.xtf'nt, was a creation of the civil wars.
During these wars the differences between the classes of
Roman citizens had not been wiped out. The senatorial
class remained as exclusive as it had been before. The
knights realized their great importance for the state and
regarded those w'ho had not the same standing and the same
means as far inferior beings. The same classes existed in
the Italian cities. The senatorial aristocracy, members of the
municipal councils, some of them Roman knights, formed
the upper order. Alongside of them, but inferior to them,
was the mass of the well-to-do bourgeoisie, in part not even
freeborn men and women. The distinction between the
different groups of these higher classes, alike m the city of
Rome and in the Italian municipia, was very sharp. The
Roman knights who succeeded in breaching the vrall that
surrounded the senatorial aristocracy were regarded as
intruders, as new men. The senators and knights of the
capital smiled at the boorishness of the municipal gran-
signori. The latter in their turn despised the rich freedmen
and others. And separated from them all stood the lower
classes of the free-bom population, the mass of free peasants,
free artisans, half-free farmers, and manual workers. Among
the lower classes, again, those resident in the city looked
with a kind of contempt on the peasants, the pagani or
rustici. In the background there was the enormous mass
of slaves — servants, artisans, agriculturists, miners, sailors,
and so forth. We are speaking here, not of the provinces,
but of the social divisions among the Roman citizens in
Italy.
Augustus never dreamt of altering these conditions, he
took them for granted. What he did was to sharpen the
edges, t(i deepen the gulf between the classes and to assign
to each its part in the life of the state. If the Roman citizens
were to be the masters and rulers, each group of them must
have its special task in the difficult business of ruling the
world-empire. The work of Augustus in this respect is weU
known and hardly requires detsSled d^cription. The sena-
torial class furnished the state with the members of the
CHAP.
48 The To Iky of t Augustus
supreme council of the Empire — ^the senate—, with the magis-
trates of the city of Rome, with the governors of the provinces
(whether appointed by the senate or representing the emperor
in the provinces which were governed by him), with generals,
and with a large part of the officers of the citizen army. The
equestrian class supplied the jurors of the Roman courts,
the officers of the auxiliary troops and, to some extent,
those of the legions, and finally the ever-growing mass of
civil officials in the personal service of the emperors. The
cities of Italy, except for the higher aristocracy, which
mostly belonged to the equestrian class, had to provide the
state with good soldiers for the praetorian* guard and the
legions, and with non-commissioned officers for the guard,
the legions, and the auxiliary troops. The freedmen fur-
nished sailors for the navy and firemen for the capital. Lastly,
a higher class of slaves and freedmen— those of the emperor —
served in the bureaux and offices of the Imperial household,
branches of which were spread all over the Empire.
This discrimination between the various classes was not
new. It was taken over from the established habits and
customs of the later Republic. The distinguishing features
were of a purely materialistic character. To a certain extent
birth played a part in drawing the lines of distinction. But
the main point was material welfare, a larger or smaller
fortune, a cmsws of definite dimensions. Nobody, of course,
asked for a particular standard of education. That was taken
for granted, as one of the distinguishing features of the
higher classes in general. The only educational training
required by the state from the aristocratic and freeborn
youth of the capital and of the Italian cities was some
degree of physic^ and military training. As the promotion
from one class to another depended practically on the em-
peror, loyalty towards the emperor was required as one of the
most important conditions.^
Such was the situation in Italy. It was a stabilization
and consecration of conditions which had prevailed <^ring the
period of the civil wars. The same policy was pursued by
Augustus in regard to the provinces. Nothing of importance
was done to give them a share in the management of the state.
The provinces remained what they had been before, estates
of the Roman people. It was as difficult as before for the
provincials to attain the franchise. In this respect the policy
II
49
The Tolicy of ^Augustus
of Augustus was a reaction as compared with that of Pompey,
Caesar, and Antony. Very little, too, was done to promote
the provincial cities to the higher stages of municipal dignity,
that is to say, to assimilate their rights to those of the Italian
cities and of such provincial cities as had already received
Italian rights. The only noticeable exception was the treat-
ment of the oldest province of the Roman Empire — ^Sicily,
which practically formed a part of Italy, like the valley of
the river Po. Progress in this direction was rather slow in
the time of Augustus after the end of the civil wars. What
he did was done mostly during the turmoil of the civil wars
and immediately after their close.®
Nevertheless the provinces, and especially the provinces
of the East, were the first to experience the blessings of the
new regime. Without making any change in the system of
provincial administration, Augustus succeeded in improving
enormously the practice of government. The provinces
continued to be ruled by members of the senatorial class.
They governed either in the name of the emperor or under
his steady control. But the rule of the senatorial class as
such came to an end, and simultaneously the methods of
government became much fairer and much more humane.
With the establishment of peace came the end of requisitions
and contributions. With it, too, came the end of the domina-
tion of Roman usurers. Direct taxation became gradually
stabilized and, being stabilized, ceased to offer an attractive
field for the companies of Roman tax-collectors. These
companies began to die out and were gradually replaced
{for instance, in the case of the new taxes paid by Roman
citizens only, which were introduced by Augustus) by agents
of the government who dealt directly with the tax-payers.
The taxes were not reduced. For some sections of the popu-
lation they were even increased. But a better system of
collection meant a good deal for the provinces.® Moreover,
the provincials were now well aware that if they complained
to the ejnperor or the senate, through the representatives of
the cities who gathered every year to celebrate the festivals
of the imperial cult, they would get a more sympathetic
hearing than they had received before. In case of conflict
with the governor the provincial councils could always approach
the emperor himself. And, what was not of least importance,
provincials knew perfectly well that everything which went
2354-2 E
CHAP.
50 The ToUcy of <Jlugustus
on in the provinces was known to the emperor through his
personal agents, the procurators, who managed his private
financial business in the senatorial provinces and collected the
taxes in the others.’
In their internal affairs the cities of the Eastern provinces
(with the exception of Egypt) remained as independent as
before, and perhaps became more independent than they
had ever been. No attempt was made by Augustus to effect
any change in the social conditions which prevailed in these
provinces, most of which were aggregates of Greek and
Hellenized cities. The city administration with its magis-
trates and its council {jSovXi}) was such a 'good medium
for reaching the masses of the population that a change in
the system would have been a foolish attempt to divert
the course of natural evolution.
In the time of Augustus the cities of the Greek East never
dreamed of the possibility of regaining the ancient liberty
of the city-state. They acquiesced in the fact that their
political liberty was gone for ever. They were glad to retain
their local self-government. The Roman government on
its side desired quiet and order to prevail in the cities. The
age of social and political revolutions was past. The best
guarantee for the stability of internal conditions in the
cities was the rule of the wealthiest citizens. The protection
of this social class had been the traditional policy of the
Romans ever since they had appeared in the East, and it
was the policy of Augustus also.
The only new feature, if new it was, discernible in
Augustus’ policy towards the Eastern provinces was the fresh
impetus given to the movement initiated by some of the
Hellenistic rulers, which aimed at the rapid transformation
of cityless territories into regular city-states. All over the
East Augustus faithfully followed the policy of Pompey,
Caesar, and Antony as against that of the senate, creating
new city-states out of villages, hamlets, and temple terri-
tories. The Roman Empire was to become a commonwealth
of self-governing cities.® Exception was made onfy in the
case of Egypt, with its immemorial organization, so different
and so far removed from the system of a Greek city-state.®
The same principle of policy was applied by Augustus to
the West — to Gaul, Spain, and Africa. Not satisfied with
creating new colonies of Roman citizens, he endeavoured to
II
The Tolicy of (Augustus 51
introduce city life into the tribal system of the Celtic peoples
in Gaul and Spain, and to revive it in the former Cartha-
ginian state of Africa. It would be out of place to deal fully
with this topic here. The importance for the future of the
Western provinces of the policy of urbanizing their social
and economic life will be plain to every reader. In the new
cities the leading class was, of course, the wealthy citizens,
who were staunch supporters of the Roman regime.^
Mainly as the result of this policy, the external aspect
of many countries began to change almost completely. In
Asia Minor and Syria the difference was less marked, for here
(as we have said) the process of transforming tribes, villages,
and temple-lands into city territories had begun with Alex-
ander the Great and perhaps earlier. But in the Western
provinces it was very striking. The Celtic towns on the
tops of hills and mountains, fortified refuges and market-
places, died out. The ruling aristocracy of the Celtic tribes
settled in the plains near the great rivers of France and of
Spain. Here they built houses and erected the usual public
buildings. The new centres of life attracted merchants,
artisans, and sailors. A real city was thus formed. In Africa
the great city of Carthage was rebuilt and began to be pros-
perous again. The old Phoenician communities on the coast
started a new life. The mixed Punic and Berber communes
of the fertile plains of Africa and Numidia, some of which
sheltered a community of Roman emigrants, recovered from
the shattering effects of the civil wars and resumed their
economic activity. New agglomerations of houses were
formed in the South, East, and West, under the protection
of Roman soldiers, soon to assume the shape of regular cities.
In Africa, as elsewhere — on the Rhine, on the Danube, and in
Spain — ^large settlements, called canahae, grew up around the
forts of the legions and auxiliary troops, to form the nucleus
of future cities. Discharged soldiers increased the population
of these settlements or received, as a group, land on which to
settle an^ build a city.
Thus the Roman Empire was gradually transformed by
the conscious efforts of its ruler into an aggregate of city-
states. Augustus stands out as the leader not only of the
Roman citizens in Rome, Italy, and the provinces, but also
of all the urban, that is to say, the civilized elements of the
Empire, as a leader who was assured of their support. This
CHAP.
52 The ToUcy of ugustus
fact was emphatically expressed in the composition of the
Roman imperial guard and of the Roman imperial legions.
They were representative both of the Roman citizens and
of the urban population of the Empire, though the former
element was, of course, the more dominant. To the non-
urban elements, the tribes and villages which were attached
to the cities, was assigned a secondary role in the life of the
Empire. They had to work and to obey, they were not free
in the ancient sense of the word.
We turn now to the economic policy of Augustus. His
main endeavour was to fulfil his promise to restore peace and
prosperity. In this task he succeeded fairl/ well. But we
must not forget that behind Augustus stood the traditions
of the Roman past, the glorious records of brilliant conquests
and the aspirations of the majority of the Roman citizens.
They wanted peace, but a peace with dignity. For Romans
this meant a further advance on the path of conquest and
annexation. We must remember, too, that Augustus himself
was a Roman aristocrat and that for him, as for all the
leading men of Rome, military glory and military laurels,
victories and triumphs were the most desirable achievements
of human life. Moreover, the fabric of the Roman Empire
w^ far from completed. Augustus Was the adopted son of
Caesar, and everybody knew that Caesar had had two main
tasks in mind ; the consolidation of the Roman power in the
North and in the North-East, and the redeeming of Roman
honour, so badly tarnished in the East and South-East by
the defeat of Crassus and the half-successes of Antony.
On the foreign policy of Augustus a few words must suffice.
The rule of Augustus was not a time of rest. Peace for the
Roman Empire was secured, not by a policy of passive resis-
tance, but by a policy of unflagging and strenuous military
efforts. The chief problem was to find and to establish for
the Empire such frontiers as would assure both stability and
safety, and so make a lasting peace possible.’^^ By the efforts
of Augustus himself, of his friend and companion Agrippa,
and of his stepsons Tiberius and Drusus, a complete pacifica-
tion of the mountainous Alpine districts, of Gaul, and of
Spain was achieved. The conquest of Britain, of course, was
postponed. The more serious was the effort made to solve
the difficult problem of consolidating the Empire in the
North and in the North-East, on the Rhine and on the Danube.
II
T'he Policy of ^Augustus 5 3
One part only of this task was carried through, the pacification
of the lands south of the Danube, and that after a long and
bloody fight against the Pannonians and the Dalmatians.
The second part of the task, the advance of the Roman
frontier to the Elbe, was not successfully accomplished.
The defeat of Varus in Germany, a disastrous but not fatal
reverse, drove Augustus to abandon the idea of adding
Germany to the Romanized provinces. We must bear in
mind that the disaster happened in the second half of his
reign, when he was already old. The decisive step in the
relations between Rome and Germany was taken not by
Augustus but by his stepson and successor Tiberius,
In the East no important military effort was made to redeem
the shame of Crassus’ defeat by the Parthians. To satisfy public
opinion, the Parthians were threatened with the prospect
of a serious war and agreed to restore to Rome the captured
standards. The same aim was pursued in the expedition of
Augustus’ grandson, Gaius Caesar, against Armenia. The
principal factors in the extension and consolidation of Roman
influence in the East were diplomacy and trade. But they
were supported by strong military forces and by a strenuous
military activity. An identical policy was followed in Egypt
and Arabia and in Northern Africa. The Arabian expedition
of Aelius Gallus was not a complete success, but at any rate
it secured good harbours for Roman traders on their way
from Egypt to the ports of India.^^
By these means a lasting peace was secured for the Roman
Empire. The splendid altar built to the ‘ Augustan Peace’
{Pax Augusta) on the Field of Mars {Campus Martius) was
a symbol of the fact that peace had overcome war and was
now the prominent feature of Augustus’ rule. The same idea
was symbolized by the repeated closing of the doors of the
Temple of Janus and by the games celebrating the ‘ new
Golden Age’ which had dawned with Augustus for the
civilized world. The goddess Roma might now rest on the
arms th^ protected peace and prosperity, based on Piety.
It is needless to insist upon the fact that the establishment
of peaceful conditions on land and sea was of the utmost
importance for the economic life of the Empire. For the
first time after centuries of uncKising wars the civilized
world enjoyed a real peace. The dream of the leading spirits
of the ancient world for century after century was at last
CHAP.
54 The Tolky of ^Augustus
realized. Small wonder that economic life showed a brilliant
revival throughout the length and breadth of the Empire.
The best times of the Hellenistic age returned, with the sole
difference that instead of many rivals in the field, represented
by many independent states, which used their economic
resources for political purposes, the whole civilized world
was now one huge state comprising all the kingdoms of the
Hellenistic period. The competing states had disappeared,
competition was now a purely economic rivalry between
business men and went on unhampered by political con-
siderations. ■
With this competition neither the Roman state nor the
emperor interfered. They left economic life to its own
development. The only handicap to trade within the Empire
was the customs-duties levied on the borders of each province,
and these duties were not very high. We do not know how
heavy was the burden of taxation imposed by the state on
industry and agriculture. But the amount of the taxes paid
by Roman citizens on inheritances, for instance, and on
the manumission of slaves (both 5 per cent.) — the former
introduced, the latter reorganized by Augustus — cannot be
called exorbitant. We must, of course, take into account
that besides state taxation there was a municipal taxation
of various kinds, of which we know very little. But the
growing prosperity of the cities, both in Italy and in the
provinces, shows that this taxation was not heavy enough
to be a real handicap to the development of private enter-
prise and of economic activity. Apart from taxation, we
can hardly discover any measure of an economic character
taken by the government. The period of Augustus and of
his immediate successors was a time of almost complete
freedom for trade and of splendid opportunities for private
initiative. Neither as a republic nor under the guidance
of Augustus and his successors did Rome adopt the policy
pursued by some Hellenistic states, particularly Egypt, of
nationalizing trade and industry, of making then4 more or
less a monopoly of the state as represented by the king.
Everjdhing was left to private management. Even in Egypt,
the classical land of etatisation, with its complicated system
of interference by the state in ^1 branches of economic life —
a land retained by Augustus as a province under his personal
management after his victory over Cleopatra and Antony —
II
The T^olicy of <iAugustus 55
some changes were introduced with the primary purpose of
reducing the pressure of state-control. Thus, for example,
he protected the development of private landed property
in Egypt, which was guaranteed by the state in the same way
as in other provinces. Many flourishing estates, large and
small, belonging to private owners, especially Roman veterans,
made their appearance in Eg5rpt.^®
In the economic life of the Empire the great capitalists
of Republican times seem to have remained dominant ;
some of them were of senatorial rank, some of equestrian,
’but a large number were former slaves, freedmen. One of
these capitalists, and the largest of all, was the emperor.
Unlike the Hellenistic monarchs who identified their own
fortune with that of the state, claiming for themselves the right
of property over all its land and all its resources, Augustus,
like other financial magnates of the time, managed his
enormous private fortune by means of his slaves and freedmen.
But, despite his own wish, he could not definitely separate
his private fortune from those moneys which he possessed
as the highest magistrate of the Roman Republic, as governor
of many provinces, and as ruler of Egypt in direct succession
to the Ptolemies. His family, or household, purse {area)
very soon became hopelessly mixed up with his magisterial
purse (fiscus), and it was attractive and easy to manage
both of them in the same way and by the same men. Thus
the slaves of the emperor’s household, his private secretaries
and in particular his ‘ chief accountant ’ (a rationibus), held
in their hands the control of the finance alike of the imperial
household and of Egypt and other provinces.
For the senate the easiest way to get rid of the obliga-
tions involved in the financial management of the imperial
provinces, where the main body of the Roman army was
quartered, was to transfer the management to the emperor
and leave him free to collect the taxes and to dispose of the
proceeds as he pleased. If, as may be presumed, such pro-
vinces §s Gaul with the Rhine frontier, the Danube provinces
with the Danube frontier, and Syria with the Euphrates
frontier, cost much more than they paid, their financial
management, including the pay of the troops, entailed a
regular deficit which was met from the private purse of the
emperor.
Thus by the force of circumstances, by the weight of the
DESCEIPTION OF PLATE VII
1. ONE OF THE GOBLETS OF THE TREASURE OF BOSCOREALE.
Found in the ruins of a villa near the village of Boacoreaie (Pompeii), Louvre
Museum (Paris). A. Heron de Viilefosse in Monuments et MSmoires Piot, 5
{1899), pi.
The goblet here repi'oduced is one of a pair, adorned with human skeletons,,
some of which represent famous writers and philosophers of Greece. The scene
shown in the photograph is the best expression of the spirif which inspired the
decoration of these goblets. The left side is occupied by an altar, on which
are placed two skulls ; behind it a column supports a statuette of one of the
Fates (with the inscription KKa>d(a}. Above the left skull is a purse, mth the
legend :^o<pla (‘ Wisdom to which corresponds a roll of papyrus placed above
the other skull with the inscription Adfat {‘ Opinions '). The held is filled by
three large skeletons. The one nearest the column holds in its right hand a large
purse full of money, and in its left a butterfly (typifying the soul), which it
presents to the second skeleton. Near the purse is engraved (‘ Envy ').
The second skeleton is engaged in placing a wreath of flowers on its head .
Between the two is a small skeleton playing the lyre, with the inscription
(‘ Joy The third examines a skull held in its right hand, while its left grasps
a flower, inscribed (‘ Floiver ). Between the second and the third
skeleton another small skeleton is represented clapping its hands. Al>ove it
runs an inscription which summarizes the artist*s main idea : rd
yap ai/ptov iWrjkdp ecrn — ‘ Enjoy life while you are alive, for to-morrow is uncertain
2. A CLAY GOBLET WITH A GREENISH VARNISH. Museum of
Berlin. R. Zahn, Kru) Xpo\ 8ist Winckelmann's Programm, Berlin, 1921, pis. I-III.
A human skeleton surrounded by a wreath, a ham, a pipe, a flute, and an
amphora of wine. On right and left two dancing pygmies, one of them holding
a purse. To the left and right of the skeleton's head is engraved : xp^
(‘ Acquire and use '),
These two goblets are specimens of a large series of objects which express
the ideas of life current in the late Hellenistic, and still more in the early Roman,
period. Allusion need hardly be made to well-known examples which have
often been collected and illustrated, such as the little silver skeleton which
adorned the banquet table of the rich parvenu Trimalchio in the novel of
Petronius {Cena, 34, 8), The two goblets are reproduced here because they
admirably illustrate the prevailing mood of the people during the early Roman
Empire, especially the well-to-do bourgeoisie of the cities, A superficial material-
ism and a sort of trivial epicureanism were the natural result of the age of peace
and prosperity which followed the turmoil of the civil wars from the time of
Augustus onwards. ' Enjoy life so long as you are alive ' is the motto. ‘ The
best things in the world are a full purse and what it can buy : meat and drink,
music and dance. These are the real facts, the speculations of the philosophers
and poets, mortal men like yourself, are mere opinions (8d|ai) ' ; or in the words
of Trimalchio, * eheu nos miseros, quam totus homuncio nil est. sic erimus
cuncti, postquam nos auferet Orcus. ergo vivamus, dum licet esse bene ' (Cena,
34, 10). It is interesting to compare this philosophy of life with the mildly
epicurean metrical precepts, reminding us of Ovid, which are written on the
walls of the recently discovered triclinium of the house of Epidius Hymenaeus,
M. Delia Corte in Riv. Indo-Greco-Italica, 8 (1924), p. 121,
Il'fi
M
■V'.V>'| .
ifl ' ■' ' '
111
i
1
:lii , ,,
n The T^oUcj of ^Augustus 57
enormous personal wealth accumulated in the hands of
the emperor during the civil wars, conditions were created
in the Roman Empire which bore a strong resemblance to
those of the Hellenistic monarchies. The more the emperor
disbursed for public purposes — ^for feeding and amusing the
Roman proletariate, for transforming Rome into the capital
of the world, for regulating the course of the Tiber, for building
new military roads all over the empire — the more difficult
it became to draw a line between his private resources and
the income of the state. Not that this implied the absorption
of the emperor’s fortune by the state. It implied rather the
right of the emperor to dispose of the resources of the state
in the same manner as he disposed of his own private resources.
This condition of things was inherited by Tiberius and his
successors, who gradually became accustomed to regard the
revenues of the state as their own personal income and to
use them for any purpose they pleased.^*
The emperor was not the sole possessor of an enormous
private fortune. We do not know how many of the old
aristocratic families retained their wealth after the turmoil
of the civil wars. The fact that Augustus came frequently
to the rescue of impoverished aristocratic houses shows that
many of these families were utterly ruined and depended
entirely on imperial charity. We know, however, that the
richest men among the aristocrats of Rome were those who
were closely connected with Augustus — members of his own
family and personal friends like Agrippa and Maecenas. We
may safely assume that scores of minor men, who lent their
support and aid to Augustus, possessed large and ever-
increasing fortunes which they owed to their close relations
with him.^®
But typical as they were, these men did not represent
the leading type of men who figured in the economic life of
the time of Augustus. The emperor’s favourites were not
very numerous and probably lived mostly on their income
or, if tfijpy increased their fortune, they did so in the same
way as the more energetic and more productive class of
business men, who were the first to profit by the restoration
of peace and order. These business men were not confined
to the city of Rome. Most of them lived in fact not in Rome
but in the Italian cities and in the provinces. They were
the city bourgeoisie spoken of in the first chapter, the class
CHAP.
58 The Tolicy of ^Augustus
which gradually grew up in the second and the first century
B. c. in Italy and in the West, and which was not shattered
by the civil wars to such an extent as the higher aristocrac}^
of Rome— the senatorial class and the upper section of the
equestrian. As soon as peace and order were restored, these
men resumed their business activity on a large scale, and
most of them were no doubt successful.
A typical representative of this class is the wealthy
retired business man of one of the South Italian, cities the
freedman Trimalchio, whose portrait is so vividly drawn by
Petronius. The active part of his life fell certainly in the time
of Augustus. Petronius observed him when»he was already
old and when his life-work was already accomplished. He
had started as a slave, the favourite of his master, had in-
herited a large fortune from him and invested it in commercial
enterprises, especially in the wholesale trade in wine. At
the end of his life he lived in his beautiful house in a Cam-
panian city on the income of his large estates and on the
interest of his money, which he lent on good security. “
Trimalchio is a type of his age. He lived, characteristically,
in Campania and not in Rome: we shall see that Campania
was at this time a much better place than Rome to build
up a large fortune. Characteristically, too, his main occu-
pation was first commerce and then agriculture and banking,
and possibly he was typical in being a freedman, though
I am inclined to think that Petronius chose the freedman
type to have the opportunity of making the nouveau riche
as vulgar as possible. I have no doubt that many a resident
in Campanian cities like Pompeii, freeborn and probably not
uneducated, had the same business career as Trimalchio.
They were the owners of the large and beautiful houses and
villas of the Augustan period in Pompeii, Stabiae, and Hercu-
laneum, the period when the most refined, the most vigorous,
and the most artistic styles of decorative painting flourished ; the
men whose houses were adorned by the paintings of the second
and the third styles had certainly had a good education and
were at the same time prosperous in business. We have a fair
knowledge of the composition of the leading class of Pompeii
in the Augustan period. Most of them were descendants
of the Sullan veterans, some of them were members of the
old Samnitic aristocracy of Pompeii, very few of them freed-
men.^’ The same is true of the larger cities, such as Puteoli,
II
The Tolky of Augustus 59
and of the Hellenistic East.“ I feel confident that the pulse
of economic life beat very briskly in the Augustan age both
in Italy and in the provinces. The bourgeoisie of this period
was not idle, and the ideals of a rentier were as widespread
among its members as they are among men of the same class
in our own days.
The best proof of this can be deduced from a general
survey of the ruins of the Italian cities. They were not badly
off in the first century b. c., though some of them suffered
heavily during the civil wars. But the time of real prosperity
»for It^y was the age of Augustus. Even a very superficial
glance at the ruins of all the Italian cities, especially those
of Central and Northern Italy, shows that most of them
assumed their definitive shape at that time, and that the
most beautiful and the most useful buildings were erected
then. I do not refer to cities like Turin and Susa and others
in Northern Italy, which were created by Augustus, nor
even to Aquileia. But if ^^e take the cities of Umbria, centres
of agricultural life with almost no commerce and industry —
Perusia, Asisium, Hispellum, Aquinum, &c. — or some of the
cities in Picenum and in Etruria and read a description of
their still existing ruins, we shall see that most of the best
buildings were a creation of the Augustan period. Not,
however, a creation of Augustus himself. He contributed
his share towards building up the magnificent system of
Italian roads, but the cities were created by the city bour-
geoisie, both the ancient municipal families and the new
settlers, veterans of the civil wars. Later in the first century
certain new buildings were added. Some cities were stiU
prosperous in the second century, but, as has been said, the
really flourishing age of the cities and of their bourgeois
creators (who still consisted mostly of freeborn elements) was
the period of Augustus, the time between 30 B. c. and
A. D. 14.^®
Another proof is the rapid development of economic
life in (Jbe Augustan age. This will be made clear by a brief
survey of it as it appears in contemporary sources. Our
information is, indeed, almost exclusively limited to Italy
and to the economic conditions which prevailed there. Is
that a mere accident ? Or does it not rather show that Italy
was the leading land both in politics and in economics ? The
East was slow in repairing its shattered forces, the Western
DESCRIPTION OF PLATE 'VIII
I.. PART OF THE MURAL DECORATION OF A HOUSE IN
STABIAE: Naples, National Mtisenm. 'My article, * Die hellenlstiscli-
romische Architektnriandschaft in Rom. Mittk, 26 (1911), p. 75,
pL VIII, 2.
A gorgeous villa built on the shore of the sea, ■ probably in
Campania. A quay on arcades projects into the sea. ’ Near it in
the harbour is a tioat. On the quay some figures are sti'oliing,
while a fisherman runs busily about with his fishing implements.
The villa, with beautiful porticoes in front, foilo’ws the sinuous
line of the shore. Behind are other buildings and a park.
2. PART OF THE MURAL DECORATION OF THE
TABLINILM OF THE HOUSE OF LUCRETIUS FRONTO AT
POMPEII, Pompeii. My article in Jahrb. d, d. arch. Inst., 19
{1904), pp. 103 ff., pi. VI, I.
Another villa near the sea. The porticoes and the quay, which
seems here to be treated like a lawn, are of the same type. Behind
the porticoes is seen a series of separate buildings, scattered
among the old trees of a fine park. The background is occupied,
by pleasant hills of no great .height.
3. AS NO. I. My article in Ebm. Mitth., 26 {1911), p. 75, pi.
VII,
A large paiace-like villa on a promontory surrounded by the sea.
The front portico has two storeys ; behind are the high tower of
the atrium and tall pine-trees. Two moles or breakwaters protect
the quay.
4. AS NO. I. My article, ibid., p. 76, pi. VII, 2.
A huge summer-palace in the form of a hasilica of three
store37S built on a promontory or an island. Behind the villa is a
park of pine-trees.
, Scores of similar landscapes among the wall-decorations of
the Imperial period furnish splendid illustrations of the descriptions
of Horace and his contemporaries, and show that, in attacking the
luxury of the Augustan age, he and public opinion in general were
not exaggerating. To those who travelled by land and by sea,
along the shores of Campania, Latium, Etruria, and the lakes of
North Italy, large and beautiful villas were undoubtedly the out-
standing feature of the landscape. The owners of these villas were
certainly not merely members of the Imperial house and of the
highest aristocracy, but in many cases rich freedmen.
Vin. ROMAN VILLAS BY THE SEA
II
The T^oUcy of Augustus 6 i
provinces were too young to develop at once a brilliant
economic life. However, as we shall find later, the East
recovered more quickly in the field of industry and commerce
than in that of agriculture.
We have seen that the civil wars had not affected the
development of agriculture in Italy. After their conclusion
the conditions of agricultural life remained as they were,
except that they became more stable. In its main features
the agrarian situation underwent no important change.
Large estates were constantly growing at the expense, chiefly,
6f peasant plots. Alongside of the large estates, medium-
sized and small* holdings increased somewhat in importance.
Both large and middle-sized properties had this in common,
that they were managed on a scientific and capitalistic basis
and were owned by men who resided not on the land but
in the cities. To this class belonged almost all the veterans
who had received their land from Sulla, Pompey, Caesar,
and Augustus.
The management of properties of intermediate size is well
illustrated by Horace’s description of his Sabine estate.
He had received his Sabinum as a gift from Maecenas, and
he belonged therefore to the same category of landowners
as the veterans of the revolutionary leaders. The careful
investigation of Horace’s scattered remarks on his estate by
I. Greaves has shown that it was a plot of land large enough
to provide its owner with a decent income. The poet paid
much attention to his property and transformed part of it into
a model farm run on scientific Hnes. But he never spent
much time on it. The work of management was done not
by himself personally but by his steward (vilicus), a slave.
The estate, from the economic point of view, consisted of
two parts — a model farm run by the owner by means of eight
slaves, and five plots leased to five families of coloni, who
may formerly have been proprietors, possibly of the same
plots which they cultivated for Horace as his tenants. On
the modal farm one part of the land was cultivated as a vine-
yard, another as a fruit and vegetable garden, the largest
part as cornfields. The meadows and woods which were
owned by Horace were used for feeding a large number of
oxen, sheep, goats, and pigs.
There is no doubt that estates of similar size and character,
belonging to men who lived in the cities, were a characteristic
DESCRIPTION OF PLATE IX
I,. PART OF THE MURAL DECORATION OF 'THE HOUSE OF THE * FON-
TANA FICCOLA Pompeii : Casa ’ della Fontana " Kccola. , My ' article, ' .Die
hellenistiscli-roinisclie Architektiirlandscliaft \ in Rom, Miith., 26 (191 1), p. 95, pi. .XI, i ?
A’ tower-shaped rustic house inside a walled court' with"' a' wide '' entrance-gate. In
the court are seen palms a#d other trees, a shed attached.,to,one„of The .walls of the...
house for protection against the sun's rays, and a^^high. building like a pavilion, which,
perhaps represents the superstructure of a well, dn one side of the entrance-gate is
a plough, on the other are three women seated on a bench, talking. The aspect of this
building does not favour the view that it belongs to the same type as the villas which
have been excavated round Pompeii. It suggests rather the house of an Egyptian
peasant, but I am less confident than I was that that is the true identification. The
picture may represent a Campanian peasant's house of a type different from that of
the villas near Pompeii and Stabiae ; cp. pi. XXVI, 1,
2. IRON STOCKS FOUND IN A. VILLA RUSTICA NEAR' GR AON ANO.
M. Della Coite in Not, d. Semi, 1923, p. 277, fig. 4- ,
These iron stocks for the imprisoned slaves of a villa rusiica were found in the
ergastulum (prison) of a villa recently excavated in the / fondo Marchetti ' (com, df
Gragnano). This villa is a typical example of the villae Yustica% near Pompeii, which
are spoken of in the text (cp. p. 31), and especially of the business part of them.
I reproduce here the plan of the villa as published in the Not, d. Semi.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PLAN. The living-rooms for the owner, or the manager,
of the villa have not been excavated. A . Main entrance. B. The large central court,
within which are (i) the porter’s lodge and (2) the stable {stabulum) where skeletons
of horses and cows, or oxen, were found together with two terracotta mangers {a and
6), and a water-basin of masonry (c). C, D. Lateral courts with bedrolims for the
slaves, storehouses of different kinds, and other rooms. One of the rooms in I> was
a prison (ergastulum), one of those in C probably a small cheese-factory. Rooms 14
and 15, between the two courts, were used as a bakery, which was well furnished.
E, The store-court (cella vinaria and olearia), with big jars (dolia) in which wine, olive-
oil, and grain were stored. Room 28 was a wine-press (torcular). In room 27 there
was a shed, under which a large amount of lumber was kept. Some of the beams
found in this place are now in the Museum of Pompeii. The general arrangement of
the villa is an excellent testimony to the accuracy of Varro’s description of a villa
rusHca, It was a big agricultural concern of the factory type, run by slave-labour,
self-supporting as far as possible, and forming a little world in itself.
II
The To iky of ^Augustus 63
feature of Central Italy. These medium-sized estates were
probably more dangerous rivals of the peasant holdings than
even the latifundia of great landowners. Somewhat different
were the farms in South Italy. We know some of them in
the territory of Pompeii, StaMae, and Herculaneum. Their
ruins have been excavated more or less fully and scientifically.
It is beyond doubt that most of these villas did not form part
of a laiifii nd inm. Farms which belonged to big landowners who
never lived on them would not have had sets of comfortable,
sometimes luxurious, rooms destined to be used by the owners
as living quarters. It may be inferred, therefore, that most
of the owmers of these farms were from the very beginning
citizens and residents of Pompeii, Stabiae, and Herculaneum,
not senators and knights who resided in Rome. So far as
we can infer from a close study of the remains of these villas,
the Campanian farms were more or less similar to the estate
of Horace, and included the meadows and woods on the slopes
of Vesuvius. They must have been of comparatively large
size, as is shown by the spacious store-rooms for wine and oil.
Their chief products were wine and olive-oil, which un-
doubtedly were intended for sale. As the plan and the dis-
tribution of rooms in the farms agree closely with the descrip-
tions of both Varro and Columella, it is clear that they were
managed according to the scientific manuals on agriculture
and that the labour employed was the labour of slaves.
There was hardly room on them for the peasant plots of the
coloni of Horace. The Campanian farms were entirely
capitalistic, with no survivals of the peasant economy of the
past.^^
It is not open to doubt that those portions of the large
estates which produced wine and oil consisted of rather small
farms of the same type as those excavated near Pompeii.
The latifundium of Campania was certainly a combination
of many fundi and many villae. In Apulia, Calabria, Etruria,
Sardinia, and Africa the latifundia were evidently of a dif-
ferent type, to judge from the allusions to large estates in
these regions by Horace, Tibullus, and Propertius. For the
poets the outstanding features of such estates were the
thou.sands of slaves, oxen, and ploughs employed in tilling
the soil. We must suppose, therefore, a large villa as the
centre of the estate and around it a village populated by
slaves and hired workmen.®®
DESCRIPTION OF PLATE X
1-9. IRON AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS FROM
POMPEII. Foiinci in the large villa of L. Flelins Fifjrtis (usually
called that of P. Faiinius Synistor, but see M. Della Corte in
NeapoUs, ii, p. 172) near Boscoreale. Field Museum of
Natural History at Chicago. H. F. Con, Antiquities from
Boscoreale in the Field Museum of Natural History (Field
Museum Public., 152, Anthr. Ser,, 7, 4), 1912, pp. 210 ff., and
pis. CLXIII-CLXVI ; compare the similar implements
found in the famous villa of Boscoreale, Mon. Ant., 1897,
pp. 436-440. Large quantities of such implements are to be
seen in the Museum of Naples.
(1) Hoe of the usual Roman shape.
(2) Rake with six prongs.
(3) Pointed hoe.
(4) Bill, probably a priming instrument.
(5) Pick and hatchet.
(6) Sickle.
(7 and 9) Forks.
(8) Spud.
Most of these are typical instruments used in the vineyards.
Some of them still retain their old shape both in Italy and in
France. I Ixave seen many of them recently, for example, in
Burgundy. A shop full of such instruments is one of the
newest discoveries at Pompeii. The owner was a certain
Jucundianus. In his shop were found falces stramentariae,
serae, compedes, falces vinifariae, chains, and other implements
not for agricultural but for domestic use (M. Della Corte, in
Riv, Indo-Greco-Italica, y (1923), p. 113). Close by was the
shop of another faber ferrarius (M. Delia Corte, ibid., p. 115).
11
The Tolicy of Augustus 65
The gradual disappearance of the peasants and the trans-
formation of most of them into coloni of landowners was
a phenomenon which was well known to the contemporaries
of Augustus. Ancient Italy was disappearing. For romantic
spirits like Vergil, Horace, Propertius, and Tibullus this was
a matter of regret. But it was not only the romantic spirits
that were alarmed. The gradual change in the social aspect
of Italy, the increasing mass of slaves and freedmen even in
the fields of Northern and Central Italy — former strongholds
of the Italian peasants — the transformation of peasants into
celoni were phenomena not entirely new, but very disturbing ;
they were signs of a new stage in the history of the country.
To judge by many poems of Horace, which echoed, no doubt,
the talk at the tables of Maecenas and Augustus, the subject
of the disappearance of the peasants was a common topic
of discussion among the leading men of the Augustan period.^®
Public opinion voiced by patriotic and loyal Romans appealed
to Augustus to save the peasants. But in fact we hear
nothing of any interference on his part with the conditions of
land-tenure in Italy, The attacks of the poets on the morality
of contemporary society, on the luxury of the rich, are in
keeping with certain laws of Augustus. But after the end
of the civil wars we hear nothing of any agrarian law. An
agrarian law had been too marked a feature of the period of the
civil wars to permit of recourse to it, even if it were urgent.
Apart from agriculture, the chief factor in the economic
life of the early Roman Empire was certainly commerce.
Wide opportunities were opened to the commercial activity
of the people of the Empire after the end of the civil wars.
The unification of the civilized world; its transformation
practically into one world-state ; peace within and without ;
complete safety on the seas, protected by the Roman navy,
now a standing force ; the increasing numbers of well-paved
roads, built for military purposes, but used also for commercial
intercourse ; the absence of state interference with the com-
mercial activity of individuals ; the gradual opening up
of new and safe markets in Gaul, Spain, and the Danube
provinces; the pacification of the Alpine mountains ; the
restoration of Carthage and Corinth, and so forth — all these
factors combined to produce a brilliant revival and a notable
increase of commercial activity in the Empire.
Commerce with neighbours and with far distant lands,
2354’3 F,. ■
66 The Policy of tAugustus chap.
like China and India, played no very important part in the
economic life of the early Empire. This type of commerce
struck the imagination of contemporaries as it strikes that of
some modern scholars, and both of them have exaggerated
its importance. Even tin came chiefly from Spain and not
from Britain. Moreover, bronze, for the manufacture of
which tin was used, had no longer such importance in the life
of the Roman Empire as it had had in the Hellenistic period.
From Germany came amber, some furs, and slaves. South
Russia still supplied Greece with corn and exported a certain
amount of hemp, furs, wax, and perhaps honey. Some gold
may have come from the Ural mountains! The Bedouins
of the Sahara may have exported dates and large numbers
of negro slaves. More important was the trade of Eg3^t with
Central Africa : ivory, certain kinds of precious wood, gold,
aromatic substances, condiments of different kinds, were the
chief articles. The same type of trade developed with Arabia.
A special military expedition was sent thither by Augustus
to secure for Rome some of the most important harbours
in the south of the peninsula. The chief exports here were aro-
matic goods, condiments, precious stones, and camels. A
similar trade in luxuries went on between India and Egypt
and between India and China (silk) and Syria.
The articles bought in foreign lands were paid for in the
North almost entirely by the export of oil and wine and
manufactured goods. The goods of the East were paid for,
without doubt, partly with silver and gold coins, as Pliny
says, but mostly by goods produced in the Empire, especially
in Alexandria. Taken all together, the foreign trade was
almost wholly a trade in luxuries and had no real importance
for the economic life of the Empire.^^ '
Of far greater moment wbs the internal trade of the
Empire, the trade of Italy with the provinces and of the
provinces with each other.®® As in the Hellenistic period,
it was mostly a trade in products of prime necessity. Corn
was imported and exported in large masses. Jtaly was
unable to live on the corn which she produced. The same
is certainly true of Greece and the Greek islands, not of
Sicily, though Sicily seems to have become to a large extent
a land of pastures and vineyards, of olive groves and
orchards.®® Many commercial and industrial cities of the
coast preferred to receive their corn by sea rather than pay
II.
l:he T^olicy of ^Augustus 67
the heavy cost of transportation by land. Lumber was un-
doubtedly exported and imported in great quantities for ship-
building. The famous boat of Catullus was built of the timber
of Mount Ida in Asia Minor. Wax, hemp, pitch, and tar
could not be produced in large quantities everywhere, and
they were required by all the shipbuilding provinces for
sea-going and river ships. Metals, which were needed by
Italy for coinage and by all large and small centres of metallic
industry, were not produced in sufficient amounts either in
Italy or in the neighbourhood of most of the cities which were
Mmous for their work in metal (for example, Capua and
Tarentum in South Italy, Alexandria in Egypt, perhaps some
cities in Asia Minor and in Greece, and some places in Gaul).
Metals were chiefly mined in Spain, in Gaul, and in the
Danubian provinces; the mines of the East seem to have
been of less importance in the imperial period. Sulphur
was obtained almost exclusively from Sicilian mines ; it was
indispensable to all vine-growing countries.
Commerce in olive-oil and wine played, as before, a leading
part in the economic life of Italy, Greece, and Asia Minor.
One of the largest consumers was no doubt the Roman army.
Greece and Asia Minor supplied with oil and wine the eastern
provinces of Rome and the shores, especially the Northern
shores, of the Black Sea. Italy was the chief source of supply
for the Danubian provinces, Germany, Britain, and Africa.
It is probable that even Gaul and Spain still, to some extent,
imported these products from Italy.
The exchange of manufactured goods, articles not of
luxury but of everyday use, was exceedingly active. Egypt
remained the only centre of production for linen garm.ents and
paper. Large masses of woollen stuffs were exported from
Asia Minor, Italy, and Gaul. Italian red-glazed pottery
dominated all the markets. The metal plate of Capua and
of Alexandria had no rivals. Glass was produced in S5o:ia, in
Alexandria, and in large masses in South Italy. Clay lamps
were one* of the main specialities of Italy. Toilet articles
in amber were made exclusively in Aquileia, which imported
the raw material from Germany and made it into fine small
mirrors, boxes, flagons, &c., for export. We cannot enu-
merate here all the minor places in the Roman Empire which
were famous for special articles and exported them in large
quantities to other parts of the Empire.
F2 :
68
CHAP.
‘The Toiicy of uiugustus
In comparison with this exchange of goods of prime
necessity, the commerce in luxuries appears, as has already
been said, to have been less important, although some c)f
our sources, for instance, the poets of the Augustan age, in
dealing witli the topic of Roman luxury, concentrate their
attention on those particular articles. But it is .signilicant
of the highly developed conditions of exchange that the
gourmets of Italy obtained without difficulty all the primeurs
of every season and special delicatessen from places far remote.
Nor had they to order them expressly. Large special shops
kept stocks of such articles.
In the commercial life of the Empire 4n the Augustan
period Italy played a prominent part, more prominent than
even in the first century b. c. This was not merely a result
of the growing importance of Rome as one of the largest
consumers in the world. Italy as a whole, with its numerous
cities, was a gigantic and rich market for the rest of the
civilized world. It would be well worth while to investigate
from this point of view the many thousands of objects which
have been found in Pompeii, with the aim of defining what
was local production and what import, and in the latter case
whether it was import from other Italian cities or from the
transmarine provinces. It is, however, hardly correct to
affirm that Rome and Italy paid for the imported goods with
the tribute which Rome received from the provinces. We
have no statistics ; but what can be gathered about the
industrial productivity of Italy shows that the largest part
of the import was covered by a corresponding export.
The largest item in this export was Italian wine and oil.
We cannot account for the aspect of Campania, which was
one enormous vineyard, and for the rapid development of
viticulture in Northern Italy, unless we assume that Italian
wine and oil were exported in large amounts to the Western
and Northern provinces of the Empire and even to the East.
Puteoli, as the chief harbour of South Italy, and the other
harbours of Campania dealt to a very large extentan wine and
oil, and so did Aquileia in the North. We must bear in mind
that Trimalchio acquired his fortune by exporting wine and
that he was in relations with Africa.^'' Along with wine and
oil Italy exported to the West manufactured goods in great
quantities. We have already pointed out that the Arretine
pottery and the early terra sigiUata dominated for a while the
II
T^olicy of <tAugustus 69
world-market as far as Britain in the North and the shores
of the Black Sea in the East. Great masses of Capuan metal
plate are found as far away as the Caucasus and the river
Kama.^® The peculiar Aucissa safety pins, a speciality of the
Augustan period, found their way to all the provinces of the
West and even to the shores of the Black Sea.^® The lamps
of the factory of Fortis in the neighbourhood of Mutina were
genuine products (not local counterfeits) and were turned out
in vast numbers in the Augustan period. They are found in
every part of the Roman Empire. The Campanian imitations
of the Syrian blown glass, very fine specimens indeed, have
been found in large quantities, together with the Syrian
models, in many a grave of South Russia belonging to the
Augustan age.®“ Can we say, in view of these facts, that
Italian production was far too small to cover the cost of
imports ? If Rome and the Roman government paid for
part of the imported corn, for the wild beasts which were
killed in the amphitheatres, and for the luxuries and extrava-
gances of the emperors with the gold and silver which came
from Egypt, Syria, Gaul, and Spain, the bourgeoisie of Italy
covered the balance by production, and most of the ships
which imported goods from the provinces sailed back with
a valuable return cargo.
Although wine, olive-oil, corn, and raw materials like
lumber, metals, &c., played a large part in the commercial
interprovincial exchange of the Empire, the products of
industry (as we have seen) must not be disregarded in appre-
ciating the commerce of the Augustan age. The most thriving
part of the Roman Empire, so far as industry was concerned,
was certainly Italy and, in Italy, Campania and Etruria. The
evidence on this point has been collected by Prof. Tenney
Frank, and I need not repeat the pages devoted to this
subject in his two recent books. He has pointed out the ever-
growing importance of the red-glazed pottery which was
produced in Etruria in large quantities for mass-consumption
and masssexport. Well known, too, are the fame and the fine
quality of the bronze and silver plate made in Capua.®^ We
have just alluded to the factory of lamps which flourished
in North Italy. It may be added that in the Augustan age
the Campanian cities developed, in imitation of and in compe-
tition with Alexandria, many new branches of industry
hardly noticeable in Campania in the earlier period, above
DESCRIPTION OF PLATE XI
1. PART OF. THE MURAL DECORATION OF ONE OF THE HOUSES
OF STABIAE, ■■ Found at Gragnano. Naples, National Museum. PiUiire di
Ercolam, ii, pi, LVI, o (from which the illustration is reproduced). Cp. K.
Lehmann-Hartleben, 'Die aiitiken Hafenanlagen des Mittelnieeres 1923, in
Klio, Suppl. 14, pp. 224 F., and on the harbour of Pompeii, L. Jacano in Xeajwlis,
I (^93[3). PP- 353
A typical Campanian harbour with moles, various buildiiigs, a small rocky
island, ' triumphal ' arches, and columns with statues. It cannot be certainly
identified with any of the harbours of Campania (e. g. Piiteoli). but it is safe
to assume that the general aspect of Puteoli was not unlike our picture, though
everything was undoubtedly on a larger scale.
2. PART OF A FUNERAL STELE OF CAPUA. Museum of Capua.
H, Gummerus in KHo, 12 (1912), pp. 500 if. ; cp. a bas-relief of Aiion published
by B. Launi in Germania, ii, p. 108. Late Republican or early Augustan period.
The upper part of the stele is occupied by two standing male figures, the
Satur and Stepanus of the inscription engraved beneath them : Publius
M, L Saiuf de $uo sibi et liberto M, Piihlilio Siepano. Arbitraiu M. PuhlUi
M. /. Cadiae praeconis et M, PuhlUi M, L Timotis (CIL,, x. 8222). The lower
part of the stone shows the bas-reliefs here reproduced. A nude man is repre-
sented standing on a stone base. On his left a man moves quickly towards
him, probably talking and pointing at him ; he wears the Greek chiimi and
cMamys, On his other side another man, clad in a toga, quietly extends his
right hand towards him. The scene no doubt represents the slave trade. The
nude man is the slave, the man in the Greek dress is the seller, and the to^aim
the buyer. There can be little doubt that the two executors of the will of
Publiiius Satur intended to represent an episode of his early life — ^his purchase
by his master and later patronus — in order to show the modest beginnings of
one who became a great man in Capua and whose personality and history were
probably known to everybody there. Similar was Trimaichio's idea in adorning
the peristyle of his house with pictures which portrayed various episodes of his
own life, beginning with the ‘ venalicium cum titulis pictum ' (Petron., Cena,
29, 3)-
3. FRAGMENT OF A BAS-RELIEF OF THE COLLECTION WA-
ROCQUE. Mariemont (Belgium). F, Cumont, Collection Wamcque, No. 70;
Daremberg et Saglio, Diet, d. Ant, iii, p. 1585, fig. 4827 (Ch. Leciivain) ;
S. Reinach, RSp» d. ret, ii, p. 164, 3. 1st cent. a. d. (?).
Fragment of a bas-relief representing the manumissio vindicta. One of the
manumitted slaves is kneeling before the magistrate, who touches him with the
manumission-rod {vindicta). He wears the pileus, the symbol of liberty. The
other, already manumitted, is shaking hands with the magistrate or his former
master (symbolizing the fides established between him and his pairtnus), I see
no reason for regarding this fragment as a modern forgery.
MANUMISSION
XI. BUSINESS LIFE IN ITALY IN THE AUGUSTAN AGE
i r ‘The T*oIicy of ^Augustus ji
all the beautiful glass ware, especially the coloured sorts
and the vessels adorned with reliefs. In this branch of trade
Campania beat both Syria and Alexandria almost completely,
as is shown by finds in South Russia. At the same time the
cities of Campania undoubtedly began to use their abundance
of fine oil for the preparation of perfumes, and to revive the
ancient industry of jewellery, which had flourished in Etruria
in the Hellenistic period and now passed to Campania. To
this subject we shall return in the next chapter. Still more
important was the rapid development of the manufacture
of woollen garments, the fine South Italian brands of wool being
used for this purpose.
Campania and Etruria were not alone in developing
Italian industry in the Augustan age. At that time a second
Puteoli arose in Aquileia, which became a flourishing centre
of both commercial and industrial life in the North. We
have already spoken of the commercial importance of this
city and of her trade in wine with the Danube regions and.
with the Western shores of the Adriatic Sea. A colony of
Roman veterans — active and progressive landowners, who
rapidly transformed the territory of their city into a flourish-
ing vineyard and acquired large fortunes by exporting the wine
to the Danubian lands — Aquileia quickly realized the oppor-
tunities which her wonderful situation afforded for the further
development of her commerce. The pacification of Noricum
gave her citizens access to the iron mines of that country.
The export of wine attracted large masses of amber to the
city. The excellent qualities of the Aquileian sand and clay
opened up wide possibilities of exporting home-made (not
imported) glass and clay ware to customers in the Danube
region. The ancient bronze industry of North-western Italy
and the abundance of copper and silver in the neighbouring
mines of Noricum, Raetia, and Dalmatia spurred the activity
of bronze and silversmiths. The discovery of gold near
Virunum gave good opportunities to jewellers, who used also
the semi-grecious stones found in this region. Thus Aquileia
gradually became not only a city of vine-growers and mer-
chants but also one of the most important centres of industry.
In visiting the Museum of the town, one is struck by the
abundance of refined and original glass products, especially of
imitated engraved stones and cameos and vases of different
shapes, by the masses of amber articles, by the large quanti-
ties of iron implements, by some valuable products of bronze
CHAP*
72 ’The Tolicy of Augustus
and silver toreutic art, which belong in part to the Augustan
age, and by the great number of gold jewels. And in every
case the oldest specimens belong to the Augustan age. Beyond
doubt Aquileia became the Puteoli of North Italy as early
as the time of Augustus, thanks probably to the efforts
of Augustus himself and of some members of his family who
often resided in the city. Such men as the Barbii and Statii
were certainly pioneers not only of Aquileian commerce but
also of Aquileian industry.^
Another important phenomenon in the development of
industry in Italy is the gradual industrialization of life ncft
merely in large cities like Puteoli and Aquifeia, which were
great export harbours and centres of important trade routes,
to also in smaller local centres and ports. A good example
is Pompeii. There is no doubt that Pompeii, which had alw’aj^s
been the centre of a flourishing agricultural region and a
harbour of some importance for the group of inland cities
that lay near, gradually became a centre of local industry
which sold goods produced in her workshops to customers
not oifly in the city but also in neighbouring cities and in
the homesteads of the country round. As early as the time
of Cato some agricultural implements were manufactured
there. In the period after SuUa and especially under Augustus
other branches of industry were started and developed. A clear
sign of the industrialization of the town is the development
of a new type of dwelling-house surrounded by shops. These
shops were partly owned and managed by the owners of the
houses, partly rented to artisans and retail traders. It seems
as if from the very beginning one of the specialities of Pompeii
was the production of various woollen stuffs and clothes.
We shall see later how this trade developed, and how the city
became more and more industrialized. It is enough to note
here that the beginning of the process dates from the reign of
Augustus. To the same time probably belongs the growth
or the revival of another speciality of Pompeii — a famous
fish-sauce, the Pompeian gamm. „
The organization of Pompeian industry as described by
Frank, a combination of a small factory and a retail shop,
may have been typical of a small local centre of commerce
and industry, as the Pompeian atnum and peristyle house
was t5q)ical of a country town of a rather archaic type. The
excavations at Ostia reveal the development as early as the
first century a. d. of a more modem type of house and shop.
II'
The ToUcy of Augustus 73
which indicates different conditions, more like those of our
own days. We cannot form a judgement about the economic
life of Europe or of the United States of America by merely
stud5dng the shops of Foligno or Urbino in Italy or of Madison
in the United States.^^
Unfortunately our evidence about the life of the larger
cities, whether in Italy or in the provinces, in the Augustan
age is very scanty. None of the larger commercial and
industrial cities has been excavated ; many could not be. Ostia
is just beginning to reveal to us the earlier periods of her life ;
at Puteoli, Naples, and Brindisi no excavations on a large
scale are possible; in Aquileia the opportunities are good,
but the work has not yet begun. The same is true of the
provinces, where in many centres industrial life awoke to
renewed prosperity. At Alexandria industry, in fact, never
ceased to produce masses of goods for home-consumption, for
sale in Egypt, and for export to foreign lands. But we know
almost nothing of the industrial organization of this city,
and it must be confessed that, so long as we know so
little, our information about ancient industry in general will
be hopelessly defective. My own studies of the archaeo-
logical material found in South Russia showed that industrial
life in Alexandria was never so prosperous as after the civil
wars. Alexandria produced for the whole of the civilized
world paper, some brands of linen, perfumes, some glass
articles (especially beads), ivory articles, a special type of
jewellery, a large part of the silver plate which was in circu-
lation in the ancient world, and other things. The attempts of
Campania to introduce some of these branches of industry
into her cities have already been described.®®
Alexandria did not stand alone in the Greek East in
developing her industrial life. Syria invented and perfected
the blowing of glass, which was soon imitated by the most
active industrial centra in Italy. Syrian jewels and linen
competed with the Alexandrian products. In Asia Minor the
ancient woollen industry began to flourish once more. It was
not only rugs that were exported thence. The speciality of the
country was the fabrication of dyed stuffs and clothes, and
in this speciality her only rival was S5n:ia. Italy, of course,
produced some good brands of woollen stuffs of natural
colours. In the other parts of the Roman Empire, as in Italy,
house industry could provide families with plain everyday
clothes, though I am inclined to think that even such clothes
CHAP. II
74 The Policy of ^Augustus
were bought on the market and in the shops. But there was
no competition with Eg5rpt, Asia Minor, and Syria in the
production of coloured woollen and linen stuffs. One has
only to remember how large was the export of coloured stuffs
made in Moscow to Central Asia and even to India, where
house industry still flourishes, to realize how important was
the manufacture of dyed stuffs in Asia Minor and in Syria.’"'
The economic situation in the Augustan age is marked
by two features on which special stress must be laid. We
have spoken of the non-interference of the government in
the economic life of the Empire. Augustus, it must be
repeated, had no special economic policy. The labour ques-
tion did not exist for him at all. If he took certain protective
or restrictive measures, he did so for reasons of a political
or moral character. Such were the restrictive laws on luxury
ij^eges sumf/tuariae) or the projected measures for the pro-
tection of Italian agriculturists — the small landowners of
Italy — measures which were claimed for him by Horace in
some of his Odes but were never carried out. The policy of
laissez fairs prevailed. The second point which must be
emphasized is the importance of Italy in the economic life
of the Empire. Italy remained the richest land of the Empire,
and had as yet no rival. She was the greatest centre of agri-
culture, of commerce, and of industry in the West. The time
might seem to be approaching when her economic supremacy
would be challenged, as she herself had challenged the
supremacy of Greece, Alexandria, and Asia Minor. But we
hardly perceive yet the very slightest signs of the beginning of
this new period. The production of the most valuable articles
of agriculture and industry was stiU, as in the Greek and
Hellenistic periods, concentrated in a few places, particularly in
Asia Minor, Alexandria, Syria and Phoenicia, and in Italy ; the
rest of the Empire produced mostly raw material. But even in
the Western provinces economic life in general was becoming ever
more complex, and the day of their emancipation was nearing.
In refraining from regulating the economic life, of the
Roman Empire Augustus followed the same policy which
he deemed best for its political and social life. There he
accepted the. existing conditions, and tried to modify them
slightly, when necessary. In the economic sphere also his
policy was a policy of restoration and reconstruction, and
that was in fact a policy of adaptation to existing conditions.
Ill
THE MILITARY TYRANNY OF THE JULII
AND CLAUDII
» At the death of Augustus his power passed to his stepson
Tiberius, whon>he had adopted in the last years of his rule.
Tiberius was succeeded by Caligula, one of the sons of his
nephew Germanicus, Caligula by his uncle Claudius, Claudius
by Nero, the son of his second wife Agrippina, one of the sisters
of Caligula. Thus power remained in the hands of the family
of Augustus for about a century. We cannot, however, speak
of the principate being then a hereditary monarchy. In
truth the transmission of power from one member of the
family of Augustus to another was based wholly on the
popularity of Augustus with the soldiers of the Roman
army. Nearly all the emperors of the first century were
appointed by the army, Tiberius by the provincial armies,
the rest mostly by the praetorian guard. Legally and consti-
tutionally, the emperors received their power from the hands
of the senate and people of Rome. In actual fact, the principate
of the successors of Augustus was a military tyranny.
This was understood and recognized by every one in the
Roman Empire and above all by the emperors themselves.
They knew perfectly well that their rule was based wholly
on their relationship to Augustus and on the support given
them by the army. They knew also that every member
of the senatorial class had theoretically the same right to
the office of supreme magistrate of the Empire. They knew
it, and they acted accordingly. Hence the arbitrary, ruth-
less, and cruel character of their rule in the capital, their
constanf fear of failing victims to a conspiracy, and their
systematic extermination of all the members of the family
of Augustus and of all the leading members of the senatorial
aristocracy, those sanguinary persecutions so dramatically
described by Tacitus. Hence, too, their almost servile
attitude towards the praetorian guard and the population
DESCRIPTION OF PLATE ,XII
1. SILVER TATERA FOUND AT AQUILEIA. Museum of Vienna.
The pa^ra has often been published ; see the bibliography in S. Reinacli, Rep,
i. feL, ii, p. 146, 1 ; cp. E. Loewy, ‘ Ein romisches Kunstwerk in Siudien zur
GescMchie des Ostens {Fesischnft J, Sirzygowski), 1923,, pp, 182 f., and pi. XX.
The composition .(in bas-reiiei} is a Roman imitation, or a slightly modified
copy, of the famous HelleEdstic-Eg3?ptian * Tazza Farnese treated in the new-
Attic^ style. A Roman he,roized emperor is represented as a new Triptoiemos,
bringing fertility and, prosperity to the Earth, figured as a reclining, half-naked
woman, near whom is a cow resting (compare pi. VI, 2). The emperor has
just alighted from his chariot, drawn by serpents, and is performing a sacrifice
to Demeter, who is throned in the background, seated on a rock under an old
olive or fig tree. In the heaven above is a bust of Zeus. The emperor is sur-
rounded by the four seasons (Horae), two of whom feed and caress the serpents.
Two boys and a girl act as the camilli. The boys hold two paterae, the girl
brings a basket laden with fruit and ears of corn ; another basket stands behind
her. It is not easy to identify the emperor. I should suggest Caligula or Nero*
rather than Claudius. I do not think that the children arer those of Claudius ;
they symbolize the fertility and prosperity of the Golden Age in general. The
patera admirably illustrates the way in which the emperors of the 1st cent,
adhered to the ideas of Augustus and laid stress on being, like him, divine
bringers of peace and prosperity, the great protectors and restorers of agriculture.
2. SILVER CUP FROM THE TREASURE OF BOSCOREALE. Found
at Boscoreale near Pompei. Coliection of the Baron E. de Rothschild, Paris.
A, H^ron de Viliefosse in Mon. et Mhn. Piot, 5 (1899), pp. 31 and 134 ff.,
pi. XXXII, I and 2 ; S. Reinach, RSp. d. rel., i, pp. 92 fi. ; M. Rosto vtzefi in
Mim. pres, par div. sav. dll’ Acad, des Inscr., 14 (1924).
The cup, one side of which is reproduced in the plate, and both sides in the
upper drawing on this page (from Aiene e Roma, 6 , pp. iii fi.), may be called the
Augustus-Tiberius cup. Augustus is here glorified by Tiberius as the great
military hero, the great restorer of the glory of the Roman arms, and the fore-
most member of the divine family of the Julii. Along with him ^pear the
deified mother of Tiberius and Tiberius himself, as the emperor's most faithful
and most successful assistant, and as his only heir. On one side of the cup
Augustus is seen seated on a sella curulis, holding a globe and a roil (as master
of the orhis terrarum and its law-giver). He looks towards a group of divinities
on his right : Venus Genetrix (with the features of Livia ?), who presents him
with a Victoj^, the Honos, and the Virtus of the Roman People. On his left
Mars, the divine forefather of the Julii, leads a group of seven conquered peoples.
On the other side of the cup Augustus receives the submission of the Sugambri
in the presence of their conqueror Tiberius. The cup is a striking witness to
the efiorts of Tiberius and his successors to link themselves to the glorious
memory of Augustus. The bas-reliefs of a second cup, figured in the lower
drawing, give a representation of the triumph of Tiberius over the Sugambri (?).
Ill
77
'The yulii and Claudii
of the city of Rome. Hence also their dissipated and immoral
private life ; they realized that they were ‘ caliphs for an hour’ .
All the emperors of the Augustan dynasty felt keenly
the need of stabilizing their power, of giving it more than
a merely legal basis. The legal sanction was of course given
to the imperial power by the act of the senate in bestowing
on the new frinceps all the powers which had been held by
Augustus and which had made him the first magistrate of the
city of Rome and of the Roman Empire. What the emperors
needed was a higher and more solid sanction, independent
of the will of the senate and inherent not only in the
institution of the principate but also in the person of the
emperor. That was why the successors of Augustus, especially
Caligula and Nero, made renewed efforts to develop the
imperial cult and transform it into a state institution.
Hence also the endeavours made to bind the religious
feelings of the population of the Empire to the person of
the living emperor by bestowing on him divine names and
attributes and by identif5dng him vdth some of the gods of the
Greco-Roman Pantheon, especially with Apollo and Hercules,
who were both of them promoters of civilized life and pro-
tectors of mankind against the forces of darkness. Tiberius
and Claudius were highly educated men, trained in philo-
sophic thought. They thoroughly understood the absurdity
of such claims and resisted both adulation and expressions
of genuine religious feeling coming, particularly, from the
Eastern provinces. The attitude of Claudius towards his
deification is strikingly shown by a new papyrus recently found
in Philadelphia, a letter addressed by him to the Alexandrians
in which he flatly refused to accept any divine honour. But
even Tiberius and Claudius were forced by political con-
siderations to accept a certain amount of divine worship,
especially in the Eastern provinces and in the newly annexed
provinces of. the West. ^
The bloody and cruel aspect of the rule of the Julii and
Claudii was, however, only one aspect of the life of the Roman
Empire*after the death of Augustus. Behind the screen the
slow process of remodelling the structure of the Empire begun
by Augustus went on undisturbed by the sanguinary struggle
in the city of Rome. The most significant features of this
process were the gradual development of bureaucracy, the
elimination of the senate from the work of administration
CHAP.
78 7 he
and the concentration of it in the hands of the emperors.
The most important side of the work was the management
by the emperor of all the resources of the Roman state, the
exclusive right to dispose of the income of the Roman Empire,
and to organize the expenditure. The assessment of taxes
both direct and indirect, the collection of the indirect taxes,
the management of the domains of the Roman state, were
all gradually concentrated in the hands of the imperial
administration. The senate finally retained the management
only of those sums which were paid to the treasury of the
Roman people by the cities of the senatorial provinces.
In this respect the reign of Tiberius and still more the
notable government of Claudius were of the highest impor-
tance. It is not necessary to repeat here what 0. Hirschfeld
and many other scholars have shown to be the achievement
of the latter emperor. In many directions he took the decisive
steps and created precedents on which the further develop-
ment of imperial bureaucracy, especially under the Flavians
and the Antonines, was based. The attention which he paid
to the minutest details of the administrative organization
of the whole Empire is shown, for example, by the great
number of extant inscriptions and papyri which reproduce
his edicts and letters and by the numerous mentions of such
documents in our literary sources. Of these the most striking
are perhaps the fragments of an edict on the organization
of the imperial postal service {cursusfuUicus), found at Tegea,
and the letter to the Alexandrians which has been mentioned
above. In dealing, in the latter document, with the compli-
cated problem of the municipal organization of Alexandria
(the question of the jSovXi]) and with the delicate matter
of the relations between the Jews and the Greeks in Alex-
andria, Claudius shows an astonishing amount of knowledge,
a perfect understanding of the actual conditions, viewed from
the practical and not the theoretical standpoint, and a fine
tact. It is hard to understand how such a man could have
been at the same time a slave in the hands of his vdves and
freedmen. All the documents which are signed by him were
certainly either written or carefully revised by him personally,
for they all show not only the same peculiar style but also the
same peculiar logic and the same individual mode of reasoning.
But the truth is, as Mr. Anderson suggests, that it was only
in his later years, when his mental powers were steadily-
Ill
‘The yulii and Claudii 79
declining, that he was dominated by the will-power of those
who stood nearest to him ; and it may be that even then the
actual facts have been somewhat exaggerated by Tacitus and
other writers of the senatorial class.^
The senate never protested against these encroachments
of the imperial power on its rights. The reason was the same
as in the time of Augustus, fear of assuming the responsibility
for the enormous expenditure necessary for the state. The
senate had now still smaller revenues to cover this expenditure
than at the beginning of the principate. The emperors, on
the contrary, who emerged from the civil wars as the richest
men in the Empire, who inherited from Antony and Cleopatra
the resources of Egypt, who were constantly increasing their
fortune by confiscations and by inheritances, were willing and
ready to aid the state out of their own income by taking over
the heavy cost of rebuilding and maintaining the capital,
of feeding and amusing the population of Rome, of distri-
buting gifts to the soldiers and creating a special fund for the
pensions payable at the end of their service, of building
roads in Italy and in the provinces, and other charges. In
all this they followed in the footsteps of Augustus. In thus
helping the state the emperors undertook a very serious
responsibility and had the right to claim the control of the
management of the state finances. The assumption of re-
sponsibility, which led to a gradual improvement of the
system of administration, especially in the provinces, made
the new regime increasingly popular among the masses of
the population and correspondingly weakened the authority
of the senate. In this way the principate became firmly
established as a permanent institution.
To illustrate this essential feature of the history of the
Empire, I shall select two points and dwell on them for
a moment. They are familiar, but they may profitably be
emphasized.
The administration of the city of Rome was a heavy
burden on the Roman state. Besides the necessity of making
Rome a beautiful city, worthy of its position as the capital
of the world, besides the obligation to secure for her growing
population the elementary needs of life such as water supply,
drainage, sanitary arrangements, safety from fires and floods,
good paved streets, bridges over the Tiber, a sufficient police
force — ^things which all the more important cities of the
8o The yuUi and Cl audit chap.
Greek world already possessed in the Hellenistic period —
there was the enormous expense of feeding and amusing the
population of Rome. The hundreds of thousands of Roman
citizens who lived in Rome cared little for political rights.
They readily acquiesced in the gradual reduction of the
popular assembly under Augustus to a pure formality, they
offered no protest when Tiberius suppressed even this for-
m?ility, but they insisted on their right, acquired during the
civil war, to be fed and amused by the government. None
of the emperors, not even Caesar or Augustus, dared to
encroach on this sacred right of the Roman proletariate.
They limited themselves to reducing and fixing the numbers
of the participants in the distribution of corn and to organizing
an efficient system of distribution. They fixed also the
number of days on which the population of Rome was
entitled to a good spectacle in the theatres, circuses, and
amphitheatres. But they never attacked the institution
itself. Not that they were afraid of the Roman rabble;
they had at hand their praetorian guard to quell any rebellion
that inight arise. But they preferred to keep the population
of Rome in good humour. By having among the Roman
citizens a large group of privileged pensioners of the state
numbering about 200,000 men, members of the ancient Roman
tribes, the emperors secured for themselves an enthusiastic
reception on the days when they appeared among the crowd
celebrating a triumph, performing sacrifices, presiding over
the circus races or over the gladiatorial games. From time
to time, however, it was necessary to have a specially enthusi-
astic reception, and for this purpose they organized extra-
ordinary shows, supplementary largesses of corn and money,
banquets for hundreds of thousands and distributions of
various articles. By such devices the population was kept
in good temper and the ‘ public opinion ’ of the city of Rome
was/ organized’. The expense of organizing public opinion,
added to that of maintaining the city of Rome in good con-
dition, was no doubt enormous. The senate, whose financial
means were, as we know, reduced to the direct taxesTrom the
senatorial provinces, was unable to meet this expense, and
the emperors were ready to take the responsibility, provided
that the senate left the whole business entirely in their hands.
This, like the management of the army, was one of the arcana
imperii of the early Empire.®
Ill T^he yulii a Claudii 8r
Along with the concentration of the management of state
income and expenditure in the hands of the emperor went
an increased imperial supervision of the senatorial provincial
administration. From the very beginning the emperors
had in the senatorial provinces— those of which the governors
were appointed by the senate — their procurators or personal
agents who managed their private estates. From the outset
these procurators were the ' eyes and ears ’ of the emperor
in those provinces. They kept him informed of everything
that went on there, so as to enable him in case of necessity
to raise in the senate the question of maladministration ;
and the senate, “under the pressure of public opinion, was
naturally unwilling to cover up with its authority the mis-
conduct of its governors. The larger the number of the
imperial agents in the provinces became, as the result of the
increase of the imperial domains and of the transfer to them
of the collection of indirect taxes, the more effective was the
control of the emperors over the senatorial governors. On
the other hand, the larger the part taken by the emperors
in the appointment of new senators and in the elimination
of old ones, by means of the recommendation of candidates
and by periodical revisions of the list of members, the more
decisive was their voice in the matter of selecting senators
for the government of the provinces. In fact, as early
as the first century A. D. the provincial governors were
all practically appointed by the emperor, directly for his
own provinces, indirectly for those of the senate.^ In this
way the imperial administration became more and more
bureaucratic and a new social class of imperial officials was
created — most of them slaves and freedmen of the emperors—
a class which existed only in germ imder Augustus but
increased rapidly in numbers and influence under his suc-
cessors, especially under Claudius.
No less important was the work of the emperors in urban-
izing the Empire, that is to say, the Roman provinces of
East and. West. Many volumes have been written on the
municipal organization of the Empire, but none of them
has dealt with this problem of urbanization, by which is
meant the development of new cities out of former tribes,
villages, temples, and so forth. We urgently need a complete
list of cities in the various provinces, arranged according to
the chronological order of their existence as cities. Among
2354-2 G:
82 T^he yulii and Claudii chap.
them, no doubt, would be found in every province scores
which began their urban life after the end of the civil wars.
Most of them were creations of the age of Augustus, some were
added under his successors, particularly under Claudius,
who in this matter was no less consistently active than in
the work of developing imperial bureaucracy. This is shown,
for instance, by his foundation of new colonies and by his liberal
policy of incorporating in cities tribes which were ‘ attributed ’
to them and, as such, had no share in their life and civilization.
There is no doubt that the urbanizing of the provinces
which had been begun by Augustus advanced rapidly under
Claudius, A good example is afforded by* Spain, of which
we shall speak later, when we come to discuss the general
problem of the city and the country in the Roman Empire.
In dealing with the problem of the urbanization of the
Empire under the successors of Augustus, we must take into
account the fact that it was both a natural process of develop-
ment in the provinces — the provincials being attracted by
the higher standards of civilized life which were connected
with city organization — and a conscious policy of the
emperors, who were eager to forward the process and to give
an official stamp to it in order to enlarge the basis on which
their power rested, since it was on the civilized portion of the
Empire, the city residents, that this power depended. The
easiest course was to proceed along the path which had been
traced by the ‘ Social ’ war and had been followed by almost
all the revolutionary leaders, Sulla, Pompey, and especially
Caesar, and to confer Roman citizenship on all the urbanized
elements of the Empire. But we must remember that the
victory of Augustus was due mainly to the support of the
Roman citizens of Italy, and that these citizens were very
jealous of their privileges and of the dominant position
which they occupied in the Roman state. Hence the slowness
and the moderation of both Augustus and Tiberius in granting
the franchise to provincials and the strong opposition to
Claudius which forced him, probably against his conviction, to
adhere, to some extent, to the traditions of Augustus and to be
rather cautious in granting the privilege of the Roman franchise.
Here again the creators of the principate, the Roman citizens,
imposed their will on their nominees and succeeded in making
the process of political levelling, which was inherent in the
principate, as slow as possible.
Ill
'The yuUi and Claudii 83
Greater freedom was enjoyed by the emperors in promoting
the development of city life within the Empire, since this
policy found no opposition among the higher classes or
among the Roman citizens in general. This is the reason
why Augustus and even Tiberius and, above all, Claudius
were so ready to create new cities. In default of large numbers
of new Roman citizens they created ever-increasing numbers
of city residents. They were conscious that, once initiated
into civilized life, the latter would be the best supporters of a
regime which opened up to them important and wide oppor-
tilnities. We must bear in mind that along with the Roman
citizens it was the mass of the city residents, especially the
provincial bourgeoisie, which had supported Augustus and
was ready to support his successors, provided that they would
guarantee them, together with peace and order, their privi-
leged position among the masses of the provincial rural
population. For the time being, however, those cities which
were not Roman or Latin colonies were largely forced to be
satisfied with a citizenship of the second class, with the
position of ‘allied’ or subject cities; but the day was
drawing near when under the Flavians a more consistent
policy would be applied at once to the ancient and to the new
cities of the Empire.®
The result of this movement was that the structure of
the Roman Empire came more and more to resemble that
of the Hellenistic monarchies. But there remained many
fundamental differences. The ruler of the Roman Empire
was, like the Hellenistic monarchs, a military tyrant whose
power was based on the army. But he was not a foreigner,
and his power did not rest on foreigners and mercenary
soldiers. He was a Roman, a member of the ruling nation
of the Empire, the first citizen among Roman citizens. His
army was an army of Roman citizens and served, not the
emperor personally, but the Roman state and the Roman
gods. The. emperor was indeed a god himself, but his cult
had a less personal character than that of the Hellenistic
monarchs. He was a god so long as he governed the state and
because he governed the state. The sanctity of the state was
embodied in his person. After his death he might be added
to the number of the gods in heaven, but equally he might
not ; all depended on how he had governed the state.
The rule of the family of Augustus, the Julii and Claudii,
G2
CHAP.
84 T’he yulii and Claudii
came to an end with the suicide of Nero, which was caused
by a rnilitary revolution and resulted in a civil war lasting
for about a year, the ‘ year of the four emperors’. The
causes of this new crisis in the life of the Roman state are not
obscure. Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero were prac-
tically nominees of the Roman army. By force of circum-
stances the leading part in the nomination of a new emperor
became a right, not of the army as a whole, but of the prae-
torian guard which was stationed in Rome and took an active
part in political life. The choice of the praetorians was
generally accepted without demur by the provincial armies.
This practice, however, gradually degenerated into a kind of
dictatorship of the praetorians. Their support was granted
to those who were willing to pay for it. When that fact
became patent to every one, an atmosphere of envy, suspicion,
and disgust towards them and their nominees was created
throughout the Empire and particularly among the soldiers
stationed in the provinces. Moreover, the last emperors
of the Augustan dyirasty neglected their relations with the
army and hardly ever appeared among the troops. They
became emperors of the city of Rome, almost unknown to
the mass of the soldiers and of the civil population of Italy
and the provinces. Finally, the scandalous private life of
the rulers, their dreadful crimes, and their cynical behaviour
did not accord with the conception which the Romans, and
the soldiers of the provincial armies in particular, had of
the first citizen and leader of the Roman state. Above all,
Nero, the murderer of his own mother and his brother, the
artist and charioteer, the emperor who never visited the
armies and spent his life among the city rabble and the
Greeks, entirely destroyed the prestige of the Augustan
dynasty.
. The revolutionary military movement of the year 69-70
was thus a protest of the provincial armies and of the popula-
tion of the Empire in general against the degenerate military
tyranny of the successors of Augustus. It began a§ a revolt
of the Celts against Nero’s domination, but it soon assumed
the form of a military revolt of the armies of Spain and
Germany against the emperor. The Spanish soldiers pro-
claimed Galba emperor of Rome. At first recognized by
the army and the senate, he was soon put to death by the
praetorians who sold the purple to Otho, an intimate friend
Ill ^ 85
of Nero. This new attempt of the praetorians to rule the
state aroused the indignation of the legions in Germany.
Their nominee Vitellius succeeded in vanquishing Otho and
the praetorians. But he showed himself utterly unable to
rule the state and had to face a new pronunciamento, this
time in the East. The Oriental troops gave the imperial
power to Vespasian, who was recognized by the army of the
Danube and succeeded in crushing the forces of Vitellius.
I am well aware that this conception of the civil war of
A. D. 69 does not coincide with current opinion. Most of the
scholars who have dealt with the year of the four emperors
are inclined to assume, as the ultimate cause of the bloody
revolution, a kind of separatist movement on the part of the
provinces and of the provincial armies, which expressed the
feelings of the provincials. I do not see the slightest trace
of the supposed separatist tendencies of the Roman soldiers.
Certainly the Gauls used the revolution for their very vague
national aspirations, but the first act of the Roman army was
precisely to crush, against the will of its leaders, the local
revolt of the Gauls. Moreover the main arm of the Roman
forces was still the legions, and they consisted to a large extent
of men of Italian origin, mostly even born and educated in
Italy. It is difficult to believe that these men had so easily
forgotten their past, that they had lost the feeling of being
masters of the provinces and thought of imposing the will
of the provinces upon the Roman state.
What really happened was, as has been said, that the
Roman army expressed its discontent with the form which
.the principate had assumed in the hands of the last Julio-
Claudian rulers. The soldiers showed that they were masters
of the situation, and that nothing bound them to the one
Julio-Claudian house. They desired the best Roman of the
senatorial class to be princeps, to be the first man of the
Empire and commander of the Roman army. In this point
they were in full agreement with the public opinion of the
large bo 4 y of Roman citizens. Like the latter, they never*
thought of eliminating the principate ; and they opposed with
energy and resolution the disintegration of the Roman
Empire, as promoted first by the Celts of Gaul and afterwards
by some auxiliaries, mostly Germans of the Rhine army.
In itself the movement was a healthy reaction against the
degenerate military tyranny of Nero, the scandalous private
86
CHAP.
The yulii and Claudii
life of an Oriental despot which he led, his neglect of military
and civil duties, and his undisguised sympathy for everything
which was not Roman — in which he was the true, although
unconscious, follower of Caligula. The struggle against
Nero was gradually transformed into a regular civil war
because of the political ambitions of the leaders and the
bitter rivalry and competition between the different sections
of the Roman army.®
But this civil war came to a speedy conclusion under
the pressure, we may presume, of public opinion, especially
in Italy which was the battle-field of the opposing armies
and the homeland of large numbers of the soldiers. We must
remember that the majority of the troops were still Romans,
trained and educated on the same lines as the Italian bur-
gesses and peasants, that they still spoke the same good
Latin as was spoken in Italy, and that they met in Italy many
veterans with the traditions of the army of Augustus. Of the
disgust which civil war created among them and among the
people of Italy in general two illustrations may be quoted.
They are drawn from the wonderful picture of the civil war
given by the greatest psychologist in history. In his Histones
(iii. 25) Tacitus says: ‘ A Spaniard named Julius Mansuetus
who had been enrolled in the legion called “ Rapax” had
left a young son at home. The boy grew up and was enlisted
by Galba as a soldier in the sevaath legion. He met his father
on the field of battle and struck him down. While he was
rifling the dying man, the two recognized each other. Flinging
his arms round the bleeding body, in a voice choked with
tears he implored his father’s spirit to be appeased and not
to loathe him as a parricide. The deed, he cried, is the deed
of all : a single soldier is but a drop in the ocean of civil strife !
With these words he lifted the body, dug a grave, and paid
the last duties to his father. This was noticed by those who
were nearest, and then by others, till there ran through the
whole army astonishment and horror and curses against this
cruel war.’ ‘ Nevertheless,’ adds Tacitus, ‘ they^ did not
slacken in their zeal to slay and despoil kinsmen, relatives,
and brothers.’ Tacitus was right in saying that the soldiers,
in spite of their feeling of disgust, did not cease fighting ;
but the feeling was no doubt growing, and the soldiers were
reminded of their responsibihty for the war and of the futility
of continuing it by the attitude of their fellow citizens in
iHAfltillil
lilltifiii:
Ill The yulii and Claudu 87
Italy towards them and their deeds. The second illustration is
also from Tacitus. After a pitched battle and a short siege,
Cremona was taken by the partisans of Vespasian. Scenes of
horror followed — wholesale pillaging, murder, and violation.
The feelings of Italy in regard to this crime ran high. ‘ An-
tonins,’ says Tacitus, ‘ ashamed of the atrocity and aware of
the growing reprobation of the public, issued a proclamation
that no citizen of Cremona should be kept as a prisoner of
war ; and indeed such booty had already been rendered
valueless to the soldiers by a general agreement throughout
Italy not to buy such slaves. The soldiers then began to
massacre their captives and, when this became known, their
kinsmen and relatives began secretly to redeem them ’ {Hist.,
hi. 34).
It is clear, then, that the civil war of 69-70 was in its
very essence a political movement. It was, however, compli-
cated by other motives which made it very perilous for the
future of the Empire. The bitterness and the cruelty of the
struggle, the tragedy of the sack of Cremona, the wholesale
slaughter of rich men by the soldiers, whether victors or
vanquished, in Italy and in Rome,’ show that even among
the legionary soldiers, to say nothing of the auxiliaries, there
was a growing enmity towards the ruling classes of Italy
and their supporters, the praetorians, who represented the
city population, and especially the city bourgeoisie, of Italy.
We must not forget that one of the first measures taken by
Vespasian after the end of the civil war was to stop recruiting
the legions from the youth of Italy.® Was this a privilege
granted to Italy for failing to support Vespasian in his struggle
for power ? Was it a recognition of the incapacity of Italy
to furnish a sufficient number of soldiers for the legions ?
I am disposed rather to believe that the cause is to be sought
in another direction. ■
As we have seen, the Roman legions, as a rule, were not
recruited compulsorily but consisted of volunteers. The fact
that Vesjjasian, contrary to the prevailing practice, excluded
Italian volunteers from the legions, leaving open to them
the praetorian cohorts only, shows that his measure was not
a privilege granted to Italy. How is it to be explained ?
I incline to the view that Vespasian, who thoroughly under-
stood the history and the causes of the civil war, became
afraid of the aspirations and the political mood of the Italian
88 ‘The yulii and Claudii chap.
volunteers. He did not desire to have in the legions Italian-
born soldiers, because these soldiers would be drawn from
the unruly, discontented, and highly inflammable elements
of the population, the city and rural proletariate of Italy.
There was a danger that the army might again become an
army of proletarian citizens of Rome, as under the later
Republic, and renew the age of the civil wars. It seems as
if the better elements of Italy succeeded in securing for
themselves the higher posts in the army, access to which was
given by service in the praetorian cohorts, and that only
the poorer part of the Italian population served in the legions.
While reducing the numbers of the Italian ‘volunteers, Ves-
pasian left the constitution of the corps of officers and of
the praetorian cohorts as it had been before, but in large
measure provincialized the legions. We shall see later that
this view is in complete accord with the activity of Vespasian
in the Western provinces generally. The soldiers drawn
from the Romanized provincial cities represented not the
proletariate but the higher classes of the population.
The question, however, arises, How are we to account
for the existence of comparatively large numbers of prole-
tarians in Italy ? To answer it, we must investigate the
changes in Italian life which had resulted from the economic
development of the Empire under the emperors of the Julio-
Claudian dynasty.
It is no easy task to compare the economic conditions
which prevailed under Augustus with those which were
peculiar to the period of the Julii and Claudii. It is still
more difficult to draw a line between the latter period and
that of the Flavians. Yet such a distinction is necessary,
and without it We shall fail to understand the evolution of
economic life in the Roman Empire. We should reflect
that more than half a century had elapsed between the death
of Augustus and the accession of Vespasian, and that half
a century is a long time, especially in a period so full of events
and of new phenomena as was the first century of our era. The
difficulty of investigating the economic conditions of the
Julio-Claudian age arises from the character of our sources
and the meagreness of their evidence. The historians were
not interested in the economic life of the Empire. Our
second source of information — the moralists and the scientific
writers — contains more valuable material ; for the former
Ill
'Juln and Glaudii 89
the economic conditions of the first century provided a good
illustration of the moral perversity of their contemporaries,
while the latter were either directly concerned with economic
problems or were forced to mention economic facts in dealing
with various scientific problems. Thus while Tacitus, Sueto-
nius, and Cassius Dio give us but little information on the
economic situation of the Empire between a. d. 14 and 70,
important evidence is supplied by such writers as the two
Senecas, Persius, even Lucan, and above all Petronius on
the one hand, and Pliny the Elder and Columella on the other.
But unfortunately no one has endeavoured to collect and
interpret this material, except in the case of Petronius and
Columella.® The student of the economic history of the
period might derive assistance from a careful investigation
of the inscriptions and of the archaeological material, especi-
ally as furnished by Pompeii. It is impossible in this short
book to undertake such a complete investigation. I must
limit myself to giving the impression which I have obtained
after re-reading all the above-mentioned sources.
It seems at the first glance as if there were no difference
between the economic conditions of the Augustan period
and those of the Julio-Claudian epoch. In depicting the latter
period we are involuntarily inclined to use promiscuously
Vergil, Horace, Tibullus, Propertius, and Ovid on the one
hand, and Persius, Petronius, Seneca, Pliny, and Columella
on the other, as well as the writers of the Flavian period, both
Latin and Greek. And it is true that the main phenomena
remained identical. The difference consists in the degree of
their development and in the emergence of some new factors.
The attitude of the emperors towards economic life, their
economic policy, or their lack of one, remained the same as in
the days of Augustus. A policy of laissez-faire prevailed. In
times of great catastrophes the state felt obliged to help the
victims, as for example after the great earthquake in Asia
Minor under Tiberius. Some measures were taken which
might have: had an influence on economic life in general,
for instance, measures for the improvement of tax-collection,
measures introducing new taxes, measures relating to the
conditions of transport, and so forth. But such measures
were always taken from the purely fiscal point of view;
they aimed at the improvement of the state finances not
at the betterment or readjustment of economic conditions.
CHA:P*
90 ’The yulii and Claudii
Economic development went on almost undisturbed by any
interference on the part of the state. Its main features were
those which characterized the Augustan period, but with
the free play of natural forces they became more strongly
marked.
The most important of these features was the gradual
resurrection of economic life in the provinces. The revival
is very noticeable in the East. Even a superficial glance
at the ruins of the cities and a rapid survey of the epigraphy
of Asia Minor and Syria and of the papyri of Egypt show how
rapid was the economic progress of the East under Augustus
and still more under his successors.^® The Western provinces,
too, especially Gaul, Spain, and Africa, resumed their economic
activity, which had been arrested first by the wars of conquest
and afterwards by the civil wars. One of the signs of their
revival was the rapid growth of town life, which was fostered
by the emperors but was based mainly on the natural develop-
ment of these lands. In Spain and Africa, at least, urbaniza-
tion was the continuation of an evolutionary process which
had begun long before the Romans. Spain had always been
a land of cities, like Italy and Greece. In Africa urbanization
had been already carried out, to a great extent, by the Cartha-
ginians and by the natives who lived under Carthaginian ru’e
and under the kings of Numidia and Mauretania.i^
From the economic point of view urbanization meant the
formation of a city bourgeoisie, oi a class of landowners,
traders, and industrialists, who resided in the city and who
developed an energetic business activity on capitalistic lines.
Urbanization meant, therefore, the reintroduction into Africa
and the introduction into large parts of Spain and Gaul of
a capitahstic husbandry, similar to that which prevailed in
Italy and in the East. In agriculture this involved a tran-
sition from peasant economy to that of landowners who
ran their estates on capitalistic and scientific lines. It involved
also the tendency to replace the culture of cereals by more
profitable forms of cultivation, especially vines and olive-
trees. There was nothing new in this so far as large parts
of Spain and Africa, as well as the Greek cities of Gaul, were
concerned. But their natural development in that direction
had been stunted first by the selfish policy of the agrarian
magnates of the second century b. c., and then by the civil
wars of the first century. Under Augustus and his successors.
Ill
91
^he yulit and Glaudii
viticulture and the planting of olive-trees developed rapidly,
the former mostly in Gaul, the latter in Spain first and after-
wards in Africa. The rate of progress was accelerated by the
emigration of Italians into the Western provinces, which
has been described in the first chapter.^^
Another phenomenon of the same type was the gradual
migration of industry to the provinces. From the earliest
times Gaul showed an unusual capacity for developing industry.
Under Roman rule she continued to do so on a very large
scale and soon appeared as a serious rival of Italy in the
production of articles which were most characteristically
Italian, such as* relief clay vases and metal ware. The won-
derful system of the French rivers and the age-long connexion
of Gaul with Britain and Germany made a rapid development
of Gallic industry easy and profitable. Italian products
began to disappear from the Celtic and German markets.^®
The development of commerce also gradually assumed
new and unexpected aspects, especially in the East. We have
seen how the trade with Arabia and India, which had dealt
almost exclusively in luxuries, began to play a certain part
in the commercial relations of the Roman Empire in the
time of Augustus, and how the expedition of Aelius Gallus
was partly dictated by the necessity of protecting this growing
trade.^^ Its growth proceeded steadily throughout the time
of the Julii and Claudii. It was concentrated in Egj^pt, as
the old route through the Persian gulf and Palm5o:a was
rendered dangerous by the constant political complications
between Rome and Parthia. It cannot, indeed, be denied
that a rather lively commerce developed also between the
Parthian kingdom and the Roman province of Syria,^® but
this was not comparable in importance to the maritime com-
merce of Egypt with Arabia and, through Arabia, with India.
The rapid development of the latter is illustrated by the
interesting hand-book of an Alexandrian merchant, the
Periplus Maris Erythraei, which was written in the time of
Domitiap, and by the evidence furnished by Pliny the Elder.^®
On the other hand, large finds of Roman coins in India enable
us to verify the data of the literary sources.^’ It seems as
if the commerce was concentrated in the Arabian harbours
until the time of Claudius and Nero. The Arabian merchants
served as intermediaries between the Egyptian traders and
those of India. It was, as has been said, to a great extent
DESCRIPTION OF PLATE XIII
1-4. FOUR PICTURES ON THE STRIP BELOW THE PANELS OF
THE BLACK ROOM OF" THE" HOUSE OF THE VETTII AT POMPEII.
Pompeii, House of the Vettii. A. Mau, Pompeii, its Life and AH, 1899, pp. 326 ft.;
idem., Rom. Miitk,, pp, 1 f . ; A. Sogliano in Mon. Ant., 8, pp. 233 ff. ;
M. RostovtzeE in Mem. of the Afch. Soc. of St. Petersburg, 1899 (in Russian) ;
Herrmann-Bruckmann, Denkmdler der Malerei des Altertums, 1906 ff., pp. 29 ff..
pis. XXff.
1. TRIUMPHAL PROCESSION OF BACCHUS AND ARIADNE followed
and preceded by Cupids, Psyches, and a Pan.
2. VINTAGE AND WINE-MAKING. The left portion is occupied by
Cupids gathering grapes from vines attached to trees, the right (of which only
a part is reproduced here) by Cupids turning the windlass of a wine-press by
m.eans of long levers. Compare S. Reinach, RSp. d. peint., p. 85, 3.
3. WINE-DEALERS. In a cellar where a large number of wine-jars is
stored the buyer, a rustic fellow with a cane, in his left hand, is tasting a sample
which is given to him by an elegant city man, the dealer, assisted by his slaves,
who are filling another cup with another sample of wine.
4. FLOWER-DEALERS. Flowers are carried from the garden on the back
of a goat. Cupids are making garlands. The garlands are exhibited for sale
on a special stand, from which a fine lady-buyer is taking one. A Cupid holds
up two fingers to indicate the price (two asses). Cp. S. Reinach, RSp. d. peint.,
p. 86, 8 ; p. 92, I and 2.
I have no doubt that the prominent place which is given in the ornamenta-
tion of the room to scenes dealing with wine and flowers indicates that the
Vettii owned many farms in the neighbourhood of Pompeii and were large
dealers in these products. I formed this idea long before I read the careful
discussion of the House of the Vettii by M. Della Corte, ^ Le case ed abitanti
di Pompei ^ in Neapolis, 2 (ipis)^ PP- Eella Corte has shown that the
Vettii, who were members of one of the richest and noblest families of Pompeii,
owned many wine-farms in the territory of that city and of Stabiae, and carried
on a large and important business in wine. They produced various brands,
which are mentioned in the inscriptions on the wine-jars found in large quantities
in their house. Of these inscriptions the most characteristic are: (i) ' XV
Kal(endas) lan(uarias) de Arriano dol. XV', CIL., iv. 5572; (2) ‘ Idibus
lan(uariis) de Asiniano racemat(o) dol. I CIL., iv. 5573 ; (3) ‘ Idibus . . . de
Formiano dolio XXV ', CIL., iv. 5577. I agree with Mau that the wine in the
jars was brought from the various farms of the brothers Vettii, which were
planted with vines of different sorts, and that the dolia (jars) of each kind
were numbered, Diffusio of wine, which is mentioned in our inscriptions, is
represented on the bas-relief of Ince-Blundell Hall, pi. XXVI, 2. Note also
the manifest symbolism of the familiar picture in the vestibukim of the house
{Priapus with purse and fruit) and the frequency, in the decoration of the house,
of figures of Cupids and Psyches picking flowers. Similar symbolism recurs in
many other houses of Pompeii, e. g. that of Meleager, which was owned by
L. Cornelius Primogenes, with its well-known figures of Ceres or Deir^ter seated
and Mercury placing a well-filled purse in her lap (M. Delia Corte in Neapolis,
2 (1915), p. 189). ^
>• . 1 ■>« W :
-Tt^r ' ^ rnr
t,'
triU, % ^J8h it „
TA 3n m-f^^ i?' ’?;i ^vfftffiw iij d
I. BACCHUS AND ARIADNE
2 . VINTAGE
4. FLOWER SELLER
XIIL PICTURES FROM THE HOUSE OF THE VETTII. POMPEII
3. WINE DEALER
in ' yulii €$ftd Glaudii 93
a commerce dealing in luxuri<^. For these luxuries the
Romans paid mostly in gold and silver. This kind of exchange
was inevitable in a trade which was carried on chiefly through
intermediaries.
The discovery of the monsoons by Hipparchus of Alexandria
in the late Ptolemaic or early Roman times, as well as the
natural tendency of a growing trade to become more than
a trade in luxuries and a merely passive trade on one side,
led to the establishment of a direct route by sea between
Egypt and India. The main centre of traffic was now Alex-
andria. The Arabian harbours lost their importance ; some
of them (Adana*and perhaps Socotra) were occupied by the
Romans and served as watering stations and refuges for the
sailors. Like the military and naval stations in the Crimea,
they served also to protect the merchants against pirates.
This advance was due to the efforts of the Egyptian merchants
of the imperial period, who secured the active aid of the Roman
government, first under Augustus and later under Claudius
and Nero. The new route was fully established at the date
of the Pm^/ws, that is, under Domitian. The trade with
India gradually developed into a regular exchange of goods
of different kinds between Egypt on the one side and Arabia
and India on the other. One of the most important articles
which came from India was cotton, another probably was silk.
Both of these products were worked up in the factories of
Alexandria, which sent in exchange glass, metal ware, and
probably linen.“ ^
Italy did not at first feel the results of this slow economic
emancipation of the provinces. As before, her landowners
produced large quantities of wine and olive-oil on their
capitalistic farms. As before, the workshops of Campania
and Northern Italy displayed an important activity.” But
a certain uneasiness began to show itself. Columella and
Pliny stiU advocate the cultivation of the vine on the largest
possible scale. They both feel, however, that it is necessary
to stimuj^ate the activity of the Italian landowners, who were
not much inclined to invest money in the upkeep of existing
vineyards and in the plantation of new ones. Pliny tells
marvellous stories about the fabulous success of some wine-
growers in Italy Yet the landowners were not enthusiastic
about following the advice given. They were more inclined to
let their land to tenants icoloni), thus gradually reverting to
CHAP,
94 'The yulii and Claudti
peasant husbandry and to the production of cereals.^^ How
are we to explain this tendency ? The ordinary view is that
they did not want to supervise the management of their
farms personally. They are accused of laziness and indo-
lence. I can hardly believe that this was the main reason.
Nor can I believe that shortage of labour was the chief cause
of the decline of scientific agriculture. There was still plenty
of slave labour. Slaves were employed in large numbers in
households, in industrial shops, in commerce, in banking, and
in the imperial administration. There was no lack of slaves
for agriculture either. If the import of slaves from the usua.1
places became more difficult, it became ifiore common to
make the contracting of marriages and the raising of children
attractive for the slaves.^®
The real reason, which was well understood by the land-
owners, though it was disregarded by Pliny and Columella,
was that the conditions of the market grew worse and worse
every day with the economic development of the Western
provinces. Central Italy and Campania were the principal
sufierers. For Northern Italy the Danubian market was still
open and was daily increasing in importance, and therefore
Northern Italy did not feel the changed conditions as much as
did the centre and the south of the peninsula. Over-production
of wine began to make itself felt from time to time, a pheno-
menon well known to modern Italy and even to France. The
situation was not disastrous as yet, but it was grave. We
shall see in the sixth chapter how these conditions led to
a serious crisis under Domitian.^®
Hand in hand with this change went the growing concen-
tration of landed property in the hands of a few rich owners.
This concentration was going on both in Italy and in the
provinces, especially in Africa. There may perhaps be a certain
amount of exaggeration in the well-known statement of
Pliny that in Nero’s time six landowners possessed hal f of
the territory of Africa,* but the fact remains that large
estates were the outstanding feature of the agrarian con-
ditions in that province. The growth of large estates was
characteristic of Egypt also. Enormous oWiax were formed
in Eg 5 rpt under Augustus, and still more under Claudius and
Nero. Most of them were gifts of the emperors to their
favoTuites, women as well as men. We must not, however, ex-
; * N. H., xviii. 35.
Ill ‘The yulii and Claudii 95
aggerate the importance of these facts, nor generalize from the
conditions which prevailed in Africa and gradually developed
in Egypt. From time immemorial Africa was the happy land
of large estates, a land of a peculiar type of plantations,
exploited by Roman magnates in the first century b. c. In
Egypt the large estates were a creation of the emperors,
who granted and sold large tracts of land to the members of
their family and to their favourites. We hear very little of
corresponding phenomena in Gaul and Spain. And in Italy
the process seems to have been rather slow. Yet there is
nt) doubt that in Italy also the large estates grew larger and
gradually absorbed the medium-sized farms and the peasant
plots. Seneca is quite explicit on this point, and he ought to
know, as he was one of the richest men, if not the richest
man, in Italy under Claudius and Nero, and was himself an
owner of large properties. The explanation lies again in the
conditions of agriculture which have been described in the
preceding pages. The middle-sized estates were gradually
undermined by the conditions of the market and were readily
sold to big capitalists. These latter naturally sought to
simplify the management of their properties and, being content
to receive a safe though low rent, they preferred to let their
land to tenants and to produce chiefly corn.^*
Italy was therefore gradually becoming a corn-land again.
This conclusion does not accord with accepted views. How,
it is asked, could Italy regard the production of corn as more
profitable than that of wine ? Was not cheap provincial
com always available, and was it possible for Italy to compete
with it ? I very greatly doubt whether after the reforms of
Augustus and Tiberius many provinces still paid their tribute
in com.®® Corn came to Italy and especially to Rome from
the imperial domains in Egypt and in Africa. It formed the
main revenue of the emperors and was used by them for
purposes which they deemed indispensable for the main-
tenance of their power— the provisioning of the army and the
feeding qf the rabble in Rome. The rest they sold in the same
way as other landowners. The prices were fixed by the con-
ditions of the market, and these conditions were favourable
to the corn-dealers. There was no over-production of corn
in the Roman Empire. One of the most important branches of
administration in all cities, particularly in the East, was that
which dealt with the supply of corn for the needs of the
DESCRIPTION OF PLATE XIV
■ FOUR' PICTURES ON THE' STRIP BELOW THE PANELS OF
THE BLACK ROOM OF THE HOUSE OF THE WETTIL Pompeii, House
of tile Vettii. Bibliography as for pi. XIII,
• I.: 'makers AND ^ SELLERS OF- PERFUMES OR. PERFUMED OIL
{UNGUENTARII)^^ A special brand of hne olive-oil is being prepared on
a special type of oil-press (at the right). The oil is boiled. The boiling oil is
mixed with special essences (probably extracts of flowers). Next comes the
desk of the manager and accountant. Near him is a cupboard with bottles of
various sizes and forms containing the ’various essences (?). The rest of the
picture shows the sale of perfumed oil to a lady customer, who has come in
with her slave-maid. See A. Mau in Rom. Mitth., 15 (1900), pp. 301 If. Gp,
S. Reinach, Rip. d. peint, p. 86, 4 ; p. 91, 2.
2. FULLERS (FULLORtES). Treading the clothes in vats, carding, in-
specting the clothing, and folding the finished garments.
3. GOLDSMITHS (AURIFICES). A large furnace on the right. Behind
the furnace a Cupid is intensely occupied in chiselling a large metal bowl,
probably a bronze bowl which is being prepared for inlaying with silver. (A
bronze bowl inlaid with silver has been found in a shop of a negotiator aerarhis,
M. Della Corte in Riv. Indo-Greco-Italica, 6 (1922), p. 104.) Another Cupid is
busy keeping the furnace going by means of a blow-pipe, and heating a piece
of metal which he holds with a pair of tongs. A third is hammering a small
piece of metal on an anvil. Near him stands a counter with three open drawers
and a large and a smaller pair of scales. A lady customer discusses with the
proprietor the weight of a jewel. Beyond them two Cupids are hammering
a large piece of metal on an anvil. There is no doubt that these scenes illustrate
the jeweller's trade (A. Mau in Rom. Mifth., 16 {1901), pp. 109 If.), It is strange
that prominent scholars could seriously discuss the view that they represent,
not a jewellery shop, but a mint (Rom. Miith., 22 {1907), pp. 198 ff. ; Niim.
Chiron., 1922, pp. 28 ff. ; P. Herrmann, Denkm. der Malerei, p. 37). What
could a lady customer have to do with a mint ? There is, I think, every reason
to believe that some of the silver-plate found at Pompeii was made in Pompeian
shops, such as that of Laelius Erastus, the owner of a large house in the town
(CIL., X. 8071, 10, II, and Della Corte, Neapolis, 2 (1917), p. 184). Cp. the
shop of Pinarius Cerialis, caelator, recently discovered at Pompeii, M. Della
OoitQ in Riv, Indo-GvecO'^Italicay % (igz^), 121.
4. THE FEAST OF THE VESTALIA. Cupids and Psyches at a banquet.
Behind are seen asses, the sacred animals of Vesta. Are the banqueters the
bakers (pistores) ? Cp. another fresco with the same subject, S. Reinach, Rip.
d. peint, p. 88, 3.
The gradual industrialization of economic life in Pompeii has been described
in Ch. I, note 25, and Ch. II, notes 23 and 34. It is very probable (as already
stated) that the Vettii, who owned this beautiful house, selected the special
trades which are portrayed on the walls of its best room because they had
a personal interest in them ; and those were in fact the chief trades of Campania
in general. It is plain, too, that the rich Pompeians were proud to exhibit to
their friends pictures illustrating-— in a slightly romantic manner (Oapids being
substituted for men) — the modest occupations which contributed to their wealth
and. influence. The bourgeoisie of the cities was not ashamed of its prosaic
callings : witness, for example, the candour with which the typical representative
of the class,^ Trimalchio, tells the whole story of his life in conversation, in the
pictures which adorned his house, and on his funeral monument ; witness also
the pride with which his Pompeian prototype Fabius Eupor, a rich business
man, in an electoral programme adds to his name ' princeps libertinorum '
:
ftiiWP si
XIV. PICTURES FROM THE HOUSE OF THE VETTII, POMPEII
in 'The yuUi and Claudii 97
population {evO'qvU). And yet famines were quite a common
occurrence in the city life of the Empire.^* The emperors
were aware of this, and they encouraged corn-production
and restricted the freedom of the corn trade, especially in
Egypt. Under such conditions the production of corn was
certainly profitable in Italy, perhaps more profitable, or at
least safer, than the production of wine.
Concurrent with the growth of large estates in Italy and
in the provinces was the rapid concentration of many of them
in the hands of the emperors. The bitter fight between the
emperors and the senatorial aristocracy ended under Nero
in an almost complete extermination of the richest and oldest
senatorial families. Few of them, and those the least in-
fluential, were left. Many families disappeared also because
of the aversion of the aristocracy to form families and beget
children. The result of those two factors was the concen-
tration of vast properties in the hands of the emperors through
confiscation and inheritance. Though the lands confiscated
from those who were condemned for lese-majeste went legally
to the state, in practice they were taken by the emperors,
this practice being a sort of heritage from the times of the
civil wars. Most rich men, especially bachelors, left a large
part of their fortunes to the emperors in order to secure the
re.st for their natural or chosen heirs. These facts are too
well known to be insisted on. Confiscated and inherited
property consisted mostly of real estate. It was impossible
to conceal a house or a parcel of land and comparatively easy
to dispose of money. Thus the emperors became the greatest
landowners of the Roman Empire. That fact is important
not merely from the political point of view : it has a signifi-
cance for economic history. Though large estates remained
one of the chief features of the economic life of the Empire,
the personnel of the landowning class changed. The ancient
magnates disappeared ; they were replaced by the emperors,
and partly by his favourites, though the latter disappeared in
their turn. Alongside of them there were the new wealthy
landowners, who belonged to the ranks of the municipal
aristocracy. At the head of the whole class stood the emperor.
The management of the imperial estates was a serious problem
for the emperors. How were they to obtain a secure rent
from these enormous tracts of land ? How were they to solve
the question of labour? All these matters will come up
3354*2 H
DESCRIPTION OF PLATE XV
. . 1-2. TWO FRESCOES ON THE ENTRANCE PILASTERS OF A SHOP
IN THE STRADA DELL^ ABBONDANZA, POMPEI (REG. IX, INS. 'X,
NO. 7), M. Della Corte in Not. d. Scavi, 1912, pp. 176 ff., figs. 2 and 3, and
n Riv. Indo-Greco-ItaUca, 7 (1923), pp. no fi. (with bibliograplxy).
The upper part of the right pilaster is occupied by a small temple 011 a
podium, with a pronaos of two columns. From the cella of the temple Mercury
emerges in full dress : petasos, winged shoes, chiton and chlamys, caducous and
purse, ready to start probably for a visit to the shop of Verecundus. On the
square beneath the temple is painted a comfortable shop, in the centre of wlych
an oldish lady is solemnly seated talking to a customer and holding in her hands
two coloured slippers. The customer, sitting on a fine •couch, is arguing with
her. In front of the shopkeeper stands a table covered with the articles wLich
are sold in the shop — coloured rugs or garments and slippers— while in the
street, in front of the shop, is placed a wooden stand for drying the goods
{Dig., 43, 10, I, 4). The space above the temple and the picture of the shop
are covered with electoral posters, but not the picture of the temple and the god.
On the upper part of the left pilaster is painted in bright colours Venus
Pompeiana, the protectress of Pompeii, surrounded by Cupids, riding in a boat (?)
which is dragged by four elephants. On the right Fortuna stands on a globe,
and on the left the Genius with patera and cornucopiae. The low^er part of the
area depicts the little factory, as it seems to be, where the goods sold by the lady
were manufactured. In the centre four workmen are engaged in heating wool
which is to be made into felt. To left and right three workmen are seen
seated behind low benches in the typical attitude of shoemakers. In the right
corner the shop-owner (whose name Verecundus is written beneath his figure
and is repeated twice as a graffito) triumphantly displays a piece of finished
cloth — a heavy rug. The picture of the shop is covered with an electoral notice
ivhich reads ‘ Vettium Firmum aed(ilem) quactiliar(i) rog(ant) \ {Not. d. Semi,
1912, p. 188, No. 29). It is hardly possible that such an outrage could have
been perpetrated on the shop-sign by anybody but the owner and the workmen
of the shop themselves. The notice, it should be observed, does not encroach
on the space occupied by the figure of the goddess. It shows that Verecundus
was a coactiliarius or lanarius coactiliarius (CJL., vi. 9494), a manufacturer of
felt (cp. Not. d. Scavi, 1912, p. 136, No. 2). He may also have been a tailor ;
cp. CJL., iv. 3130 : * M. Vecilius Verecundus vestiar(ius) and a graffito which
reads ' tunica lintea aur(ata) both quoted by Della Corte, On signs of shops
in general, see A. Mau in Pauly-Wissowa, ii, pp. 2538 ff., and cp. Kubitschek,
ibid., Zw. R., ii, pp. 2452 fif., 2565 f. The pictures express the spirit of the age —
' Business under the aegis of religion Mercury was the chief god ; and along
with him the patron-goddess of Pompeii, who protected the trade and commerce
of the town and assured its prosperity, the victorious and successful Venus
Pompeiana, was worshipped and adored by every citizen. She was the queen
and, as such, she was drawn in her triumphal procession by the royal animals,
the elephants, like the Hellenistic kings and the Roman emperors. The impor-
tance of the textile industry at Pompeii is described in Ch, III, note 19. It
may be added that in the part of the Strada delF Abbondanza recently excavated
there have been discovered, besides the shop to which this plate refers, another
shop of coactiliarii (Della Corte, Riv., 7 (1923), p. 113), one of infectores (ibid.,
p, 1 1 2) — with which may be compared the shop of the offectores (Della Corte,
1. L, 4 (1920), pp. 1 17 ff. — and moony fullonicae, two of which are of very large
dimenssion (Della Corte, ibid., 7 (1923), pp. 114 and 123).
The yuUi and Claudii
for discussion later. The time of the Julii and Claudii was
a time of confiscation and concentration, not of organization.*^
It is easy to understand how such conditions were bring-
ing about an important change in the social aspect of the
Empire. The old aristocracy of the city of Rome disappeared.
New men came to replace them ; some from the municipal
nobility of Italy, some from the more or less Romanized
provinces, some from the ranks of adventurers and favourites
of the emperors. Statistics, incomplete as they may be,
show the gradual development of the process. The equestrian
nobility both in Italy and in the provinces grew enormously in
numbers. The majority of the knights lived in Italy and in
the provinces ; they were partly well-to-do landowners,
partly officers in the army and officials employed by the
emperors.*®
The growing prosperity of Italy, the renascence of the
Oriental provinces, and the urbanization of the Western
and of some of the Eastern provinces created a strong and
numerous city botirgeoisie all over the Roman Empire. It was
the leading force in the Empire. The older men were members
of the city councils and of the colleges of magistrates and
priests. The younger generation served in the army and in
the praetorian guard, as officers, as non-commissioned officers,
as soldiers. For this task they were prepared by a careful
training in their municipal clubs, the collegia iuvenum, which
were never stronger and never better organized than in the
time of the J ulio-Claudian dynasty. On this bourgeoisie,
along with the army, rested in the last resort the power of
the emperors.*®
In Rome, Italy, and the provinces there grew up along with
this freeborn bourgeoisie a class of thrifty and energetic
men, that of the freedmen. Their importance in the life of
the Empire cannot he over-estimated. In administration
they played, along with the imperial slaves, a very important
part as assistants and agents of the emperor. The emperors
still looked upon themselves as living the life of a Roman
magnate, Snd organized their ‘ household’ {domus) on the same
lines as the other Roman nobles, that is to say, with the
help of their private slaves and freedmen. But in fact their
household, though not identical with the state like that
of the Hellenistic monarchs, was at least as important as,
and perhaps more important than, the machinery of the
loo The yulii and Claudii chap, iii
state, and thus their slaves and freedmen — the Caesufis servi
and the liber fi Augusti — formed a kind of new aristocracy
as rich as the freeborn senatorial, equestrian, and municipal
bourgeoisie, and certainly not less influential in the manage-
ment of state affairs.
These imperial slaves and freedmen formed, however, but
a small part of the slaves and freedmen in the Roman world.
The slaves were the backbone of the economic life of the
Empire, especially in commerce and industry, where they
supplied the labour employed by the owners of the various
workshops. Indeed, the owners of these shops themselves
were, to a great extent, former slaves wh@ succeeded in re-
ceiving or buying their liberty and in acquiring a considerable
fortune. The municipal freedmen formed the lower section
of the municipal aristocracy or plutocracy, just as the im-
perial freedmen formed the lower . section of the imperial
aristocracy. As an influential class they were given a place
in municipal society by the institution of magistri and ministri
(the last being sometimes even slaves) in various municipal
cults and especially by the institution of the Augustales in
the cult of the emperors. Their part was to furnish money
for the upkeep of the cult. As a reward they received the
title of ‘Augustalis’ and certain privileges in municipal life.®”
The incipient disturbance in the economic life of Italy
and the growth of large estates and of the numbers of tenants
created or increased the city and rural proletariate — un-
employed men in the cities, tenants and hired labourers in the
country. Most of them — ^like a section of the bourgeoisie and
of the proletariate in the city of Rome, and like many residents
in the Italian and provincial cities — did not belong to the
Italian or native provincial stock. They were chiefly Orientals,
imported as slaves and retaining their Hellenistic character-
istics for many generations.®^ It is no wonder that many of
them were willing to take up service in the army. Nor is it
surprising that many of them proved unsatisfactory from
the military as well as from the political point of view. It
was only natural that Vespasian should be glad *to get rid
of them.
IV
THE RULE OF THE FLAVIANS AND THE
ENLIGHTENED MONARCHY OF THE ANTONINES
• With the victory of Vespasian over Vitellius the orgy
of civil war ended, apparently under the pressure of public
opinion in Italy and because the soldiers were confident that
they had finally achieved their aim. They had shown that
the emperor ought to be, not a nominee of the praetorians, but
the best man in the Empire, recognized as such alike by the
army and by the senate and people of Rome, regardless of
his relation to the family of Augustus. The year of the four
emperors was therefore an episode, but an episode which
had important consequences for the future of the Empire and
led to a new phase in the history of the principate.
This new phase began with the rule of restoration under
Vespasian and his son Titus. In its essential features their
government resembled that of Augustus and that of Tiberius in
the earlier years of his reign. The chief problem was the
restoration of peace. It is not an accident but a significant
indication of the ideas which guided Vespasian that his most
splendid building was the forum Pads, a counterpart to the
ara Pads of Augustus, that one of his first acts was the closing
of the Janus temple, and that the figure of Pax Augusta re-
appeared on his coins.
The essential condition of peace was the tranquillity and
obedience of the army. The task of restoring quiet and
discipline in the ranks both of the praetorians and of the
provincial armies was not an easy one. It was facilitated to
some extent by the depressed mood of the army after the
terrors of fhe year of the four emperors, and by public opinion
in Italy and in the provinces. But there was no certainty
that the influence of these two factors would last for long.
Hence the military reforms of Vespasian. By these reforms
I do not mean his redistribution of troops, his disbandment
of some legions, and his creation of new ones. Important as
DESCRIPTION OF PLATE XVI
1. ONE OF THE BAS-RELIEFS ON THE FUNERAL MONUMENT
OF TRAJAN, THE COLUMN IN THE FORUM TRAIANI AT ROME.
C. Cichorius, Die Reliefs der Traianssdule, pi. LXXVII, Text HI, p, 169.
Trajan with his staif om. podium, delivering one of his speeches {allocutiones)
to the soldiers of his expeditionary army. The first row is composed of the
bearers of the invincible standards (signiferi), behind whom are the legionary
soldiers and the horsemen. Like the other sculptures of the column, this scene
portrays Trajan as the great leader of the Romans, the firgt Roman, the prmceps,
who toils for the welfare and glory of the Roman Empire.
2. ANOTHER BAS-RELIEF OF THE COLUMN OF TRAJAN. Cicho-
rius, Die Trajanssdule, pi. LXXIII, Nos. 262-264, Text III, pp. 142 ff.
Trajan surrounded by his staff, all in civil dress, receiving an embassy which
consists of at least eight groups of enemy chieftains — Germans, Sarmatians,
Thracians, and perhaps the forefathers of the Slavs. In the background is seen
a fortified city with an amphitheatre and a house outside the walls. The
sculpture is a real masterpiece of the great artist who decorated the column.
It is not only an artistically beautiful group but also a triumph of psychological
intuition. Two worlds face each other — the proud world of the Romans, the
civilized dwellers in cities, the togaii (represented by the emperor, his staff, and
the Roman soldiers), and the new world, the world of the Germans, the Balkan
peoples, and the Slavs, the barbarians who were ready to take up the heritage
of the Roman Empire and start a new life on the ruins of the ancient cities.
They have come to greet the great Roman not as slaves or subjects but as equals,
no less proud and self-confident than he. The duel between the two worlds
has just begun, and its deep significance was well understood by the artist of
genius who created this scene. No doubt its momentous importance was fully
realized by the great emperors of the second century.
3. ONE OF THE BAS-RELIEFS OF THE COLUMN OF MARCUS
AURELIUS AT ROME. Rome, Piazza Colonna. E. Petersen, A. v. Doma-
szewski, G. Calderini, Die Marcus-Sdule auf der Piazza Colonna in Rome, 1896,
pi. 1 19 A, sects. CX-CXI.
The Roman army on the march. The emperor M. Aurelius, bare-headed,
without arms, walking as a soldier between two of his generals in similar dress
and two vexilla (standards). His horse is led by a soldier. Behind him are
shown the herds which were taken from the people to feed the army, and before
him heavy cars loaded with arms and drawn by oxen and horses requisitioned
in the land of the enemy and in the neighbouring Roman provinces. From
the purely technical and artistic point of view the sculpture is far inferior to the
sculptures of the column of Trajan. But it is full of life and movement, and
the figure of the emperor, conspicuous among the others, is a striking testimony
to the manner in which M. Aurelius carried out in practice his lofty ideas of
duty. What but the consciousness of duty could induce the aged philosopher
to march hour after hour among the forests and swamps of the almost uncivilized
Danubian lands ?
ALLOCUTIO
M. AURELIUS ON CAMPAIGN
XVI. WARS OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE
'mm
IV Flavians and i^ntonines 103
they were, these changes could not guarantee the maintenance
of peace and quiet in the army for the future. The main point
was to remodel the constitution of the army from the social
point of view.^ I have already explained what seems to
have been the guiding principle of Vespasian in this matter :
the elimination of the Italian proletariate from the ranks
of the army. The army, save for a portion of the praetorians,
was to be an army of provincials. Not, however, of provincials
taken from all parts of the Roman world without regard to
their origin and their social standing. We have, it is true,
very little evidence even about the provenance of the soldiers
in the Flavian period, not to speak of the social class to which
they belonged. But the facts that in stating their place of
origin all of them name a city and that Vespasian, like Au-
gustus and Claudius, consistently promoted the urbanization
of the Empire and favoured the largest possible extension of
Roman and Latin citizenship to the urbanized areas, especially
in the West,® show that his policy of provincializing the army
did not mean barbarizing it. We have every reason to
suppose that the grant of a city constitution to rural and tribal
communities and the grant of Roman or Latin franchise to
existing cities involved not only privileges but also duties,
and pre-supposed a fair degree either of Romanization or of
Hellenization. The first duty of the newly constituted cities
was to send their youth to the legions. It is noteworthy
that under the Flavians the institution of the collegia
iuvenum, the seminaries of future soldiers in Italy, was revived
and spread all over the Western provinces.*
Thus the Roman legionary army of the Flavian period
was, in the main, an army recruited from the higher, that is,
the most civilized and best educated, classes of the urbanized
parts of the Empire. It was an army of ‘ bourgeois ’ , to use
a modem word much abused by the socialists, an army drawn
from the propertied classes of the provincial cities, the land-
owners and farmers — whether they lived in the cities or
continued to reside on their farms and in their country
houses — ^fiot from the city or the rural proletariate. In most
of the provincial cities both old and new, as we shall see later,
the proletariate did not belong to the body of citizens. It
was easier therefore .in the provinces than it was in Italy to
exclude this class from the ranks of the army.
Another reform of Vespasian, carried out in the same
104 Flavians and jtntonines chap.
spirit, was the new system of recruiting the auxiliary troops.
It is very probable that he abandoned the policy of raising
these troops almost exclusively from the peoples and tribes
who had no city life at all and therefore formed the least
civilized element of the provincial population. From his
time the essential difference between the legionary and
auxiliary troops gradually disappeared: both classes were
recruited in the provinces, in both we find some soldiers
who were Roman citizens by birth, both contained a com-
paratively large number of men (greater in the legions,
smaller in the auxiliary troops) who by birth and education
belonged to the urbanized section of the population. More-
over, despite their ethnical names, the auxiliary troops did
not consist exclusively of men who belonged to one tribe or
one locality. In a cohors Thracum, for instance, there were
not only Thracians but men of other origin. This policy
of mixing up nations and tribes in the military corps is
one which has been followed for many years in modern
Russia and is a wise policy for a state composed of many
nationalities. From Vespasian’s time, too, the local auxiliary
regiments never formed the majority of the auxiliary troops
of a province. The local cohortes, alae, and numeri of Egypt
or Africa were always less numerous than those which bore
other than Egyptian or African names and which consisted
of soldiers of whom few, if any, were born in the province.
The measures of Vespasian for neutralizing the army (from
the political point of view) were not less effective than those
which had been taken many years before by Augustus with
the same object. Here again Vespasian was a good pupil and
a faithful follower of the policy of Augustus. The restored
discipline and fighting power of the Roman army were tested
in the difficult wars of Domitian and during the crisis which
followed his murder. The army, apart from the praetorians,
took no active part in the political events of this troubled
period and silently recognized the fait accompli when Nerva
was chosen by the senate and Trajan was adopted by Nerva.
A vivid illustration of the conditions of this time is afforded
by the well-known experience of Dio Chrysostom in the
fortress of one of the Moesiah legions. It is hard to believe
that his brilliant speech (was it delivered in Greek or in
Latin ?) quelled the incipient revolution there. It is more likely
that the disturbances were of a purely superficial character.®
IV Flavians and ointonines 105
Like Augustus, Vespasian was not merely a restorer. He
carried on valiantly the work which had been begun by
Augustus and Claudius in the two most essential branches
of irnperial administration — in the sphere of finance, where he
continued the development of bureaucracy, and in the pro-
motion of town-life in the provinces. Into these two subjects
we cannot enter in detail. As regards the former, the essential
points have been well set forth by Hirschfeld in his indispen-
sable book and need not be repeated here.® There is only
one detail that should be emphasized because of its immense
importance for the economic history of the second century,
and that is the attention paid by Vespasian to the imperial
and public lands. The far-reaching confiscations of Nero on
the one hand and the chaos of the year of the four emperors
on the other, when many rich senators and municipal bur-
gesses were killed off by the wild soldiery and by their
imperial masters, created conditions more or less similar to
those inherited by Augustus from the civil wars.’ The task of
Vespasian was far from easy. Nevertheless he succeeded in
satisfactorily organizing the vast estates belonging both
to the emperors and to the state and in practically merging
these two branches of administration into one, a fusion
which resulted in an enormous increase in the financial re-
sources of the emperors. In Italy and in the provinces the
state still owned large tracts of arable land, as well as mines,
quarries, fisheries, forests, and so forth ; and the concentration
of these in the hands of the emperors called for a well-defined
policy of exploitation. The system of management which
the greatest landowner in the Empire should decide to adopt,
far from being a matter of indifference, was in reality of
ro6 Flavians and tAntonines chap.
support afforded by the Roman citizens, particularly those
resident in Italy. A principate based on them alone was
bound to relapse into the anarchy of the period of the civil
wars. We have seen that Vespasian was fully aware of the
situation, and that his military reforms were dictated by
his appreciation of the facts. But he understood well enough
that, as things were, it was impossible to depart from the con-
stitutional principle established by Augustus, that the masters
and rulers of the Empire were the Roman citizens or those
who legally belonged to the Italic stock. It was impossible
to equalize the whole of the inhabitants of the Empire and to
extend the franchise to all alike. On the other hand, it was
unsafe to maintain the restrictive policy of the Julii and
Claudii as regards the bestowal of Roman and Latin citizen-
ship. Vespasian, as we shall see, chose the middle course.
He accelerated the urbanization of the more or less Romanized
provinces, especially those which were the main recruiting
areas, those where large bodies of Roman soldiers were
stationed— Spain, Germany, and the Danubian provinces. In
creating new municipia in the territory of half-civilized tribes
and clans he promoted the formation of a Romanized aris-
tocracy, consisting mostly of former soldiers, who had become
Romanized during their service, and he gave to these nuclei
of Roman civilization rights and privileges, both economic
and social, which made them the rulers of the rest of the
population. The urbanization of Spain, Germany, Illyricum,
and to a lesser extent of Africa, Gaul, and Britain meant,
therefore, the concentration of certain elements in cities,
which made it easier for the government to control those
elements and, through them, the mass of the provincial
population. In the more Romanized provinces the rights
of Roman or Latin citizenship were granted to the new urban
centres. In the less Romanized just as in the Hellenized parts
of the Empire this grant was withheld, at least for the time
being. Everywhere urbanization was hastily pushed forward,
to the very limits of what was practically possible.
A fresh basis was thus created for the principate, and in
particular for the power of the Flavian house. As the new
elements owed their social promotion to Vespasian and his
sons personally, and as they also furni.shed recruits for the
legions and to some extent for the auxiliary troops, the
Fla.vian principate seemed to rest on sound and sure founda-
IV Flavians and \Antonines 107
tions. The new colonies and cities were destined to play the
part which the colonies of Caesar and Augustus had played
after the civil wars. Vespasian’s policy was a challenge to
the old Italian cities and to the ancient centres of city life in
the provinces, a challenge, too, to the old body of Roman
citizens which failed to support the principate as established
by Augustus, and a direct appeal to the provinces against Italy
in acknowledgement of the support which they had given to
the principate as such, as well as to Vespasian personally,
during the year of the four emperors. After the reform the
principate still represented the body of Roman citizens, but
that body was no longer confined to the limits of Italy.
Of great importance for the social development of the
Empire was the policy of Vespasian and Titus towards the
senate. We are concerned here, not with the constitutional
ppect of this question, which has often been studied and
illustrated by eminent scholars and which has but little
bearing on the problems dealt with in this volume, but with
Vespasian’s restoration of the senate, with his activity as
censor in removing certain members of that body and filling
up the vacancies with new men. It was stated in the last
chapter that this question has been carefully investigated.®
The results of the investigation show that the senate as
constituted by Vespasian was very different from the senate
of the Julio-Claudians. It did not represent the ancient
aristocracy of Republican Rome, nor the families which were
ennobled and introduced into the senate by Augustus and
which, like the old nobility, belonged mostly to the city of
Rome itself. The persecutions of the emperors of the Julio-
Claudian house and the ‘ race suicide’ committed by the sena-
torial families eliminated the old stock almost completely. The
new men who took their place were of varied and sometimes
of doubtful origin. But the main trend of policy all along
was towards replacing the old aristocracy by members of the
municipal aristocracy of Italy and the Western provinces.
These formed the majority of the equestrian class and their
military and civil career had shown them to be faithful
servants and staunch supporters of the principate. This
process was brought to completion by Vespasian. Under
him the senate was drawn almost wholly from the upper
strata of the municipal bourgeoisie. The provincial element
was mostly Latin-speaking. Orientals, including Greeks,
-
!
!
lb
tk
I
m
I?
'Ik
Flavians and jlntonines
CHAP.
were not, as a rule, admitted. If not Roman and Italian in
the narrow sense of the word, the attitude of the Flavians
was still, like that of Augustus, at any rate certainly Latin.
They emphasized the importance and the dominant position
of the Latin-speaking elements in the Empire.®
The position of the new emperor, as emperor, was much
more difficult than that of Augustus. The civil war had
lasted for one year only^ the East had not been affected by
it, nor had even Gaul, Spain, and Africa been seriously in-
volved in the troubles. The real sufferer had been Italy and
especially the richer parts of Italy, the northern and central
areas. Vespasian therefore did not have in -the eyes of the
majority of the population of the Empire the halo of Augustus,
his personal quasi-divine charm ; he was not the Saviour. There
is no doubt that even Augustus had met with opposition from
some senators who were hostile to him personally, and that
from time to time he had had to compromise with them.
This was still more the case with Vespasian. We know from
Tacitus, Suetonius, and Cassius Dio that he found many
bold and resolute opponents among the senators and that he
was forced, almost against his will, to deal harshly with these
men and to inflict on a few of them the death penalty.
Our information on the reign of Vespasian is so scanty and
meagre that it is hard to judge what were the aims of the
senatorial opposition against him. It was not, as under the
Julio-Claudians, an opposition of a personal character. We
know that as early as Nero’s time the personal opposition had
been replaced by one of a philosophic type, of which Thrasea
Paetus was one of the prominent leaders. Based on theoretical
philosophic reasoning, this new form of opposition was cer-
t3-inlv stronger 8,n(i more consistent the
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IV Flavians and tAntonines 109
the philosophical character of the senatorial opposition does
not favour the view that ‘ Republicanism’ was its main
political ideal. The two most popular creeds of philosophic
thought at this time. Stoicism and Cynicism, were funda-
mentally non-republican.
There is one man of this age who is better known to us
than the rest, better known even than those whose portraits
are given by Tacitus. Dio, a citizen of Prusa, later called
Chrysostom, came as a young but already famous sophist to
Rome in the reign of Vespasian. A rich man and a member
of the aristocracy of his city, he had the opportunity of
forming friendly relations with many leading men in the
capital and even with members of the imperial family. At
the very beginning of his stay in Rome he does not appear
to have been opposed to Vespasian. Rather he seems to
have supported him, even in the measures which he took
against the philosophers and in his conflict with the famous
Musonius, one of the leaders of the philosophic opposition."
Yet Dio came gradually into touch with the leaders of the
senatorial opposition. It is evident that he gradually adopted
their views. The political views of Dio are well known to us.
In none of his writings is there the slightest hint of republican
sympathies. His Rhodian speech, which belongs probably
to the time before his exile and thus to the period of his closest
relations with the senatorial opponents of the Flavian rule,
contains no praise of democracy as such. It is, therefore,
impossible to believe that the senatorial opposition talked
pure republicanism and sought to bring back the golden age
of senatorial rule. It is clear that they talked something else.
The senatorial opposition was not alone in fighting Ves-
pasian. A curious feature of his rule is that he was obliged
to expel from the city the so-called philosophers. In a well-
known speech (to the Alexandrians, no. xxxii) Dio Chrysostom
subdivides the philosophers of his time into four classes : first,
the philosophers who do not teach at all ; second, those who are
real professors, that is, who teach a definite group of students ;
third, those who act as public orators, travelling from place
to place and giving public lectures; and fourth, the most
interesting class, which he describes as follows * : — ‘ Of the
so-called Cynics there is a large number in the city ... At
the cross-roads, in the by-streets, at the entrance-gates of the
* Or. xxxii. 10.
i. A
iio Flavians and tAntonines chap.
sanctuaries these men gather together and deceive slaves
and sailors and people of that sort, stringing together jests and
a variety of gossip and vulgar retorts. Thus they do no good,
but the very greatest evil.’ This last class of philosophers
is familiar to every student of the Roman Empire. They were
the most conspicuous feature of the cities of the Roman East
in the first and second centuries of our era. It was only natural
that many of them should go to Rome, where they found
a number of people who could understand Greek and who
were interested in their teaching. Of this teaching we know
very little, but it was certainly in the spirit of Cynic doctrine
in general, which attacked the conventionalities of life and
preached a return to nature.^^ Yet, if that was the sum and
substance of their teaching, why did they appear a serious
nuisance to Vespasian, and why were they expelled from
Rome with the philosophers in general, those philosophers
that were the teachers and inspirers of the senators who were
opposed to the rule of Vespasian ? It seems impossible to
find any other explanation than that all the philosophers,
higher and lower alike, carried on both a political and a
social propaganda which appeared decidedly dangerous to
Vespasian.^®
What in particular did they preach ? The social aspect
of their sermons was objectionable enough, as it aroused the
bad feelings of the proletariate. This social aspect is not,
however, in itself sufficient to explain the action of Ves-
pasian ; and, moreover, it was peculiar to the street philo-
sophers. There must have been something political in the
propaganda of the street Cynics. The only common subject
of Cynic and Stoic teaching, so far as political questions were
concerned— a subject which might have appeared really
dangerous to Vespasian — was the theme of the tyrant as
opposed to the king, a theme which was often treated both
by the Cynics and by the Stoics and which was later developed
by Dio Chrysostom in his famous speeches on tyranny and
kingship. One of the main points of contrast between the
king and the tyrant was that the king receives Kis power
from God, that he is chosen by God as the best man, and that
this power cannot therefore be hereditary. If this was the
point of connexion between the philosophic opposition of the
senators and the street sermons of the Cynics, we can under-
stand the persecution which involved both the senators and
IV Flavians and tAntonines in
the street philosophers, and also the remark made by Vespasian
in the senate, after certain conspiracies against him had been
discovered, that either his sons should succeed him or no one.
This remark, we may say incidentally, does not seem to contain
the slightest hint of the presumed republican tendencies of
the senate. It is merely a harsh answer to those who preached
the doctrine that the best man ought to be king— the doctrine
of adoption.^*
Along with the strong current of public opinion which
denounced the rule of Vespasian as a tyranny because of his
desire to see his sons succeed him, there flowed another cupent,
less dangerous bu.t very characteristic of the social conditions
of the period. We know from Suetonius* that some of the
Greek provinces and free cities as well as some of the vassal
kingdoms were subject to disturbances during this reign
{tumuUuosius inter se agebant) and were punished by the
loss of their ‘ freedom ’ . Suetonius names Achaea, Lycia,
Rhodes, Byzantium, and Samos, all prosperous places, some
of them commercial and industrial cities of great importance.
At the same time the Alexandrians showed their ill humour
towards Vespasian, f “ How is such behaviour on the part of
the Greek East to be explained ? It should be noted that this
bad temper was not peculiar to the era of the Flavians.
It persisted under Trajan and even after Hadrian, especially
in Alexandria. From the speeches which Dio Chrysostom
delivered in certain Oriental cities under Trajan, and from
the treatise of Plutarch on ‘ How to govern the state ’ , which
belongs probably to the same period, we know more or less
what was going on in the Greek cities. Apart from the
perpetual rivalry and competition between them (an im
heritance from the times of political liberty) there were
two marked features of civic life which troubled both the
city authorities and the Roman government — a continuous
social struggle between the rich and the poor, and a
strong opposition on the part of the whole population,
rich and poor alike, to the administrative methods of
the Roman governors. Thus the social movement in the
cities, especially among the proletarians, necessarily assumed
an anti-Roman aspect, since the Romans as a rule supported
the governing classes, the alleged oppressors of the prole-
tariate.^®
* Vesp. viii. 2. t Vesp. xix- 2 ; cp. Strabo, xvii. 796.
1 12 Flavians and '^ntonines chap .
l am convinced that those two political and social factors
were the chief causes of the periodical disturbances which
took place in Alexandria. About these troubles we have fairly
full information both from literary sources and from certain
documents or fragments of a political pamphlet, the so-called
‘ Acts of the Heathen Martyrs’, a curious collection which
had a large vogue among the Greek and Hellenized population
of Egypt. The disturbances assumed the form of Jewish
‘ pogroms ’ , but were certainly directed against the Roman
government and had an almost purely political character.
There is, moreover, no doubt that, as in the cities of Aaa
Minor, the Cynic street philosophers had a powerful influence
on the unruly elements of the population of Alexandria,
especially the proletariate. This influence is shown by the
Cynic themes which frequently appear in the so-called ‘ Acts
of the Martyrs’ of Alexandria, such as ‘king and tyrant’,
‘freedom and slavery’, and so forth.^'^
How did this state of things arise ? In Alexandria the
disturbances begin as early as the reign of Caligula. The
rest of the East, however, shows no signs of discontent at
any date earlier than that of the Flavians. In explanation
of this phenomenon I would remind the reader of what has
been said in the last chapter about the marvellous economic
renaissance which began in the East after the end of the
civil wars.^® The economic revival was followed by a cultural
renascence against which the West had not very much to
set. Greek civilization, art, and literature were again regarded
even by the Romans as the civilization, the art, the literature.
Nero was the first to proclaim urhi et orbi the new gospel and
to act on it. The self-esteem of the Greek cities and especially
of the better classes there, the intellectuals, rose high, higher in-
deed t hf^ n was reasonable. Under Vespasian came the reaction.
The East, which was the first to recognize Vespasian, expected
all sorts of privileges from him, a new golden age : liberty,
the Roman franchise, seats in the senate, and what not. The
disillusionment was bitter indeed. Vespasian, as we have
seen, was far from following the path which had been taken
by Nero. He was not a cosmopolitan, nor a Greek. Of
Italian birth, he had all the prejudices of the Italians and did
not believe in the supremacy of the Greeks. Moreover, he
knew that without the support of the West he was lost, and
that the opposition of the East was a ‘ Fronde’, not a real
IV Flavians and tAntonines
danger. He carried his policy perhaps too far, and added to
the numbers of his enemies even in Rome. The Rhodian
speech of Dio shows that he and other men of his type (he
was not the only Greek of reputation and standing at Rome)
shared the belief in the renascence of the Greek world and
claimed more respect for it. Men like Dio never, indeed,
preached revolt or disturbances, but their moderation was
counterbalanced by the activities of the street philosophers,
who used every means of becoming popular with the masses —
another reason why Vespasian should make life in Rome as
unpleasant as possible for them. It is characteristic, however,
of their persistence that despite their banishment they
succeeded in making their way into Rome again and resuming
their preaching in public places.^®
The rule of Titus was a brief episode in the history of the
relations between the emperors and the population of the
Empire. His concessions to the senate and his policy of
mild tolerance did not stop the spread of discontent, particu-
larly in the East. It is worthy of note that in his time (pro-
bably in A. D. 8o) a ' false ’ Nero appeared in Asia Minor and
gathered a large crowd of followers.®® The crisis came when
Domitian succeeded Titus. It is needless to repeat weU-
known facts about his rule. For the opponents of the military
tyranny, of the personal and selfish character of the principate
of the Julii and Claudii, and for the enemies of the dynastic
monarchy, now as it seemed firmly established in Rome, the
rule of Domitian was an undisguised t 5 rranny or despotism
in the Stoic and Cynic sense of the word. Domitian never
concealed his ideas about the imperial power. He was per-
fectly frank and sincere. He would never accept the Stoic
teaching of an ideal ‘ king ’ . He wanted to be obeyed and
to have full autocratic power as master and god. This did not
necessarily mean an alteration of the outward aspect of the
principate as created by Augustus and his successors. It is
possible that Domitian was forced to show his colours by
renewed attacks of the enemies of the existing regime. The
harshness and cruelty of his measures against the opposition
are notorious. The worst times of Tiberius, Caligula, and Nero
returned. It is fairly certain that the upper classes throughout
the Empire were unanimous in condemning his policy and
in advocating an understanding between the imperial power
and the claims of its opponents. It seems, too, that the army,
2354-2 I
on the imperial power in general and on the emperor person-
ally The struggle was not confined to the city of Rome.
We know that Dio Chrysostom, who was exiled froin Rome and
was forbidden to stay in his native country of Bithynia, led
a nomadic life, living in disguise, probably under assumed
names, and preaching everywhere the new Stoico-Cynic
gospel which now became his creed. He devoted himself
almost entirely to disseminating his new ideas, and it is note-
worthy that his propaganda was in fact directed against
Domitian and his system of government. It is typical of
the conditions which prevailed in the Orient that Dio was
not allowed to live in Bith5mia : his influence in his native
land might be dangerous for the ruler.
What was the nature of his propaganda ? His speeches
and the evidence about the activity of the philosophers in
Rome show that it was primarily an attack on the tyranny
which was identified with the rule of Domitian. This was the
negative side. Had the opponents of Domitian something
else, something positive, to oppose to the tyranny? Later,
under Trajan, Dio tells the emperor and us what he
thinks about the ideal constitution of the Roman Empire
and the ideal state in general. Against the tyranny _ he
sets the Stoic and Cynic kingship (^aertXeta), and depicts
it in colours which seem to be derived, partly at least,
from the practice of the principate of Trajan.*® The
current opinion is that Dio and the opposition, in drawing
such a picture, were forced to submit to necessity, to accept
the monarchy and faire bonne mine au mauvais jeu by identify-
ing the monarchy of Trajan with the Stoic ySacriXeia ; it was
only with reluctance that they gave up their republican
ideals. I see no reason whatever to accept this view. It
seems to me that from the very beginning the opposition, with
perhaps some exceptions (if it be true that Helvidius Priscus
IV Flav 'mns and 115
was a genuine republican), accepted the principate but,
taking the point of view of Antisthenes, the younger Cynics,
and the Stoics, demanded that it should be fashioned on the
model of the Stoic and Cynic ^aa-LkdaJ^ The programme of
the Stoic and Cynic kingship, as drawn up by Dio,* is familiar
and need not be detailed here. The main points are these :
the emperor is selected by divine providence and acts in full
agreement with the supreme god ; during life he is not himself
a god ; he regards his power, not as a personal privilege, but as
a duty ; his life is toil {-irovos), not pleasure ; he is the
fa*ther and the ^ benefactor [Trar^p xal evepyeTTjs;) of his
subjects, not their master (SecrTroTTj?) ; his subjects are free
men, not slaves ; his subjects must love him, and he must
be both ^iXoTToXiTTj? and ^iXocrTpaTicoTT;? j he must be
TToXe/Lii/fo?, but also elpTfvtKo? in the sense that nobody
worth fighting is left; finally, he must be surrounded by
friends (an allusion to the senate) who ought to have a share
in the management of all the affairs of the state, being free
{iXevdepoL) and noble {y^vvatoi) men. No doubt, in this
programme as specified by Dio there are many points which
are not theoretical but correspond to the character and
activity of Trajan.®® But a mere glance at Pliny’s consular
speech in honour of Trajan, and a comparison of it with Dio’s
first and third speeches on kingship, show to what an extent
the latter were not only a registration of existing facts but,
first and foremost, an exposition of eternal norms which
must be accepted or rejected by Trajan.®*
I believe therefore that the majority of those who were
opposed to the rule of the Flavians were not opposed to the
principate as such, but that their attitude towards it was rather
that of Tacitus. They accepted it ; but they wanted it to
approach as nearly as possible to the Stoic ^aa-Ckda and to
be as dissimilar as possible to the Stoic tyranny, which was
identified with the military tyranny of the Julio-Claudians
in general and of Nero in particular, and with that of Domitian.
With Nerva and Trajan peace was concluded between the
mass of the population of the Empire, especially the educated
classes of the city bourgeoisie, and the imperial power. The
speeches of Dio on kingship, delivered in the presence of Trajan
and often repeated by their author in the most important
cities of the East, probably at Trajan’s wish, formulated the
^ Tlepi jSacriXeias; i and iii.
Ifff
i
Flavians and Jlntonines
CHAP.
ii6
points of Stoic doctrine which the principate accepted and
those in which that doctrine accommodated itself to the
requirements of practical life.
The fact that this peace was accepted by the army, which
remained quiet and obedient for about a century, shows that
the soldiers were not on the side of the military tyranny but
were ready to accept the solution suggested by the public
opinion of the educated classes throughout the Empire. The
principate of the second century of our era, the enlightened
monarchy of the Antonines, was a victory of the educated
classes, just as the principate of Augustus had been a victory
of the awes Romani. The spectre of an Oriental monarchy
grafted on a military tyranny was laid once more, but, as we
shall presently see, it was laid for the last time.
There was no document showing the terms on which the
compromise between the educated classes and the emperors
had been concluded. The constitution of the Roman Empire
remained unwritten, as it had been from the very beginning
of Roman history. What had taken place was a new adapta-
tion of the imperial power to existing conditions. The power
of the Roman emperors was not reduced. On the contrary it
was increased. The rule of one man had now been recognized by
all classes of the population as a fact and as a necessity. With-
out a single will the Roman Empire was bound to fall to pieces.
The development of imperial bureaucracy went on un-
hampered. But the main principle of the Augustan principate
was emphasized afresh. The emperor was not a monarch of
the Oriental type ; he was the supreme magistrate of the Roman
Empire, both of Roman citizens and of provincials. He was
not elected by any constituent body, but the power was not
transmitted from father to son merely in virtue of blood
relationship. The emperor adopted the best man arnong the
best men, that is, among the members of the senatorial class,
the peers of the emperors, the seminary of emperors. The
senatorial class as such was well prepared for the task, as all
its members devoted their lives to the service of -the state.
The imperial power also was regarded not as a personal privi-
lege but as a burden, a service imposed by God and by the
senate on the bearer of power. The emperor personified, so
to say, the Empire, and so his power and his person were
sacred and he himself was an object of worship. The majesty
of the Empire was embodied in him. He was not the master
Flavians and ^Antonines
of the state but its first servant ; service to the state was his
duty. When he was with the army, he had to bear all the
hardships of the military life like a common soldier. When
in the capital, he had to attend to his duties as ruler of the
state, to work hard day and night for the safety and prosperity
of the Empire. Therefore his life must be the life of a head
of the state, not that of a common mortal, and yet it should be
as modest and as un extravagant as possible. His private
fortune was merged in the fortune of the state. What was
imperial was public, what was public was imperial. Only
from this point of view can we understand the saying of
Antoninus Pius. . Arguing with his wife after his adoption by
Hadrian, he said * : ‘ Foolish one, now that we have passed
over to empire, we have lost even what we had before.’ The
saying may be an invention, but it emphasizes the common
opinion of the time on the matter. In his family life the
emperor had to disregard his love for his own children ; he had
to look for the best man among his peers and raise him to the
throne by adoption.
Such was the policy of all the Roman emperors of the
second century down to Commodus. One can scarcely
believe that it was accidental, that it was determined by their
personal characters, which differed greatly. Trajan, the
great warrior and conqueror ; Hadrian, the intellectual, the
man of refined artistic tastes, the last great citizen of Athens,
the lover of antiquity ; Antoninus Pius, the good Italian
bourgeois of the senatorial class, who had no intellectual
tendencies but a sound common sense and a gift of humour ;
M. Aurelius, the stern philosopher, who lived in his books
and for his books, for whom abstract meditation was the
greatest joy in life — all of them, despite their striking difference
in character, followed the same course of imperial activity.
The facts are well known. The picture given in the preceding
pages is drawn not from the speeches of Dio nor from the
treatise of M. Aurelius, but from the life of the emperors, as
emperors. Their line of conduct was imposed on them by
public opinion. The long years of imperial rule, long hours
of meditation, the process of natural selection in the new
senatorial class — ^which had nothing, except the name, in
common with the old senatorial aristocracy of the time of
Augustus and his successors, but consisted of well-trained
ii8 Flavians and tjintonines chap:
officers, generals, and governors of provinces — created a mood
which found expression in the public life of the emperors,
who all belonged to this class.
Stern discipline, duty, service to the state were the watch-
words of the leading classes of the Roman people at this period.
If the emperors endeavoured to conform to these principles,
they required at least the ruling classes and the army to live
up to the same standards. Discipline and obedience were
demanded from the senate, from the equestrian class, from
the officers of the state, whether military or civil, and from
the soldiers. It was no accident that the cult of ‘ Discipline ’
was first introduced into the Roman army by Hadrian ; and
it is to be observed that discipline and obedience were not
only required by the emperors, but were recognized even
by the army as a duty. Never before was the army so well
trained and so well disciplined, never before did it work so
hard and so contentedly as in the time of the enlightened
monarchy. The history of the expeditions of Trajan, or of
the difficult wars under M. Aurelius, shows the army equal
to the severest possible demands, although it suffered great
losses and experienced grave disasters. The like must be
said of the administration of the Empire, which never before
was so fair, so humane, and so efficient as under the strong
rule of the Antonines. The only explanation which I can see
of all these facts is that the mood of the population of the
Empire had changed, that a reaction had taken place against
the frivolity and materialism of the first century and had
secured for the ancient world some further scores of years of
peace and tranquilhty.®’
One of the most important features of this time is the
policy of the emperors towards the provinces. Most of the
emperors of the second century were themselves of provincial
birth. Some were Roman citizens from Spain (Trajan
and Hadrian), some descended from Roman citizens settled
in Gaul (Antoninus Pius and M. Aurelius).^® They belonged
to the senatorial class, and they maintained the privileges of
that class as well as the privileges of the second class in the
Empire, the equestrian. They did not encroach on the right
of these two classes to be the highest servants of the state
after the emperor. But the composition of both classes was now
completely changed. Neither was any longer confined to Italy.
All their members alike were required to have their domicile and
IV Mamans and ^Antonines 119
to hold some property in Italy, but few of them had been
born there. Sprung from the municipal aristocracy of the
provinces, they kept up their connexion with their old homes
both in the East and in the West. Thus the higher classes
of Roman society, now enormously increased in numbers,
represented, not the aristocracy of Rome or of Italy, but the
aristocracy of the Empire, the wealthiest and the best edu-
cated sections of the city population throughout the Roman
world. This fact probably accounts for the moral change
of which we have just spoken. The new nobility was a
nobility selected by the emperors for the service of the
state from the . more highly educated men all over the
Empire. The Roman state was indeed still ruled by an
aristocratic and plutocratic class, but the selection of its
members was based not so much on birth and wealth as on
personal merits, efficiency, and intellectual gifts.^®
This new aristocracy, alrnost wholly of provincial origin,
naturally understood better the needs of the provinces and
had a fuller appreciation of their right to be regarded and
ruled, not as estates of the Roman people, but as constituent
parts of the Roman state. The change began as early as
the Flavians. Some measures in the same direction had
already been taken by Augustus and certain of his successors,
especially Tiberius and Claudius. The climax was reached
under the Antonines. It is to be noted that none of the early
successors of Augustus, except Caligula and Claudius, had
visited the provinces, and even their visits were for war purposes
only. Not one of the J ulio-Claudians, except Tiberius, ever ruled
a province before he became emperor. None of them knew
anything of the needs and aspirations of the provincials by
personal experience. All the emperors before the Flavians,
with the exception of Galba, Vitellius, and Otho, whose
elevation was merely a reaction of the provinces against the
prevailing practice, were Romans who lived in Rome and
for whom Rome was the centre of the universe. From the
Flavians onwards there was a complete change. Vespasian
spent most of his life in commanding armies and in governing
provinces, and so did Titus. Domitian, no doubt, represented
once more the old stock of city-emperors. But after him
every emperor down to Commodus spent his life before his
accession, and some, like Hadrian, even after their accession,
almost entirely in the provinces.
120 Flavians and tAntonines chap.
Under such conditions it was only natural that the old
theory and practice of provincial government should com-
pletely disappear, and that the emperors of the second
century should feel themselves, not emperors of the city of
Rome or of the Roman citizens only, but emperors of the
whole Empire. This is shown both by the rapid spread of
the rights of Roman citizenship all over the Empire and by
the growing practice of conferring on provincial towns the
rights of a Roman municipium or of a Roman or Latin
colony. The changed financial, economic, and social policy
of the emperors of this century testifies to the same fact,
but of this we shall speak later, after we have given a survey
of the Empire in the second century from the economic and
social point of view.
It is to be observed that, concurrently with the change in
the attitude of the Roman government toward them, the
provinces as a whole and particularly the upper classes
became more and more reconciled to Roman rule. Of the
Western provinces our knowledge is very limited. But the
enormous mass of inscriptions erected in the cities of the
West in honour of the emperors of the second century shows
how well satisfied their upper classes were with the existing
conditions. Even in the Eastern provinces the attitude of the
population began gradually to change. The activity of Dio
and Plutarch, the speeches of Aelius Aristides, even the diatribes
of Lucian, all show that the leading classes in the Greek-
speaking portions of the Empire gradually acquiesced in the
existing state of things, that they abandoned their dreams of
liberty, and worked for the consolidation of Roman power
in the East.“ The most obstinate were the Alexandrians.
They persisted in fighting the Roman government and in
speaking of tyranny instead of kingship as the characteristic
of the imperial power. But it must be noted that this con-
tention is found in a document which belongs to the time of
Commodus and that in this document Commodus is contrasted
with his father.®^
Another fact which should not be overlooked is that the
emperors of the second century did not persecute the philo-
sophers, not even the Cynics. The task of fighting and of
ridiculing them was undertaken by the loyal philosophers and
sophists. In this literary strife the government did not
interfere.®®
IV Flavians and ^ntonines 12 1
It cannot, however, be affirmed that there were no discon-
tented elements in the Roman Empire during the second century ,
Even in the East the upper classes were more or less reconciled
to the Empire. But this is not true of the lower classes.
The example of Bithynia and the disturbances in Alexandria
under Trajan show that the social antagonism of which we
have spoken never subsided in Asia Minor or in Egypt, and
that it was not easy for the Roman government and the
magistrates of the cities to deal with the lower classes of the
city population.®® To this subject we shall return in the next
chapter.
A few words 'may be added on the social constitution of
the Roman army under the Antonines. It has frequently
been stated in this chapter that the Roman army was the
decisive factor not only in the political but also in the social
and economic life of the Empire. The question arises, Did
the army remain just the same under M. Aurelius and
Commodus as it had been under the Flavians and Trajan ?
Was it still, in the main, an army of actual or prospective
Roman citizens, commanded by Roman citizens born in
Rome and in Italy ? This question is of great importance
for the true comprehension of the events of the second and
third centuries. How far can we answer it ? It is clear that from
the constitutional point of view the composition of the army
had not changed. All through the second century the officers
were taken from the ranks of the senatorial and equestrian
classes, the non-commissioned officers were Roman citizens
born and educated in Italy or in the Romanized parts of the
western provinces. The soldiers of the praetorian guard
were Italians or natives of the Romanized provinces of Spaiii
and Noricum and of the province of Macedonia. The legionary
soldiers were all de wre Roman citizens. The soldiers of the
auxiliary regiments were supposed to understand Latin and
they received the Roman citizenship at the end of their term
of service. There is no doubt, however, that, despite this
political qualification, almost all the soldiers were provincials,
the Italians serving only in the imperial guard, which also
formed a nursery of non-commissioned officers for the rest
of the army. After Hadrian each province had to supply its
own soldiers.
These facts have been thoroughly investigated by modern
scholars and are well known. Much less known is the compo-
122 Flavians and fAntonines chap.
sition of the army from the social point of view. To what
class or classes of the population did the soldiers belong ?
Which part of the Empire was more fully represented in the
army— the city or the country ? Were the majority of
the soldiers city residents or peasants? The fact that, in
giving their full official name, they almost always mention
a city as their place of origin does not solve the problem. The
soldier may have belonged to the territory of the city and
may have been a peasant or a colonus, a tenant. Without
doubt the auxiliary troops were mostly recruited from
peasants and shepherds. But what of the legions ? The
common opinion is that even the legionary soldiers were now
mostly peasants, the city dwellers having no inclination to
serve in the army and not being very highly rated by the
military officers. In my view this opinion is correct. The
emperors of the second century tried, of course, to enrol in
the army as many Romanized young men as possible, and such
were mostly to be found in the cities. They approved and
promoted the formation of provincial associations of young
men, who if necessary acted as a local militia. But in fact
even these associations of young men, the prospective soldiers
of the Roman legions, gradually lost their civic character,
especially in the frontier provinces. It is interesting to follow
the development of the collegia iuvenum in the Rhine provinces
in the post-Flavian period. The associations of the youth of
these provinces were not confined to the few regular cities
of the two Germanies. We find them also in the civitates, the
pagi, and the vici, communities which were closely connected
with the German and Celtic tribes and clans. The associations
themselves were unlike the ‘ colleges’ of the Italian cities.
In the Celto-German frontier provinces these Italian organi-
zations were grafted on to national half-religious institutions,
which were common to the Indo-Europeans in general and
existed also in Italy in pre-Roman times. The iuvenes of
Germany may have originally represented only the better class
of the inhabitants of the German provinces, the class of well-
to-do farmers and landowners, whether of foreign or of local
origin, but there is no doubt that they gradually came to include
the whole of the local youth suitable for military service.
Thus in the second century the Roman army gradually
lost its connexion with the cities and became what it had
been in the ancient period of Roman history, an army of
IV Flavians and ijintonines 123
landowners and peasants, of country people, who had not
yet severed their connexion with the country and with
agricultural life. We shall see in the sixth and seventh
chapters that this rural element formed the majority of the
population of the Empire. The best soldiers, of course, were
furnished by the lands where city life developed slowly and
did not absorb a large part of the country population, as
it did for instance in Greece, Italy, and to a certain extent
even in Gaul.
It is possible that the composition of the army accounts
for the quiet arid law-abiding disposition which it showed all
through the second century. It was easier to discipline and
to keep in control an army of peasants, who had never taken
any part in political affairs, than an army composed of city
proletarians, more highly developed intellectually and more
habituated to political life in general'. The hypothesis that
the army of the second century, and more especially of the
second half of the century (under the rule of M. Aurelius
and Commodus), was composed mostly of the rural inhabitants
of the Empire is corroborated by the fact that it was no
longer an army of volunteers. In the time of M. Aurelius
when the emperors were engaged in a severe struggle on the
Southern and the Northern frontiers, when the Germans
almost invaded Italy, when plague ravaged the East and
Italy, it was not possible to rely upon voluntary enlistment
any longer. It is well known that under the pressure of
circumstances M. Aurelius conscribed slaves, gladiators,
municipal policemen, and even Germans and robber tribesmen
of Dalmatia and Dardania. This may have been an excep-
tional measure, but it indicates that even in less critical times
M. Aurelius could hardly have refrained from filling up his
army by conscription. We must bear in mind that military
service was at all times the duty both of Roman citizens
and of provincials, and that conscription was the regular
method of recruiting for the auxihary troops. As the greater
part of the population of the Empire consisted of country
people, and as the city residents, particularly in these hard
times, tried to escape military service in one way or another,
it is clear that the army of M. Aurelius consisted in the main
of peasants, and especially peasants of the less civilized
provinces of the Roman Empire, which furnished the sturdiest
soldiers. ***
Flavians and ^ntonines chap, iv
of the composition of the provincial armies
h the praetorian guard is given by the picture
IS Dio in speaking of the reform of Septimius
jmissed the old praetorian guard and replaced
diers of the provincial armies, mostly Danu-
f , says Dio, ‘ he completely ruined the youth
turned to robbery and to the gladiatorial
ice of military service, and filled the capital
rowd of soldiers savage in aspect, terrible to
lent that most of them did not speak Latin—
leir manners.’ * There is no doubt, then, that
ly of the end of the second* century, though
)f Romans, in the sense of inhabitants of the
became more and more barbarized and less
dative of the civilized population. Apart from
;he non-commissioned officers, the spirit of the
spirit, not of the urban, but almost wholly
V
THE ROMAN EMPIRE UNDER THE FLAVIANS
AND THE ANTONINES
* The Cities. Commerce and Industry
a
The best general picture of the Roman Empire in the
second century, the most detailed and the niost complete
that we have, may be found in the speech Ek 'Pduw, which
was delivered at Rome in a. d. 154 * sophist ’ Aelius
Aristides. It is not only an expression of sincere admiration
for the greatness of the Roman Empire but also a masterpiece
of thoughtful and sound political analysis. It has become
usual to speak of this ‘ encomium ’ of Aristides as a rhetorical
production poor in original thought, as a repertory of common-
places which were familiar to everybody. The arguments
in favour of such a view are drawn from an analysis of the
sources of Aristides. Isocrates, it is said, was his main source
for the historical parallels; Plutarch, Dionysius of Hali-
carnassus, and Polybius suggested most of his leading ideas ;
the structure of the speech was based on the theoretical
precepts of the handbook of rhetoric written by Menander.^
The accuracy of all these statements may be admitted. How
many of the most brilliant modern political speeches would
stand the test of such an analysis ? But the analysis of the
sources of Aristides’ speech fails to prove the most essential
point, that his ideas are empty and flat, and that the speech
in general is a mere collection of commonplaces. Some of
the ideas may reproduce the current opinion of the time.
That does not necessarily mean that they are empty and flat.
Some may even have been commonplaces. There are indeed
a few such. But the critics may be challenged to quote any
other literary work of the second century a. d. which gives
as full and precise a picture of the structure of the Roman
Empire as that of Aristides. Can they cite any other work
so rich in brilliant and vivid pictures illustrating the various
DESCRIPTION OF PLATE XVII
1. SILVER DISH, partly gilt and inlaid with gold, partly treated in the
niello-techniqtie or enamelled. Found at Lampsacus. Ottoman Museum at
Constantinople, Gazette arch., 3, pL XIX ; H. Graeven, Jahrb. d. d. arch. Inst.,.
15 (1903), p. 203, fig. 6 ; S. Reinach, Rip. d. rel, ii, p. 174, i. Graeven ascribes
the dish to the early Byzantine period. I see no reason to assign to it such
a late date, Ilnd or Illrd cent. a. d. ? Greco-Indian or Alexandrian work-
manship ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ .1
Personification of India seated on a peculiar Indian xhair, the legs of which
are formed by elephant tusks. Her right hand is lifted in the gesture of prayer,
in her left she holds a bow. Around her are grouped Indian animals — a parrot,
a guinea-hen, and two pet monkeys. Under her feet are two Indians leading
a pet tiger and a pet panther, ready to fight, and making the gesture of adora-
tion. The dish furnishes a valuable proof of the excellent knowledge which the
Romans possessed about India and of the interest which they took in that
country. On the animals of India as reflected in Greco-Roman tradition, see
Wecker in Pauly -Wissowa, ix, pp. 1301 ff.
2. LAMP OF THE COLLECTION BARONE. Found in Campania. A.
Heron de Villefosse in Mon. et Mem. Piot, 5, pp. 180 ff., fig. 44.
A Victory with large wings representing Rome as the goddess of prosperity :
she holds the cornucopiae and pours a libation on an altar or a cista enlaced
by a snake (the cista mystica of the Eleusinian mysteries ?). Symbols of ail
the gods of prosperity and civilization are grouped around her : under her seat,
the eagle of Jupiter ; behind it, the dolphin of Neptune ; between her wings, the
hawk of Horus ; on the left side, the club of Hercules, the sistrum of Isis,
the lyre of Apollo, the tongs of Vulcan, the caduceus of Mercury, and the
of Bacchus ; between the altar and the goddess, the torch of Demeter. The
central position, however, is occupied by the symbols of the great gods of Asia
Minor and Syria : the corn-ears, the pomegranate, the cymbal, and the raven
of the Great Mother of Asia Minor, and a standard which consists of the full
face of the Sun and the crescent of the Moon fastened to a sphere-— the symbols
of the Solar gods of Asia Minor and Syria. The lamp is a beautiful emblem of
the mighty Roman Empire which brought peace, prosperity, and civilization
to the East and the West alike.
3. RESTORATION OF THE AGORA (MARKET-PLACE) OF ASSOS
IN ASIA MINOR. F. H. Bacon, Investigations at Assos (Expedition of the
ROMA PANTHEA
I. INDIA
V
The Cities
127
aspects of the Empire, political and social and econornic ?
Moreover, there are some ideas in the speech of Aristides
which cannot be found, at least so clearly and so fully ex-
pressed, in any other work. Such are the favourite views
of the second century on the character of the enlightened
monarchy and on the relations between the monarchy and
the different classes of the population of the Empire; the
characterization of the Empire as a coherent aggregate of
free, self-governing city-states ; and — ^not the least important
of all— the masterly sketch of the part played in the Roman
state by the army. The speech of Aristides is to me one of
the most important sources of information not only on the
general structure of the Roman Empire as viewed by con-
temporaries but also on the mentality of the age of the
Antonines, on the political ideas current at the time. In
ah ‘ encomium ’ no one would expect to find a criticism of
the Empire. The speaker’s task was to seize and to point
out the positive aspects, and to do it without exaggeration
and without undue flattery. In this task Aristides succeeded
fairly well.
The speech ‘To Rome’ must be compared with the
speeches of Dio on kingship (fiacnXeCa). These speeches
expounded a programme on which the emperors and the intel-
lectual leaders of Roman imperial society were agreed. The
speech of Aristides shows how the programme was carried
out, and how far the actual conditions of the period of the
Antonines, and more particularly of the time of Antoninus
Pius, corresponded to the aspirations of the best men in the
Empire. There is no doubt that, in his high praise of the
achievements of the enlightened monarchy, Aristides was in
complete accord with the leading spirits of his time and with
the mass of the urban population, the city bourgeoisie,
throughout the Empire. Witness the thousands of inscrip-
tions set up all over the Roman world in praise of the
emperors of the second century, and above all in praise of
Antoninus Pius and the eternal Roman State.
It is natural, therefore, that this chapter, which deals
with the cities of the Empire, should begin by quoting some
of the ideas expressed in the speech of Aristides. To Aristides
the Roman Empire is a world-state and Rome the centre of
the world. By ‘ world ’ Aristides means, of course, the
civilized world {oiKovfievr)) , the Mediterranean lands. The
’ ^ I- -
4
CHAP,
128 Flavians and '^Antonines
Roman Empire succeeded in building up and achieving the
unity of the civilized world, a task in which both the Oriental
monarchies and the Greek cities had failed. This unity was
not based on slavery, as it had been in the Oriental monarchies
and even in the monarchies of Alexander and his successors.
The head of this united world is not a master (SecnroTTjs) but
a ruler (apx"*') leader {riyefidiv). He rules over free men,
not over slaves, and he rules because he is willingly recognized
by his subjects. They feel that cohesion is their salvation :
the world has become one city-state {fiCa ttoXis iracra rj oiKou/xeioj).
In this state there are no Greeks and barbarians, natives and
foreigners : all, we may say (though Aristides does not), are
men. Before the state all are equal— great and small, rich
and poor. Yet there is a distinction : there are the best
men, and there are the masses. The best are the rulers,
who are the Roman citizens ; the masses must obey them.
The rulers, however, are not necessarily natives of Rome or
of Italy. They are the best men of all parts of the Roman
Empire. The fact that they are the best makes them Roman
citizens and therefore rulers ; they rule over the constituent
parts of the Empire, the cities ; and it is the duty of the
masses to obey. If they do not, if they begin rioting, if they
attempt an upheaval of the existing order, there is force to
compel obedience.
To the united world peace is secured both by a masterly
administration of the Empire — a wonderful centralized system
of bureaucracy — and by a strong permanent army, which
consists of professional soldiers who are at the same time
Roman citizens. Like the governing class in general, the
Roman army represents the whole Empire, not one tribe or
one nation or any combination of tribes and nations ; and, like
the governing class, the members of the army are all members
of the ruling portion of the population : they are Roman
citizens. Thanks to the officials and to the army, peace and
prosperity reign all over the world, a peace and prosperity
without precedent. General peace makes cities prosper and
develop, and it has made the Empire an aggregate of cities
that are most flourishing and beautiful, notably in Greece,
Ionia (Asia Minor), and Egypt.
We have given a very bald sketch of Aristides’ main ideas
as expressed in his speech. But even this sketch shows the
close connexion between his ideas and those of Dio. In
V T’hs Citt€S 129
addressing His audience at Rome, Aristides was well aware that
he was speaking in the spirit of the enlightened monarchy and
t ha t his words might easily have been spoken by the emperor
Antoninus himself. These words, too, were eagerly caught
up by his audience. They desired to hear the praise of Rome
—a genuine praise, not mere flattery — upraise of the modern
conditions that would be convincing and would drive away
the gloomy feeling of coming decay, spoken of quite openly j
by many people, like the historian Annaeus Florus, for ;
whom the period of the Roman Empire represented the old
age {senectus) of human civilization.
Side by side with the picture of Aristides let us set a picture
of the Roman Empire drawn according to our modern con-
ceptions and related not only to its past but also to its
future history, which, is the only advantage we have over
Aristides.
Aristides was perfectly right in emphasizing the fact that
the Roman Empire was an ag^egate of cities, Greek, Italian,
and provincial, the last inhabited by more or less Hellenized
and Romanized natives of the particular province concerned.
Every city had assigned to it a smaller or larger tract of land
which we usually call its ‘territory’. This territory was
either that of an ancient Greek or Italian xity-state, or the
land assigned by the Romans in Italy or the provinces to
a new or old city, whether a Roman or Latin colony or a native
town. We have already dealt with the gradual development
of city life in the Empire, which was promoted more or less
consistently by all the emperors of the first century. This
development did not cease under the Flavians and the
Antonines. Mention has also been made of the activity of
Vespasian in creating new cities or granting city rights to
native towns. The same policy was pursued by the new
‘ d5masty ’ of the Antonines, especially Trajan and Hadrian.
Since the fall of the Hellenistic monarchies the number of
towns with dynastic names, particularly in the East, was
never so imposing as in the time of these two emperors.
Along with cities named luliopolis and Flaviopolis many
bearing the title of Trajanopolis, Plotinopolis, Marcianopolis,
and Hadrianopolis (or other compounds with Hadrian’s
name) arose in the Greek and the half-Greek East. It
seems as though Trajan and Hadrian aimed at surpassing the
Seleucids, Attalids, and Ptolemies. Even in Egypt Hadrian
2354*2 ,K . ■
1^0 Flavimis and Antoninas chap.
created the first and last Greek city since the foundation of
Ptolemais, giving it the name of Antinoupolis.
The new cities with dynastic or native names were partly
former villages and small towns, inhabited mostly by natives,
partly colonies of Roman veterans, especially in Africa, on
the Rhine, and on the Danube. Even some centres of the
large ex-territorial estates of the Roman emperors (which
are dealt with in the next chapter) were recognized as cities,
and the imperial estate or part of it became their territory.
None of these new cities was an artificial creation. All were
the development of a natural tendency of the provinces
towards urban life. But this rapid urt»anization of ^ the
provinces did not last throughout the period of the Antonines.
After Hadrian the creation of cities becomes more and more
rare, though the process never stopped completely.®
Thus the Empire in the second century presented more
than ever the appearance of a vast federation of city-states.
Each city had its local self-government, its local ‘ political ’
life (in the ancient sense of that adjective), and its own
economic and social problems to solve. Over the cities stood
a strong central government which managed affairs of state —
foreign relations, military affairs, state finances. The head
of this central government was the emperor, the first apx^v,
the ■princeps, the -^yeiimv. In his name his agents, both civil
and military, acted. Along with him the senate was still
regarded as the source of imperial power, but it played in
fact only a secondary part in state life, as the High Court
and the Council of the Empire. De jure the central govern-
ment was still the government of the senate and people of
Rome, de facto it was an absolute monarchy modified by some
privileges granted to the higher classes of the Roman citizens
and by the self-government of the cities. In truth the self-
government of the cities was almost complete. The imperial
bureaucracy very seldom interfered wdth local city affairs.
It dealt almost exclusively with the collection of taxes (mostly
through the cities), with the administration of the imperial
and state domains, and with one part of jurisdiction.
The difference between the Roman Empire and modern
states of the same type lies in the fact that the central govern-
ment of the Roman Empire was neither elected nor controlled
by the constituent parts of the Empire. It was there to
control and direct the self-government of the cities, not to
V The Cities 131
be controlled or directed by them. It existed as an inde-
pendent thing, a heritage from the time when the central
government was the government of a single city, the mistress
of the world. The Roman Empire of the second century
was thus a curious mixture of a federation of self-governing
cities and of an almost absolute monarchy superimposed
on this federation, the monarch being legally the chief magis-
trate of the ruling city of Rome.
It is not surprising, therefore, that the literary evidence
about the Roman Empire bears almost wholly on the city of
Rome and on the activity of the central government. Occasion-
ally, however, we hear of the life of other cities in the Empire.
It is sufficient to mention the works of such writers as Statius,
Martial, Juvenal, and Pliny the Younger for the cities of
Italy and of the Western half of the Empire, and the writings
of the same Pliny, Dio Chrysostom, Lucian, Flavius Josephus,
Philo, and Aristides for the cities of Greece and the Greek
East. Moreover, the cities themselves are very loquacious.
Through the medium of scores of thousands of inscriptions
and papyri, both Greek and Latin, they have told us so many
important and unimportant details of their life that it is
comparatively easy to restore its essential features. Further,
modern archaeological excavations naturally attacked the
ruins of the cities first. Some of these ruins, especially in
the countries which lay waste after the end of the Roman
domination — Asia Minor, Syria, and Africa — are excep-
tionally interesting and in a beautiful state of preservation.
Finally, hundreds of thousands of coins, which were still to
a large extent struck by the cities of the Empire, supply us
with first-class information on some important points in
their political, religious, and economic life. These sources
have revealed to us not only the external appearance of many
ancient cities but also the main features of every aspect of
their life — their walls, gates, streets, public places, public
and private buildings on the one hand, and on the other their
municipal organization, their income and expenditure, their
wealth and their sources of wealth, both public and private,
their religious beliefs, their amusements, and their intellectual
interests.
The first impression derived from the study of these
sources is overwhelming. Never before had so considerable
a part of Europe, Asia, and Africa presented an aspect so
K 2
1^2 Flavians and ^iAntonines chap.
civilized, so modern, one may say, in its essential features. Some
of the cities were large, some were small, some were rich and
luxurious, some poor and modest. But all of them had this
in common, that they exerted themselves to the utmost to
make city life as easy and as comfortable as possible.
Rome, the huge and beautiful capital of the world, was
of course the most admired and flattered of all the cities of
the Empire. And she deserved the admiration of contem-
poraries as she fully deserves ours : so beautiful is Rome
even in her ruins, so impressive her public monuments— her
temples, the palaces of her emperors with their ' gardens ’ in the
city and their villas in the suburbs, her palaces for the people
(baths, basilicas, porticoes), and her public places and public
gardens. With the city of Rome vied the capitals of the
richest and most prosperous provinces : Alexandria in Egypt,
Antioch in Syria, Ephesus in Asia Minor, Carthage in Africa,
and Lyons in Gaul.® Behind them came hundreds of large
and beautiful cities both in the East and in the West. We may
enumerate a few of them : Pompeii, Puteoli, Ostia, Verona,
Aquileia, and Emona in Italy ; Tauromenium, Syracuse, and
Panormus in Sicily; Narbo, Arelate, Nemausus, Arausio,
Augusta Treverorum, and Colonia Agrippinensis in Gaul and
Germany ; Londinium in England ; Tarraco, Corduba,
Hispalis, Italica, Emerita, and Asturicain Spain and Portugal;
Hadrumetum, Cirta, Hippo Regius, and Caesarea in Africa,
Numidia, and Mauretania; Cyrene in Cyrenaica; Pola and
Salona in Dalmatia ;, Thessalonica in Macedonia ; Athens,
Corinth, and Rhodes in Greece ; Smyrna, Pergamon, and
Miletus in Asia ; Tarsus in Cilicia ; Nicaea and Nicomedia in
Bithynia ; Cyzicus and Byzantium on the Sea of Marmora and
the straits ; Sinope on the Black Sea, Tomi and Istrus on its
Western coast ; Panticapaeum (a vassal city) and Chersonesus
in the Crimea ; Baalbek, Palmyra, Damascus, and Gerasa in
Syria; Ctesiphon in Mesopotamia; Petra and Bostra in
Arabia; Jerusalem in Palestine.*
These are but a few cities selected from thousands, partly
because they are glorified in our literary sources and partly
because they are famous for their well-preserved ruins. The
list could be greatly extended. In addition, archaeological
excavations have revealed to us many cities almost unknown
to our literary sources, but nevertheless beautiful and pros-
perous centres of life. Such are, for instance, Thugga, Thu-
m ;
V
bilis in Africa, Numidia, and Mauretania ; Carnuntum and
Aquincum on the Danube ; Vindonissa and Augusta Rau-
rica in modern Switzerland ; Virunum in Noricum ; Doclea
in Dalmatia ; Calleva Atrebatum (Silchester), Venta Silurum
(Caerwent), and Aquae Sulis (Bath) in England ; Assos in Asia
Minor ; some large villages and small cities in Egypt, and so on.®
The cities of the Roman Empire were of course not all
of ‘the same type. They varied in accordance with their
historical evolution and with local conditions. First come
the large and rich commercial and industrial towns, mostly
centres of an extensive sea or river traffic, some — like Palmyra,
Petra, and Bostra — important meeting-places of merchants
engaged in a lively caravan trade. To this class belong most
of the cities which have been enumerated above as the most
beautiful and the richest cities of the Empire. Behind these
leaders of civilized life follow many large and well-built towns—
centres of extensive and fertile agricultural districts, capitals
of provinces or of subdivisions of provinces. Most of them
were at the same time important centres of a local, provincial
commerce, being situated at the crossing-points of important
trade routes. Most of them were built on a navigable river.
Of practically the same type are the smaller cities which
gradually developed out of villages in more or less rich agri-
cultural districts, such as almost all the African cities men-
tioned above, scores of cities in Britain, Spain, Gaul, Germany,
in the Alpine and the Danubian provinces, in Thrace, Mace-
donia, Greece, Asia Minor, Syria, and Egypt. In Egypt such
cities were legally not cities at all but villages, though they
were the administrative centres of large and rich territories.
By natural development they had assumed the aspect of
regular well-kept Greco-Oriental towns.
Despite differences in size, in number of population, in
wealth, in political and social importance, all the cities of the
Empire presented some common features. They all aimed,
as has been said, at the largest possible degree of comfort for
their inhabitants ; they all looked like some of our modern
Western cities rather than like the cities and villages of the East
at the present day. I have no doubt that some, or most,
modern Italian cities differ very little from their Roman
Pla7i of the central part {the original colony) of the city of T imgad
Bill
sari
lltll
P
"is
■■Is
DESCRIPTION OF PLATE XVIII
THE RUINS OF PART OF THE CITY OF THAMUGADI (TIMGAD)
IN NUMIDIA. P. Boeswilwald, A. Ballu, and R. Cagnat, 1 imgad, une cUe
africaine, 1901-5; A. Ballu, Guide illusire de Timgad {antique Thamugadi),
ccl
View taken from the Theatre (No. 18 on the plan) . The square near the centre
is the Forum with its buildings (No. 13 on the plan). The building with the
two columns seen in the photograph is the temple of Victory ; in front of it
was a platform which was used by the magistrates as a tribune for delivering
speeches and making official announcements to the citizens. Near the temple
was the well-known public lavatory {lairinae, No. 12 on the plan). The Forum
was surrounded by porticoes. Behind the Forum runs one of the main streets,
the decuwianus maximus (No. 6 on the plan). Where the decuwanus cuts the
fortifications of the original city (a military colony of Trajan), a fine Ar^ was
built in honour of Trajan. Its imposing ruins are seen in the photograph (No. 41
on the plan). The other ruins are mostly the remains of private houses, public
baths, markets, and Christian churches (e. g. Nos. 44 and 46 on the plaiKare
Christian churches, while Nos. 45 ai^d 62 are private Jiouses) . No. 5 on »the
plan is the famous public Library of Timgad.
gsjjgl
sSi
urn
II^E!
Cities
ancestors. Almost all the cities of the Empire, especially in
the Hellenistic East, had a good scientific system of drainage,
an abundant water supply even in the upper storeys of the
houses, provided by most skilfully built aqueducts, good
public conveniences, well-paved streets and squares, covered
porticoes lining the streets and destined to protect pedestrians
from sun and rain, hygienic and spacious markets— particularly
fish and meat markets with a copious supply of water — large
and beautiful baths in various parts of the city enabling every
citizen to have his daily bath for little or nothing, exten-
sive and well-arranged buildings for sport and exercise
gymnasia and palaestrae. For religious purposes there were
splendid temples and altars, sacred woods and long rows of
beautiful funeral monuments bordering the public roads
outside the gates. Large and imposing public buildings
appear in all the cities : cuyiae (the meeting-places of the local
senates), offices of the magistrates, halls for the official
collegia and for the voters in public elections, hasilicae lot
the judges, prisons, and so forth. Others were destined for
pubhc recreation and education : theatres, circuses, stadia,
amphitheatres, public libraries, auditofia for declamations
and public lectures, and picture galleries. The private houses
were mostly of good size and equipped with modern con-
veniences, for example, private baths, running water, good
stone stairs to the upper storeys, &c.®
These are all familiar facts. We may say that as regards
comfort, beauty, and hygiene, the cities of the Roman Empire,
worthy successors of their Hellenistic parents, were not
inferior to many a modern European and American town.
It is no wonder that so many of their inhabitants had such
a deep and sincere love for them. Of this affection illustrations
may be found in the description of Smyrna by Aristides—
and he was not a native of the city, but only an adopted
citizen — or in the description of Rhodes by Dio who was not
connected with it, or in the many descriptions of Athens. They
show the pride taken by the people of the Roman Ernpire in
their best creations, their cities and their city civilization.
The splendour of the cities was almost entirely due to the
munificence of the higher and wealthier classes of their
population. Their current expenditure was, of course,
covered by their regular income, which was collected in the
form of various taxes from the residents, both citizens and
_ "mi
M - Si
DESCRIPTION OF PLATE XIX
I. HUINS OF THE HOUSE OF DIANA AT OSTIA, G. Calza, ‘ Le
origini latine delF abitazione m ArchitetUif a ed A rti Decorative,
3 (1923), fig. 8.
Typical ruin of a large house, divided into fiats, belonging to the iliid cent.
A, D. . The appended plan shows the arrangement of the apartments in the two
store5rs around the central court.
Plan of the house of Diana
2. RESTORATION (BY THE ARCHITECT I. GISMONDI) OF THE
CORNER HOUSE IN THE VIA DELLA FORTUNA. G. Calza, ibid., fig. 22.
A four-storeyed apartment-house. The first fioor was occupied by shops
(one of which is a bar-restaurant, thermopolium) , the upper floors by private
apartments, some of them of large size (for well-to-do people). Note the fine
verandah and the balconies.
3 RESTORATION (BY THE ARCHITECT I. GISMONDI) OF THE
INNER FRONT OF THE 'CASA DEI DIPINTI ' AT OSTIA. G. Calza,
ibid., fig. 28.
The view shows the inner court of the large house with plants, trees,
basins, See. The appended plan, restored by the architect Lawrence, shows the
distribution of the apartments on the ground floor and first fioor.
Plan of the ' Casa dei Dipinii * as restored by Lawrence
V
The Cities 137
sojourners or ‘ by-dwellers ’ {ko-toikoi, wdpoiKOL, &c., in the
Greek East ; incolae, inquilini, pofuli attrihuti in the West).
The system of taxation was elaborated by centuries of experi-
ence, gained especially in the Hellenistic period. Taxes were
paid for the land in the territory of the city, for real estate in
the city, for import and export (municipal customs-duties), for
the exercise of a trade, for contracts and business trans-
actions, for the use of the market-places (rent of the shops
which belonged to the city) and of other municipal real estate,
and so on.'^
. The income of the cities, particularly the large and rich
cities, was therefore in some cases very considerable. But
we must not forget that the current expenditure of a city was
very great, greater indeed to all appearance than that of
modern cities. They did not, of course, pay salaries to their
magistrates. Service performed for the city by civil or
religious officials was regarded either as an honour or as
a burden ; in either case it meant that the service was gratui-
tous. But the cities paid their minor officials, who were either
public slaves (Sj^/xocrtoi, servi publici) and had to be provided
with quarters, clothing, and food, or free salaried men.® The
payment of these officials was a considerable expense. Still
greater was the expense for the repair and maintenance of the
various public buildings.
One of the most complicated tasks of the cities and the
city magistrates was to secure ‘ abundance’ (abundantia) of
foodstufe, especially of corn {annona, evd-qvia), for public
consumption. In Rome the emperor undertook this task. In
the other cities it was one of the main duties of the city council
and the city magistrates. The conditions under which a
plentiful supply of food had to be secured were not very
favourable. In many cases the city territories were not large
enough to provide a sufficient supply. Moreover, the varia-
bility of crops was an outstanding feature of economic life
in the ancient world, even in such lands as Egypt. Thus all.
the cities depended more or less on a regular or emergency
import of foodstuffs. None of them was permanently self-
sufficient. The organization of the market and especially of
the transportation of large masses of foodstuffs was, therefore,
a question of prime importance for the cities of the Empire.
The problem of regulating the market was not tackled by the
central government. On the contrary many serious obstacles
Flavians and nAfitonines
CHAP.
were placed in the way of the free development of trade
concerned with the necessities of life. The state and the
requirements of the state were paramount for the emperors
and their agents. Even more urgent for the emperors was the
safeguarding of their power. Thus they monopolized for
themselves large masses o*f corn which they used to supply
the city of Rome and the army : export of com from Egypt
was permitted only to those who secured special imperial
authorization. The large domains of the emperor all over
the Empire, which produced enormous amounts of com, were
used for the same purpose. Corn produced on these domains
very rarely appeared on the open market.. Moreover, as we
shall see later, the means of transport were everywhere under
the direct control of the state, and the owners of ships and
draught animals were not free to devote all their activity to
the solution of the problem of satisfying the needs of the
population. The needs of the state and of the emperor had
to be satisfied first. Still more important and more compli-
cated was the problem of transportation. Though the sea was
now safe and piracy had disappeared, though a wonderful
system of land-roads was created by the emperors, the question
remained as serious and as difficult as before. New cities grew
up in large numbers in all the provinces, some of them far
away from the sea, far from the great water-ways and even
from the main roads. The cities endeavoured to build district
roads and to connect their territories with the main roads,
the rivers, and the sea. But this was a slow process and the
building and repairing of roads cost vast sums of money. The
burden of the constraction and maintenance of these district
roads lay entirely on the cities. Even the constmction of good
roads, however, did not solve the problem. Land transport
was exceedingly expensive, as compared with transport by
sea and river. To move large masses of foodstuffs by the
land-roads was, therefore, beyond the resources of smaller
and poorer cities.
That is the reason why almost all the cities of the Empire,
even those situated in the most fertile regions, and still more
lying in the mountainous districts of Italy and the
provinces, had from time to time very bad periods of dearth
high prices. Often we actually find years of real famine,
times were generally marked by grave social disturb-
I
!
i
V
The Cities 139
carelessness and the great landowners and corn-merchants of
profiteering. In these circumstances riots and demonstrations
were common. To prevent such disasters was far from easy,
and even in normal times it cost the city enormous sums of
money. The office of o-trcii^s (buyer of corn) was, therefore,
one of the most difficult and perilous in the career of a muni-
cipal magistrate. This office appears more frequently in the
East than the corresponding office of curator annonae or the
like in the West. The explanation is simple : the Greek cities,
even in some parts of Asia Minor, never produced sufficient
corn for their population, and the crops were more variable
in Greece and Asia Minor, owing to the hot climate and the
scarcity and irregularity of rains, than in the lands of Central
Europe and even in Italy, Spain, and Africa. On this we
shall have more to say in the next chapter.®
Another large item in the budget of a city was the expense
of public education and the physical training of young and
old, especially in the completely Hellenized cities of the East.
To have gone through a course of instruction in a palaestra
and in a gymnasium was the distinguishing mark of an
educated man, as opposed to a barbarian. In Egypt, for
example, those who were educated in the gymnasia formed
a special class of the population, which enjoyed certain rights
and privileges (ol dm rod yofivaa-tov) : thus, freeborn youths
of Alexandria who had received such an education were con-
sidered by the Emperor Claudius qualified for the important
privilege of Alexandrian citizenship. Many inscriptions show
that the cities of the Greek East had not forgotten the glorious
traditions of their past and were as eager as before, and
perhaps more eager, to secure a good education on Greek lines
for the city youth, so far at least as they belonged to the
privileged classes. This, however, was expensive. Huge
sums of money were required to pay the teachers, to provide
and keep in good repair the schools and athletic grounds, and
to distribute oil to those who were unable to buy it. To secure
for the city a sufficient supply of oil was almost as important
as to have abundant corn at reasonable prices. Buyers of
olive-oil {iXaimvai) were consequently almost as common in
the Greek cities as buyers of corn (criTwmt)- The office was
both important and burdensome.^**
Besides public education, religion demanded attention and
expenditure. Every city had many temples, which had to be
.140 Flavians and <(Antonines chap.
maintained in good condition. Some of them had funds of
their own, but many had not. Some revenue was derived
from the lease of the priestly offices, to which was attached
the right to certain allowances in kind. But the money
received in this way amounted to very little compared with
the expense of the maintenance of a well-organized religious
life — the expense of sacrifices to the gods and heroes, pro-
cessions, religious feasts, contests (agones) and games in honour
of various gods, and so forth. No wonder that some cities
had a special finance department for public worship, special
treasurers, and special treasuries. Closely connected with the
cult of the gods were the various games .which gradually
became as important in the life of the cities as the food supply.
Most of these games were given by the magistrates and by
rich citizens at their own expense. But sometimes the city
was obliged to give them in order to prevent bad feeling
and even riots among the masses of the proletariate.^^
It is not surprising that under such conditions the city
expected her rich citizens to help by undertaking part of the
expense. This was to a certain extent obligatory on them.
For the honour of being elected a magistrate of the city
a certain sum (summa honoraria) had to be paid. A certain
amount of expense was connected with many honorary posts,
such as that of gymnasiarch. Some priests were supposed
to bear part of the expenditure necessary for the cult of their
god or for the city cults in general. In some cases patrons
and presidents of religious associations were expected to
finance the worship of the gods who protected these associa-
tions. In difficult times a loan was raised by the city and,
though the participation of the citizens was supposed to be
voluntary, practically every rich citizen was forced to sub-
scribe a certain amount of money if he wished to escape
discredit in the eyes of the public and even to avoid becoming
a target of not very friendly demonstrations. In case of
necessity the city recurred also to the ancient practice of
liturgies, that is, of compulsory contributions by rich citizens
to aid in the execution of some important public work.
It must be noted, however, that compulsion was very
seldom required in the first century, and stiU less in the first
half of the second, either to fill up the offices of magis-
trates, priests, gymnasiarchs, and the rest, or to obtain effective
assistance in embellishing the city, in creating or maintaining
V
The Cities 14 1
social or religious institutions, and even in meeting current
expenditure. The rich citizens were ready to help and gave
money freely for everything that was needed by the city :
we may say that most of the beautiful public buildings in the
cities of East and West were their gifts. In time of famine
the same men liberally furnished money to feed the starving
population. In normal times they spent large sums in en-
hancing the splendour of mimicipal games or in giving games
and contests on their own account. Very often, too, they gave
doles to the people, both rich and poor, in the form of money
or food and wine. Public banquets for large numbers of
citizens were a common feature of municipal life. Some of
these gifts took the form of foundations, large sums of money
being provided to be invested, or land and other real estate to
be rented, for the creation and upkeep of one or other of the
religious or social institutions of the city.^^
It is amazing to see what enormous sums were given by
wealthy citizens, especially in the Greek East. We know of
hundreds of such donors all over Greece and Asia Minor, and
we must suppose that there was an exceedingly large number
of opulent men who were moved by public opinion and by their
own patriotism to spend freely on their native cities. The
tradition of liberality, which arose in the free Greek cities
and developed vigorously in the Hellenistic period, especially
in the third and second centuries b. c., was revived and
maintained in the Roman Empire, notably in the first two
centuries A. D. From the East the habit spread to Italy along
with the other traits of Greek municipal life, and from Italy
to the Western provinces. It was a revelation to scholars when
Austrian explorers discovered in a small city of Lycia the
funeral monument of a man called Opramoas, a native of
Rhodiapolis, who had spent millions for the needs of his own
city, of other Lycian cities, and of the common council [koivov)
of the Lycian cities. Nor was he the only Lycian to do so.
Men of the same type appear in all parts of the Greek East ;
among the most famous of them are Julius Eurycles of
Sparta and his descendants, and Herodes Atticus of Athens,
who are celebrated alike in our literary and in our epigraphic
sources. And it is worthy of note that the leaders of this move-
ment were the best-educated men, the intellectuals of the
time, rich ‘ sophists’ such as Polemon, Damianus, and Herodes
Atticus. The same spirit was shown by the new aristocracy
142 Flavians and \Antonines chap.
of Rome, the Italian and provincial senators and knights
(every one knows of the gifts and foundations of the younger
Pliny which are mentioned in his letters), and by the new
provincial city aristocracy, the rich merchants, landowners,
and industrial employers of the cities of Gaul, Spain, Africa,
and other provinces. When we observe that these gifts and
foundations had a general tendency to increase both in
number and in size all through the first century, and still more
in' the first half of the second, that most of them were given
not under compulsion but freely, and that there were plenty
men of wealth ready to take up the duties of magistratss,
priests, presidents and patrons of various asspciations, officials
and priests of the provincial councils (Koim), it becomes plain
not only that the municipal spirit was at its height in the first
half of the second century, but also that the wealth which
was concentrated in the hands of the city bourgeoisie both
in East and West steadily increased.^®
What were the sources of the growing wealth of the city
bourgeoisie, of those thousands and thousands of men who
lived in the various parts of the Empire and accumulated for
themselves large tracts of land, huge sums of money, houses
and shops in the cities, ships and transport animals on the
rivers and roads ? The first point to emphasize in this con-
nexion is the increasing number of rich men throughout the
Empire. Wealth was no longer concentrated in a few hands
and a few places, as in the time of the domination of the
Athenian Republic or the Roman senate. As in the Hellen-
istic period, we witness a decentralization of wealth, if we may
use the expression. Some of the Roman senators were still
very rich, but they were no longer the ‘ nabobs’ of the first
century b. c. or the multi-millionaires of the period of the
Julii and Claudii. Among the senators of the second century
A. D. (chiefly natives of Italian or provincial cities) wealthy
men were not exceptional, but as a rule they were of the type
of Pliny the Younger — moderately rich men, mostly land-
owners. It is to be observed that in the second century there
is no mention of senators whose wealth equalled that of the
favourites of the early Empire — Maecenas, Agrippa, Seneca,
Acte (the mistress of Nero), Narcissus, Pallas, and the rest.
The era of favourites was past. Juvenal, to be sure, still uses
the commonplaces about millionaires playing the leading role
among the city aristocracy, but they are merely common-
V Commerce, and Industry 143
places. We have no names to corroborate his statement, but
we have scores of them for the period that preceded.^*
Very rich men are now to be found partly in Rome (mostly
not among senators but among freedmen), chiefly in the
provinces, not in Italy: Trimalchio exists no more, or he
lives now not in Campania but somewhere in the provinces.
The wealth which was accumulated in the hands of individual
citizens of provincial cities was sometimes very large. We
have quoted the examples of Opramoas in Lycia, Eurycles in
Sparta, and Herodes Atticus in Athens. The treasure which
the last found in his house in Athens was (we may parenthe-
tically remark) not a treasure but probably money hidden
by his father Hipparchus in the troublous times of Domitian’s
persecutions. In the absence of statistics we cannot estimate
the size of the fortunes of Opramoas and other men of his
type, nor can we compare them with those of the rich men
of the first century A. D. or with the large fortunes of modern
times. Of greater importance is the fact that rich men are
now to be found everywhere in the most unexpected places,
like Rhodiapolis in Lycia or one of the small cities of Africa,
Gaul, Spain, or even Thrace. In proof, if proof be needed, we
have not only the gifts and foundations of the second century,
which require to be more carefully collected and classified,
but also the beauty and the luxury of the funeral monuments.
Is it not characteristic of the conditions of this period that the
most beautiful monuments are now to be found, not in Rome
or in Italy, but in the provinces ? Such are the monuments
near the modest city of Assos, excavated and restored by the
American expedition ; the beautiful funeral temples and
massive sarcophagi all over Asia Minor, especially in Lycia ;
the mighty tumuli near Olbia and Panticapaeum, and the
painted rock-tombs of the latter city ; the ‘ Mausolea ’ of
Africa and Syria, real shrines for the cult of the deceased ;
the beautiful funeral altars and pavilions of Aquileia ; the
sculptured tombs all over Gaul, especially near Treves, in
Luxembourg, and near Arlon. Even in the new Danube
lands we meet with large and expensive tombs, for example,
the painted tomb adorned with statues of a landowner near
Viminacium. Men who could bear the expense of such build-
ings, and could bequeath money enough for the upkeep of the
monuments and of the gardens which were connected with
them, were people who had accumulated large fortunes.^®
DESCRIPTION OF PLATE XX
1. THE LOWER PANEL OF THE FUNERAL STELE OF ^ lUCUNDUS
M. TERENTI L(IBERTUS) PECUARIUS /. Mainz, Central-Museum. GJL;
xiii, 7070 ; E. Esperandieu, Recueil g^n.j 'vii, No. 5824 j Geyw(^nici; Romci,nu, ein
Bilder-Atlas, pL XXXIX, 6.
The shepherd Jucundus, freedman of a certain M, Terentius, is represented
herding a flock of sheep in a forest. The metrical inscription on the stele, winch
was erected in his memory by his patvonus, says that Jucundus was killed at
the age of thirty by a slave, who then drowned himself in the river Main.
Terentius was no doubt a rich landowner and Jucundus his chief shepherd, who
had many slaves under him as assistants.
2. ONE OF THE BAS-RELIEFS OF THE FUNERAL MONUMENT
OF A RICH MERCHANT OF MOGUNTIACUM (MAINZ). Found at Mainz
in the city wall. Mainz, Central-Museum. E. Esperandieu, gen., No. 5833 ;
Germania Romana, pi. XLII, 6 ; S. Reinach, Rep, d. rel., ii. 71, 5.
One man is seen sifting grain, another carrying away a basket of grain
already sifted.
3. FRAGMENTS OF A SCULPTURAL FRIEZE OF A FUNERAL
MONUMENT OF AGEDINCUM (SENS). Sens, in the Museum. G. Julliot,
MusSe Gallo-Romain de Sens, p. 97 and pi. VII ; E. Esp6randieu, Rec. gin.,
iv. Nos. 2852, 2853.
Various implements used for making wine or cider : four empty baskets,
two baskets full of fruit, a wooden box, four mortars (two of them with their
pestles), a fork, and three heaps of a substance in which Julliot recognizes
le marc de raisin.
4. ONE OF THE BAS-RELIEFS OF NEUMAGEN (TRRVES), PART
OF A FUNERAL MONUMENT. Found at Neumagen. Museum of Treves.
Hettner, lUustrierter Filhrer durch das Provinzialmuseum in Trier, 1903, p. 16,
13 ; E. Esperandieu, Rec. gen,, vi, No. 5148 ; Germania Romana, pi. XLI, 3 ;
S. Rep. d. rel., ii. gj,
A banker or a landowner and his two assistants, all clean-shaven and in
Roman dress, receiving payments from four bearded peasants in typical rustic
half-Celtic dress.
5. ONE OF THE BAS-RELIEFS OF THE FUNERAL MONUMENT
OF THE SECUNDINII AT IGEL (NEAR TREVES). Dragendorff und
Kruger, Das Grahmal von I gel, 1924, pi. X, 1, and Abb. 47, p. 77 ; E. Esperandieu,
Rec. gen., vi, No. 5268, p. 443 ; Drexel in Rom. Mitth., 35, 1920.
Trade in clothes. Two men are inspecting a piece of cloth. Four other
men form one group with the two inspectors. One of them registers the piece
in his book. A seventh man is entering the room.
This set of pictures is intended to illustrate the brisk business life which
went on in the Western provinces in every field of economic activity.
3. IMPLEMENTS FOR MAKING WINE OR CIDER
4 . BANKING
XX. BUSINESS
V
Commerce and Industry 145
Thus the first ' thing to be emphasized is that the second
century was an age of rich or well-to-do men distributed
all over the Empire, not modest landowners like the municipal
bourgeoisie of Italy in the Republican and the early Imperial
periods, but big men, capitalists on the large scale who very
often dominated the social life of their cities and were known
to every one not only in the city, but throughout the district
or even throughout the whole province.
The question whence their wealth was derived is one of
great interest. Wealthy men cannot be created by the will
of. emperors. The policy of the emperors was naturally to
give these men the largest possible influence in city affairs.
But this policy was dictated by the fact of their existence and
their social importance. Unfortunately, we have no learned
work dealing with this problem. No scholar has endeavoured
to collect the evidence about the rich men of the second
century, about the sources of their income, and about the
character of their economic activity. A careful investigation
of this subject promises good results. Our information is
fairly abundant. As far as I can judge from the evidence
I have got together, the main source of large fortunes, now as
’before, was commerce. Money acquired by commerce was
increased by lending it out mostly on mortgage, and it was
invested in land. Along with commerce and with the closely
connected business of transportation, industry played a part,
but it was a subsidiary part, though some fortunes were
undoubtedly made in this way.^® The development of com-
merce and of transport business in the second century is full
of interest. ^ We recognize some of the old phenomena, of which
we have treated in the preceding chapters, but along with
them we find new features which were almost unknown to
the first century.
As before, and to a greater extent than before, this com-
merce was a world commerce. The Roman Empire was
linked by commercial relations with all its neighbours and
with peoples who , were not in territorial touch with it. A
lively commerce went on between Gaul and the Danube lands
and Germany. The products of Roman industry reached
even the Scandinavian lands and the shores of the Baltic Sea,
and in comparatively large quantities. From the, Danube
Roman commerce spread to the region of the river Dnieper
and reached a high importance which it maintained all through
L
2354-2
146 Flavians and <^ntonines chap.
the second century/’ as is shown by the finds of Roman coins
and by the frequent occurrence in the tombs of that region
of Roman pottery and glass-ware belonging to the first two
centuries. The Greek cities on the shores of the Black Sea,
especially Olbia, Chersonesus, Panticapaeum, and Tanais,
flourished again throughout the second century. Olbia and
Panticapaeum were connected both with the Southern and with
the Western shores of the Black Sea. The Bosporan kingdom
still exported large masses of corn and of other raw materials
(especially hides, fish, and hemp). This export was directed
partly to the cities of Greece, but mostly through the cities
of the Southern and Western coasts of the Black Sea to the
permanent quarters of the Roman armies on the Danube and
in Cappadocia. Its volume naturally increased when the
emperors had to move large numbers of soldiers from East
to West and from West to East, as in the time of Vespasian,
Domitian, Trajan, and M. Aurelius. The importance of South
Russia for the Roman Empire is shown by the fact that
Olbia and the cities in the Crimea/ particularly the free city
of Chersonesus which became the main centre of Roman
influence in South Russia, were protected by Roman troops
against the incursions of the inhabitants of the steppes. How
large a part was played by the Bosporan and Olbian merchants
in forwarding wares from Central Russia (furs and wax) and
Asia to the Roman Empire, we do not know. But such
a traffic certainly existed and enriched the Sarmatian tribes
which were now dominant in the steppes of South Russia and
in the Caucasus. The commerce of South Russia was concen-
trated partly in the hands of the Bosporan kings and of
Bosporan and Olbian merchants, partly in those of merchants
of Sinope, Amisos, Tomi, and Istros.’®
As regards the commerce of the South and the South-East,
the African trade with the tribes of the Sahara was of no real
importance. Some slaves were brought to the provinces of
Africa, Numidia, and Mauretania, and perhaps some ivory.
More important was the Southern trade of Egypt with the
kingdom of Meroe and with the new kingdom of Abyssinia
(Axum) and, through these half-civilized states, with Central
Africa. The finds in Meroe show that for the wares exported
from Central Africa the Roman Empire paid with the products
of Eg5rptian industry. >■' But most important of all was the
trade of Eg3q)t, and particularly of Alexandria, with Arabia
147
.I-:;-,;'-" ;>■''■
V C ommerce and Industry
and— partly through Arabia, partly directly— with India and
through India with China. This subject has been dealt with
in the preceding chapter, but it should be added that the
commerce of the Roman Empire now reached not only the
region of the Indus but also Indo-China and Sumatra, and
that the trade with India and with China steadily de-
veloped and became quite regular. Moreover, it was no longer
a trade merely in luxuries. Some of the imports were no
doubt of this sort, but the largest part consisted of articles
like cotton and condiments. The same is true of the wares
exported from the Roman Empire to the East. These were
partly raw materials and foodstuffs (for instance, iron and
corn), partly and chiefly products of Alexandrian industry.
The active agents in the exchange of goods between the Roman
Empire and India and China were the Alexandrian merchants.
Without them the commerce with India would probably not
have existed.^®
The development of the foreign trade of Alexandria did
not kill the caravan trade of Arabia and Syria. The ruins of
Petra in Arabia show that its most brilliant period began
after the annexation of Arabia Petraea to the Roman Empire
(a.d. io6). This was also the period of the greatest prosperity !
of Palmyra in Syria ; and the brilliant development of the 1
Parthian capital, Ctesiphon on the Tigris, affords another proof. 1
The best sculptures of Palmyra, the most beautiful buildings,
the richest tombs, as well as the majority of the inscrip-
tions testifying to a large commercial activity, date from the
second century and belong largely to the reigns of Hadrian
and Antoninus Pius. This is not surprising, since the expe-
ditions of Trajan overawed the Parthians, and the peaceful
policy of Hadrian and Antoninus secured for the Palmyrene
trade long years of secure development. Both in Palmyra
and in Petra trade was entirely in the hands of the native
merchants, who accumulated large fortunes. The beautiful
ruins of both cities and their gorgeous funeral monuments,
like those of Bostra, Gerasa, and Doura, which were connected
with the same trade, show how opulent their merchants were.
Through them wealth came to Antioch and to the cities of
the Syrian, Phoenician, and Palestinian shores.®®
But, however important foreign commerce was for the
Roman Empire, it was not to this that the wealth of the pro-
vinces was due. Even for Egypt and Syria the inter-provincial
L2
148 Flavians and .'iAntonines chap.
exchange of goods formed at least as iniportant a source of
income as did trade with foreign lands. Commerce in corn,
in linen, in paper, in glass, and in those products of Alexandrian
industry which were partly made of raw stuffs imported from
outside (ivory and ebony articles, perfumes, jewellery) was
much more important for Egypt than the transit trade in
articles imported from India and China. The same is true
of Syria with her glass-ware, her linen and woollen stuffs dyed
with the true Tyrian purple. Inter-provincial commerce was
the main source from which the wealth of the large maritime
and river cities all over the Empire was derived, and it -was
almost entirely a commerce in articles of prime necessity . From
the second century we have hundreds of inscriptions which
mention the profession of men of the time. Many of these
give us the names of merchants {mercatores, negotiator es) a.nd
even tell us their special line of business. If we eliminate from
the mass those which refer to retail-traders in the various
cities and take into account the wholesale merchants only —
the importers and the exporters — ^we see that the majority of
them dealt in foodstuffs, especially com, wine, and oil, in
metals, lumber, clothes, and pottery. Corn was exported by
many provinces, notably by Egypt, Africa, Sardinia, Sicily,
and to a large extent also by Gaul and Spain. Greece was fed
by Asia Minor and South Russia. The largest quantities of
the finest olive-oil were now produced by Spain and exported
to Gaul, Britain, Italy, and other countries. African olive-
oil was not of so good a quality as that of Spain, but it was
undoubtedly cheaper and was therefore used for lamps and
for toilet purposes. The lands which produced the best wine
were now Italy, Greece, Asia Minor, and Gaul. It would be
easy to enumerate all the articles of provincial export and
import, but the main fact which would emerge from the
enumeration would be that articles of luxury played almost
no part in the big wholesale trade, which dealt almost ex-
clusively with the necessities of life.^^
Who were the consumers of all these articles ? For whom
.were such quantities of corn, meat, oil, and wine moved
from one place to another ? It must be admitted that a careful
investigation of the sources shows that the largest consumer
was the imperial annona and that most of the merchants, who
frequently were at the same time shipowners and owners of
storehouses, worked on behalf of the emperor, that is to say.
V Commerce and Industry 149
on behalf of the population of the city of Rome arid the army.
Such an impression is conveyed, above all, by the study of the
inscriptions which speak of the collegia of merchants and of
shipowners, the navicularii of the sea and the nautae of the
rivers. . Most of these collegia were recognized and even
favoured by the state, because they were useful or rather
indispensable to it. No doubt men of the same profession
felt a natural desire to associate, to meet together and promote
their professional interests ; but there is equally little doubt
that the imperial government would never have recognized,
not \o say protected, these associations had it not been for their
utility to the state.* It is a notable fact that the first collegia
to be not merely recognized but also granted protection and
privileges were those of merchants and shipowners. Already
in the Hellenistic period, at least in Egypt, such associations
were in the service of the state. The Romans inherited these
relations in Alexandria. It was natural that they should
extend them to the associations which existed at Rome,
Ostia, Puteoli, Aquileia, and to those which were developing
in Gaul, Spain, and Africa. It was easier to deal with an
organized body, of which the members were known, than
with a loose mass of unknown men ; and without their help
the imperial administration would never have solved the
extremely difficult problem of transporting large and bulky
masses of goods. As early as Claudius the work of organizing
the merchants and shipowners was complete, as is shown by
the large building at Ostia, where the different provincial
and local corporations dealing with the annona had their
offices.^^
We must, however, be careful not to lay undue stress
on this aspect of the case. It is true that the imperial annona
was the chief moving force in the inter-provincial trade,
buying and transporting large masses of corn, oil, wine, meat,
fish, lumber, hides, metals, and clothes for the needs of the
armies on the Rhine, Danube, and Euphrates, and some of
these articles for the needs of the capital. But the annona did
not stand alone in requiring the good offices of the great
merchants and the rich transporters. Many large cities
especially in the East would have; starved if they had been
deprived of imported foodstuffs ; and many products of
industry could not be produced in every city. The frequent
mention of cnrSivaL in the Greek cities shows that the corn-
150 Flavians and <tAntonines chap.
dealers did not deal with the annona only, but that they had
other no less important customers.
Commerce between the provinces existed, of course, in
the first century, but it assumed much larger proportions in
the second. Almost wholly new was the internal commerce
which was now developing in almost every province of the
Empire. It was not indeed entirely new. Egypt, Greece,
Asia Minor, and Syria had always had a good system of land
and river roads ; and an active exchange of goods within the
frontiers of these lands, now Roman provinces, had gone on
for centuries. In Gaul, too, with her wonderful system of
rivers and-a corresponding network of well-Jkept natural roads,
internal trade already existed. But for the largest part of
the West including Africa, and for many regions of the
East, internal commerce became possible only under the
Empire. The almost complete security of travel by road and
river, the absence of high customs-duties, and above all the
splendid system of Roman roads produced an efflorescence
of provincial commerce never seen before. This development
in its turn gave a powerful impulse to the growth of trade
within the cities, as is shown by the number of inscriptions
which mention retail-traders and shopowners, and by the
ruins of their shops, in most provincial towns.
The growth of commerce between provinces and within
provinces is an indication of the tendency of commerce to
become decentralized. The tendency was strongly marked.
Italy was losing the dominant position in commercial life
which she had inherited from the Greek East and had held,
not without success, for about two centuries, during which
she developed her agriculture and industry side by side with
trade. True, Italian merchants still held the Danubian
market, they still exported some Italian products, they still
formed a large and rich class in Rome, but they were unable to
prevent a remarkable growth of commerce and of a commercial
class in the provinces, and even the conquest of Italy by it.
The decay of Italian, and especially of South Italian, com-
merce is shown most strikingly by the gradual decline of
Puteoli, the greatest harbour of the Republican period,
especially for Italy’s Oriental commerce, the successor of
Delos and the rival of Alexandria in both trade and industry.
It is usual to attribute this decline to the construction of an
artificial harbour at Ostia by the Emperor Claudius, a harbour
V 151
which was enlarged by Nero and rebuilt by Trajan. But that
fact alone is not enough to account for the decay of the city.
In the early Empire Ostia was not a neglected spot, as
G. Calza has shown. She was the greatest harbour of Italy for
the foodstuffs {annona) which the state imported into Italy
and Rome, mostly from the western provinces. Ships from
Spain, Gaul, Sardinia, and Africa found good accommodation
in the port of Ostia, as is proved by the ‘ corporation-hall’
and by the immense storehouses of the early imperial period.
The importance of the city is attested by its constant growth
in •the first century b. c. and the first century a. d. Neverthe-
less in the first century of our era Ostia was unable to com-
pete with Puteoli and failed to attract to her harbour private
merchants from West or East or even the supply fleet of
Alexandria. The reason was that Puteoli was a better place
for the merchants and the shipowners, not that it was a better
harbour. It was a better place because the Campanian
market was more valuable for the merchants than the Roman,
and because a return cargo was easily found there, whereas
none was available at Ostia, since Rome never was an
industrial centre of importance.
The fact that Puteoli declined and that Ostia grew at her
expense shows that these conditions had changed. The best
testimony to the decay of the Campanian port is furnished by
the well-known inscriptions relating to the Tyrian statio in
the city. This once prosperous statio now recognizes the
■supremacy of its former Ostian and Roman branch and humbly
appeals for money. Without doubt the main stream of com-
merce had left Puteoli for Ostia. The only explanation of
the change is that Puteoli had lost her old advantage over
Ostia, the ability to provide return cargoes. The goods of
Campania — -wine, oil, and manufactured goods — were appar-
ently no longer in such demand as to attract large numbers
of merchants to the port, and the reason can only have been
that the typical Campanian goods were produced better and
more cheaply in places nearer to the consumers — ^not that
Rome and Ostia began to produce them, which notoriously
was not the case. Ostia remained what she had been, the
largest import harbour for the food-supply and for other goods
needed by the city of Rome.®^
While Ostia grew at the expense of Puteoli, the provincial
commerce developed at the expense of the commerce of Italy
DESCRIPTION OF PLATE XXI
T i ' ^ COLLECTION TORLONIA AT ROME. Museo
lorlonia, Rome. C. _L. Visconti, I monumenti del Museo Torlonia, No 4^0
tev iio; Th. Achreiber in Jahrb. d. d. arch. Inst.,11 (i 2 ,g(>). -Q. 99, fiff 6^
S. Reinach d. rel. 111, p. 344, 4. On the paintings and bas-reliefs \vtich
?-^i °f the provinces in general, see K. Lehmann-
Hartleben, Die antiken Hafenanlagen des Mittelmeeres ’, in KUo Beih 14
Itriods merchant ships of the Greek and Roman
periods, A. Roster, Das antike Seewesen, 1923, pp. 151 fi., esp. p. 173 fis, 42
The bas-rehef represents the arrival of a big merchant ship in a harbour
nf one, probably belonging to the same owner, is^ unloading her
cargo of wme-jars. Between the two ships stands the god Neptune. On the
lighthouse, with the statue of a heroized emperor on
mm/iman ,*^1® /ourth Storey, and a large triumphal arch crowned by an elephant-
tWahf ^ branch in his hand. On the roof of
^ ship the owner, his wife, and the captain (?) are performing
LurS— theTvrh?!^f?r"K buildings are shown certain divinf
fKa ^T? Tyche of a harbour city with a lighthouse on her head (Alexandria
the Roman eagle on a wreath, the Genius of Rome (?), and the vod Liber
(Bacchus). Beneath the sail of the smaller ship is seen a large eye (a charm
Sroof Lrof tTp’Tt^- The^relief does not gile in exact
siS ?Lt thP nPf harbour. But all the details
suggest that the harbour which is meant is that of Ostia or the Portus Traiani
S tL*RrS°S,io thP^fi she-wolf and the twins on the^aii
aM thi figures of Venus (and Mars P) and Amor on the stem,
or thP Liber. The relief is either a votive one
or the signboard of a wine merchant. Note the figure of Liber which also
appears on the prow of the large ship, the bust of the god on the’ prow of the
smaller one and the two letters V(otum) L{ibero) on the sail of the lar^e ship
2. mE OF THE BAS-RELIEFS OF THE COLUMN OF TFATAV
Text”ii^nDTss^°“®q F Traianssdule, pi. XXV t^d
text 11, pp. 155 ff. ; S. Remach, Rep. d. rel., i p. 330 27 and 28
•rJ+n start of Trajan’s second expedition. Soldmrs are loading a river-ship
with the baggage of the army. Trajan himself, his staff, and a cfetachment oi
praetorians are ready to board another river-ship furnished with a cabin The
oammen are certainly civilians and natives of the province On the shorl is
laS P?ss?blv isda^nn obviously one of the cities of the Danubian
lanas, possibly biscia on the Save, and outside it a stone amphitheatre Near
the amphitheatre are shown the navalia, the river port of the citv with a larp-e
storehouse and two arches, one of them ’(that neare^s? tolhe wS)^4h a ^
rdiefe of tiie 00101^^’^ Nnn?^ f°+h k harbours are frequent in the
Sv1”ha1bS?^^ olThin” Low important tt
CdiMShfary pm1.o“^ “Mainly not
Restore?^fS?iSf Af MONUMENT OF OSTIA. Vatican, Rome.
^ Agnail d TSfifi ni 1 . r L"Llished soon after its discovery
. w” xivos' “i! 4 : 21s, 'p* Mii™!
his *Le picture was occupied by a large figure of Mercury with
Maded viS S of com ® ^ sliall merchant-ship^eing
On the stem stSids th^^mS Ger^iniana.
A norter J ^ith his name inscribed, Farnaces magister.
t ae prfsencro/two'men ^ T i^®'^ (inscribed res) into a larger one
above his head Anofiier « + ^ whom has his name, Abascanius, written
says fS wMle twi othei^ ’ tL® how, lifts his right hand and
y others carry sacks from the shore to the <shm
was probably in the service of the annona. Probably also Abascantus rthe
naviculanus) was the owner of the ship and of the tomb Bv hR side is the
mensor fnmentarius, an agent of the state. * ^ ^
V
Commerce and Industry 153
in general and even of Ostia. It was much easier for the
iniperial department of annona to give orders for the com,
wine, oil, lumber, hides, ropes, metals, clothing, shoes, arms,
&c., required for the army and the navy, to Gallic merchants
and transporters, who were well acquainted with the con-
ditions of the local market and had at their disposal large
numbers of river and sea-going ships and other means of
transportation, than to have recourse to Italian dealers.
Most of the articles needed by the soldiers were ready to hand
in jdaul, Britain, Spain, and in the Alpine regions (lumber,
pitbh, metals, hides), and in a land with such splendid natural
resources as Gaul ‘it was very easy to develop new branches
of industrial and agricultural production, such as vine-planting,
bee-keeping, the manufacture of cloth, shoes, and soap, and so
forth. The system of river-ways, which has been frequently
mentioned, and the good sea harbours on the southern,
western, and northern shores of Gaul made it easy for the
Gallic merchants — much easier than for the Italians— to !
collect the products not only of Gaul but of the neighbouring |
provinces partly in Lyons and Treves, partly in the Cities of the
lower Rhine (where the products of Britain were also assem- |
bled), and to distribute them among the military posts on the
Rhine. We have to remember, too, that the lake of Constance I
{Brigantinus) and the connexion between Switzerland and the }
Danube regions, as well as the predominantly Celtic character ^
of the population of Noricum, made access to the Danube
regions easy for the merchants of Gaul and enabled them to I
conxpete, at least in the case of less bulky articles, with the
Italian merchants and with the harbour of Aquileia and the
Dalmatian cities.
Thus , in the second century, the commerce of Gaul and with
it agriculture and industry reached an unprecedented state i
of prosperity. To realize the brilliant development of com-
merce and industry in Gaul, it is sufficient to read the inscrip-
tions in the twelfth and thirteenth volumes of the Corpus and
to study the admirable collection of sculptures and bas-reliefs
found in the country and published by Esperandieu. The ,
inscriptions of Lyons, for instance, whether engraved on stone
monuments or on various articles of common use (‘ instru-
mentum domesiicum’), and particularly those which mention '
the different trad^ associations, reveal the great importance ;
of the part played by the city in the economic life of Gaul and
■h
mosaic OF MEDEINA (ALTHIBUROS) IN AFRICA PRO-
CONSULARIS. Musee Alaoui, Tunis. Inventaire des Mosatgues
de la (jaule et de I Afnque. ii, 1910, No. 576 ; S. Reinach, Rip.
- bibliograjihy given in note 34 to this
chapter, and for the inscriptions CIL.,^ viii, 27790.
This mosaic covered the floor of the frigidarmm of a bath in
mosaic
show (I) the head of the Ocean surrounded by fishes, other sea
animals and Cupids riding on dolphins, and (2) the figure of a
river-god surrounded by reeds, with a branch of a tree in his left
xiana. Ihe space between them represents the water on which
ships are
designated by their special names, which are sometimes accompanied
Latin poets. Some of the names are given
both in Latin and m Greek. The best-preserved inscriptions — the
found in the works quoted above and in note 34 — are
mtis sive raiiaria. (2) Celetes, Klxnres *
hypereticosque celetas ' (LuciHus ?). (3) Celoces : ^ labitur uncta
^na per aequora cana celocis ’ (Ennius). (4) Corbiia : ‘ quam
raalus navi e corbita maximus ulla'st ’ (Lucilius). (5) Hippaeo
ijT^aypo, (laden with three horses-Ferox, Icarus, and Crrado):
I.L. ( 7 ) Actuaria (the captain is indicating the
p per time to tte oarsmen by means of a wooden hammer
manHlatnf ■ i Tesseranae. (9) Paro : ' [tunc se fluctigero tradit
mmd]atq[ue] paroni (Cicero). (10) Myoparo. (ii) Musculus,
variety of ships used by the ancient
forms purposes. A similar variety of names and
deSiovS fhi creation of steamers
river lif^ On^ individual elements in sea and
talcrintions of different forms of ships mentioned in the
inscriptions of the mosaic and depicted on it see the relpitix-p
articles in Daremberff and Savlio nL / /w ’ ® ^*'® ’®'®*'^®
RIVER AND SEA-GOING SHIPS
(Mosaic of Althiburos) ^ ^
XXII. TRADE OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE *?
V
Commerce and hidustry ^ 55
of the Roman Empire as a whole. Lyons was not only the
great clearing-house for the commerce in corn, wine, oil, and
lumber ; she was also one of the largest centres in the Empire
for the manufacture and the distribution of most of the
articles consumed by Gaul, Germany, and Britain.^®
No less important than Lyons was Treves, the beautiful city
on the Moselle. Treves was an exclusively commercial town
with practically no industry. Her merchants, like those of
Lyons and of Arelate (Arles), were mostly agents of the
imperial government ; they bought various goods in Gaul,
shipped them on the Moselle, and transported them to the
cities of the Rhyie and the forts of the Limes. Their chief
speciality was clothes and wine. The particular part played
by the city in the economic life of Gaul and Germany is
depicted on the highly interesting funeral monuments,
derived from the pillar type, which were a distinctive feature
of the Moselle lands. These monuments are practically covered
with sculptures, partly representing mythological scenes but
mostly illustrating in detail the business and private life of their
builders, whose main occupation was clearly wholesale trade,
not industry. The well-known monument at Igel, erected on the
grave of the family of the Secundinii in the early third century
A. D., depicts in minute detail the wholesale trade in clothes
and the means of transportation it employed. A series of
panels display the great office of the Secundinii trading-house
with the samples, the shop, the packing of the goods, their
transportation by land in big carts and by river in ships towed
by haulers. While the Secundinii were big clothes-merchants,
some of the owners of the luxurious monuments discovered
in fragments at Neumagen were dealers in wine. On these
monuments the same series of scenes is represented as on the
Igel monument, but the wares consist of large wooden barrels
of wine. The rich merchants of Treves, as appears from
various scenes sculptured on their funeral monuments, in-
vested their money, like Trimalchio and the other wealthy
men of the first century, partly in land, partly in banking or
money-lending. We shall return to this subject in the next
chapter.^®
Two other great commercial cities of Gaul were Arelate
and Narbo. They, however, were mostly concerned not with
supplying the army of the Rhine, like Lyons and Treves, but
with the export of Gallic products, especially wine, to Rome
DESCRIPTION OF PLATE XXIII
'T i r, ^ large funeral monument Found al
S“ea°«“T“. a “?”■ j""' A». iH.. iv,
wWcl?H,^ the customere. A customer m buying wine
iSb-S'XSr ^ Si'S
wme-producmg region and a great centri of the win^ trade at Iirpr^sentMay
OF^'a^mIrCHANT^ FUNERAL MONUMENT
"•■ teS"' ^t“- -'/"“wf ” sS'Sk i*”7 ;\ofr'
giS3SSHSSSis|,
^^^“^ELrlEF ON ONE SIDE OF A PENTAGON AT "RT opt” t
&?si etIS.S/S
KK^sSSi^gSaraS
gt..i vS^fpfff fei„tTli»“i“riA®?“ =■
WINB AND IN PORK
A RETAIL MERCHANT
3 . TRANSPORT OF WINE
5* A PHARMACY OR A
XXIII. INDUSTRY AND COMMERCE IN GAUL
V Commerce and Industry 1 57
and other cities of Italy and even to the Oriental provinces.
We know of many of their citizens who acquired large fortunes
by combining the busihess of wholesale merchants with that
of transporters.®’
Once started, the business life of Gaul was bound to
develop. Enriched by the growth of commerce, agriculture,
and industry, the country became an important consumer of
local and foreign goods, which easily reached the remotest
corners of Britain. Nor was there any reason why the activity
of the Gallic merchants should stop at the frontiers of Roman
provinces. They resumed again the commercial relations
which had existed from time immemorial with Germany. The
products of the industry of Gaul, cheap and solid as they were,
though not very elegant, were welcomed all over the Empire ;
and with these products and her wine and corn Gaul paid for
her imports from Italy and the East.
In comparison with Gaul, the commercial life of Spain,
Africa, and Britain did not attain a high development. The
market for the products of these lands was not very large,
and their trade, apart from exports to Rome and Italy, was
chiefly internal and in local products. The only commercial
rivals of Gaul in the western part of the Empire were the
Adriatic harbours and particularly Aquileia. The fertility of
Northern Italy and the favourable situation of Aquileia,
whence natural roads led to the main rivers of the Danube
region, gave the city and the district in general such an
advantage that Gaul almost entirely abandoned the Danube
market. This fact explains why Northern Italy and Dalmatia
grew in prosperity, while Central and Southern Italy gradually
decayed. Aquileia was a clearing-house for the army of the
Danube in the same way as were Lyons and Treves for the
army of the Rhine. The cities at the mouth of the Danube
could hardly compete with her, as they had no developed
industry nor scientific agriculture.®® . • ,
The same process of emancipa,tion from Italy, or rather
a revival of the conditions which had existed before the Roman
domination, was going on in the Efist. Here again the state
contributed greatly to the resumption of a lively, economic
activity by the Oriental provinces of the Empire. The armies
of the middle and upper Euphrates were good customers for
the inhabitants of Syria and Asia Minor. Another valuable
market for the East was Rome itself, which absorbed large
158 Flavians and\Antonines chap.
quantities of articles produced there or imported thither from
Gentrai Asia, China, and India, The same was true of Egypt.
The army of Egypt, of course, was not large enough for its
consumption to form a considerable item in the trade-balance
of so rich a country ; but an important market was provided
by the city of Rome, which Egypt supplied with corn, linen,
paper, and goods manufactured in Alexandria from raw
materials imported from India and China. The state, the
army, and the city of Rome were not, however, the largest
consumers of Oriental goods. The growing prosperity of the
cities of the Empire increased the demand for articles of firPer
quality, which were not exclusively luxuries but mostly
things ministering to the comfort of civilized men, such as the
better brands of coloured woollen and linen stuffs and of
leather ware, more or less artistic furniture, fine silver plate,
perfumes and paints, artistic toilet articles, spices and the
like. These things became more and more necessities of life
for the city population throughout the Empire, and it is not
surprising that they were imported in ever-increasing quantities
from the few places where they were made to the cities of the
East and the West. The number of Alexandrian articles,
for instance, found in the half-Greek cities of South Russia
is astonishing, and yet these cities were not exceptional. The
trade of the East with the cities of the Empire was the main
source of wealth for the eastern provinces and for Egypt.^® ' '
This Oriental trade was no longer concentrated in the
hands of Roman and Italian merchants. During the first
century a. d. the Italian merchants gradually disappeared
from the East. The causes of their disappearance have already
been stated. Discouraged by the bad conditions prevailing
in the East in the second half of the first century b. c. and
attracted by the new markets in the West, the Italians
gradually moved from East to West. When peace came
and the East began to revive, the Italians who remained
behind were unable to compete with the shrewd Orientals
who had never abandoned to the western immigrants the
key positions of the Oriental trade, Alexandria and the
Syro-Phoenician harbours. From here in the second and
first centuries b. c. the Syrian and Egyptian merchants
had sent out their agents to Delos and afterwards to
Puteoli, and they had maintained their depots (stationes) all
through the difficult times of the civil wars. On the restoration
V Commerce and Industry 159
of peace these stationes became the natural intermediaries
between East and West. The East had no longer any attrac-
tions for the Italians, as they had no hope of overcoming their
rivals. The result was that the Italians disappeared from
those parts as they disappeared from the West, and the
Orientals not only monopolized trade in the East but appeared
in steadily growing numbers in the harbours of Italy and the
western provinces.®”
Of the organization of commercial activity in the Roman
Empire we know but little. There was no change in the
attitude of the central government towards commerce. Its
policy was the policy of free trade both in the first and in the
second century. As has been pointed out above, the emperors
retained the moderate customs-duties which were levied on
the frontiers of all provinces, and encouraged those merchants
and shipowners who were necessary to the state by granting
them privileges and so allowing them to develop their business
and their professional organizations. Thus in the sphere both
of foreign trade and of internal commerce, whether between
or within provinces, the policy of the government remained
a policy of laissez-faire.
In Egypt under the Ptolemies commerce had been more
or less nationalized, but the Roman emperors did not maintain
this system intact, much less develop it. The method of grant-
ing concessions was gradually abandoned. The state agents
of the Hellenistic epoch became free retail-traders, and their
obligations towards the state were reduced to the payment of
certain taxes. It cannot indeed be affirmed that the old system
was rooted out, but it was not enforced and therefore gradually
died a natural death.
The existence of great numbers of associations both of
wholesale and jetail merchants, and of shipowners and trans-
porters, may seem to indicate that the commerce of the first
and second centuries began to lose its individualistic character
and gradually to assume the form of modern capitalistic com-
merce, based on large and wealthy trade-companies. The
facts, however, do not support this view. Business life
throughout the history of the Greco-Roman world remained
wholly individualistic. The only exception was the companies
of tax-collectors with their quaSi-modern organization, but
they were a temporary phenomenon. They grew up with the
approval and under the protection of a state which was neither
i6o Flavians and tAntomnes chap.
willing nor able to deal with the complicated problem of tax-
collection, and they began to die out as soon as the state
withdrew its protection and began to control their activity
more strictly. The tax-farming companies left practically no
traces in the legislation of the Roman Empire concerning
trade-companies and trade-corporations. The trade associa-
tions of the Imperial period were in no sense the offspring of
the tax-collecting companies. They developed as professional
associations and were recognized as such by the state because,
as has been said, it was easier for the state to deal with groups
than with single persons. I do not affirm that they were ipere
clubs and religious groups, but I am convinced that, in so far
as they had an economic importance, this’ was limited to the
regulation of the relations between them and the state,
relations which had more of a social and juridical than of an
economic character. In normal times the state dealt with the
single members of an association. It dealt with the group as
such only when it granted a privilege to all the members or
imposed a burden on all. To pass from individualism directly
to compulsion and to nationalization was the normal way
for a Greco- Roman community. The individualistic character
of commercial life in the Imperial period is shown by the
peculiarities of Roman legislation on the companies (societates).
Roman law never mentions the type of companies that is so
familiar in modern times, clearly because such companies did
not exist. The Roman societates were mere groups of indi-
viduals who were but slightly limited in their individual
activity by the existence of the company.®^
It is worthy of note that the only exception to this rule was
the companies of merchants at Palmyra. They had their own
apX^H^TropoL or presidents, who certainly cannot be identified
with the a-vi'oSidpxai or chiefs of caravans. The latter were
probably elected by a a-woSla, or caravan, for every journey,
whereas the dpxepwopoi seem to have held a permanent office.
The scantiness of our evidence on the Palmyrene merchants
prevents us from forming a definitive judgement on their
organization. It seems, however, that the parallels to these
companies must be sought not in the Roman Empire but in
Babylonian traditions and among the Babylonian trade
associations. It is to be hoped that systematic excavations
in and near Palmyra will yield us more parchments of the same
kind'as those recently found by F. Cumont at Doura.®®
V Commerce and Industry i6i
Our survey of the evolution of commerce in the Roman
Empire in the first two centuries A. D. establishes the fact
that commerce, and especially foreign and inter -provincial
maritime commerce, provided the main sources of wealth
in the Roman Empire. Most of the nouveaux riches owed
their money to it. Industry, land, and money-lending were
regarded as more or less safe investments for wealth gained
by commercial enterprise. The richest cities of the Empire
(I would emphasize the fact at the risk of repetition), the
cities in which the most opulent men in the Roman world
resided, were those that had the most developed commerce
and lay near the sea on great trade-routes or were centres
of a lively river traffic.-'’*
Another source of wealth was industry. Goods which
were produced by local industries, especially such as could
not be reproduced and imitated elsewhere, were widely
distributed over the Empire. The East, and particularly
Asia Minor and Phoenicia, remained famous for the production
of fine coloured clothes and carpets. Asia Minor was the
chief centre for woollen garments, Syria and Egypt for linen.
The best leather goods were also a speciality of the Near
East — of Syria, Babylonia, Asia Minor, and Egypt. The
paper of Egypt had no rival except the parchment of Asia
Minor and Syria. Syrian and Egyptian glass was still prized
throughout the Roman world. Fine jewellery, too, was
mostly of Oriental origin. One fact is striking : industry
forsook the mainland of Greece for ever. Only one or two
articles of importance are named in our sources as being
produced by Greece itself.®®
The most important feature in the development of
industry is its rapid decentralization. The East stiU plays
an important part in industrial life, but it does not stand
alone. The West begins to develop a brilliant industry.
Of Italy we have already spoken. The fate of Italian in-
dustry was to a certain extent similar to that of the industry
of Greece proper. With the extension of civilization and
city-life to the Western provinces Italy lost her leading
position as the centre of industrial activity in the West. The
woollen clothes of South Italy, especially Tarentum, and
those of North Italy were still appreciated and bought. But
the dominant part which had been played by Italy in the
production of glass, pottery, lamps, and even metal vessels,
2354-2 M
I. W. Amelung, 1. 1., No. 167 ; S. Reinach, I. 1,
DESCRIPTION OF PLATE XXIV
1. BAS-REUEF. Galleria degli Ufiizi, Florence. W. Amelung
Fuhrev duYch die Antiken in Florenz, No. i68 ; S. Reinach JRM
a. reL, ui, p. 44, 3. ^
Interior of a shop. On the wall are hung pillows (or rugs
Ijelts, and a large piece of cloth (or a rug ?). Two shop-assistants’
m the presence of the shopowner (?), open a box with a pillow"
inside It, which is inspected by two customers, a man and a wo^man
seated on a bench. Behind them stand two slaves.
2. AS NO.
P-44.2-
Two customers (or the owners of the factory), attended bv
two slaves, inspect a large piece of cloth which is displayed before
them by two men. ^ ^
J. Sieveking, in Jahresh. d. oesterr. arch. Inst., 13 (igio) -n. 07
and figs. 56, 57, assigns these two reliefs to the second half of the
date is accepted by Mrs. A. Strong, Scnlt.
A ■ X . Amelung points out, is similar to that
rpran* (so-called Hellenistic) bas-reliefs ; the composition
shop-signs and mural decorations of Pompeii (see pis
to the 1st bas-reliefs belong rather
^ Of ^FUNERALSTELE. Ravenna. IntheMuseum.
S. Reinach, d. rek, iii, p. 128, 3.
®i part of the stele contains two busts in a niche. Above
and below the niche runs the inscription : ‘ P. Longidienus P f
Cani. faber navahs se invo constituit et Longidienae P. I. Stactini!
P-i- P- Longidienul P. 1. Piladespotus
impensam patrono dederunt (CIL., xi, 139 ; Dessau, I. £. s.,
harH ^^e stele shows Longidienus working
* J^uiWing a ship ; near it is a plaque with the legend
with^s^oric^)* properat ' (' Longidienus pushes on
xi. 4 - fragment of a funeral stele. Aquileia In
p *“■ »
five7fn"a^v^L® ^ pair of bellow”
fixed to a shield to protect him from the blaze. On the right are
isplayed some products of the smith’s work-tongs, a hlmmer
a spear-head, and a lock. Of the inscription only the end is pre-
served, et l(ibertis) l(ibertabus)que '. ^ ^
^tea»
3- SHIPBUILDING
XXIV. INDUSTRY IN ITALY
V Commerce and Industry 163
was gone for ever. So far as these goods were still produced
there, they were destined almost wholly for the local market.
The most dangerous rival of Italy was Gaul. Her wealth in
metals and her splendid clay, her large forests and meadows,
her wonderful system of river communications, made it easy
for the spirited business men of the country to beat Italy and
drive her almost entirely from the North-western markets.
The red-glazed pottery of Gaul and Germany killed out the
Italian product which was its prototype ; glass made on the
Rhine was cheaper and better than that of Campania ;
wobllen cloaks for everyday use, a speciality of Gaul and
later of Britain, found their way not only to Italy but also
to the East ; bronze safety-pins, enamelled in the champleve
style, and bronze vessels from Gallic shops flooded Italy,
Spain, Britain, Germany, and reached even the steppes of
South Russia. In short, Gaul now became what Italy had
been in the first century b. c., the greatest industrial land of the
West. The Danube provinces, Spain, and Africa could not
rival the Gallic shops."'^®
But the decentralization of industry was not limited to
the industrialization of Gaul. Every province of the Empire
and every provincial district endeavoured as far as possible to
compete with the imported goods by replacing them with
cheap local imitations. It is well known that the factory
(or the shops) of Fortis in North Italy, which at first almost
monopolized the production of clay lamps, lost its world-
wide market in the second century, its products being re-
placed in the various provinces by local lamps of the same
shape, which sometimes even reproduced the Fortis trade-
mark. Specially instructive is the history of lamp manu-
facture in Africa. The Italian lamps were first replaced by
lamps made in Carthage, which swept the local African
markets. But gradually the Carthaginian ware was ousted
from some of the markets by lamps of local make. Another
instructive example is the factory of clay vases, with applique
figures, owned by a certain Navigius near El Aouza. These
vases were reproductions of types which originally came from
the East to Italy, and they succeeded in obtaining a wide
market.®’
The central government did nothing to protect Italian
industry. There was no legislation in the Imperial period
comparable to modem legislation concerning patents. Every-
m
DESCRIPTION OF PLATE XXV
(Agedincum, Senones), In
■nl yy • TT *T7o A GallO'Romain de Sens, p. 85 and
pi. x!X , E. Esp6raii(ii6ii. JR&c. iv "NTr.
r.1 TV . w -c-. X ypuHv-iiomain ae i,ens, p. 85 and
pi. IX , E. Espdrandieu, Rec. gin., iv, No. 2768
+1,,. of a fuller. The lower part (No 7) shows
the fuller treading the cloth in a basin, the upper (No il the s am p
fuller clipping a piece of cloth with a large pair of scissori.
_ 2. fragment of a funeral stele. Sens. In the
I- I'> No. 2783.
A maker of wooden shoes (sabots) in his shop. In his riaht hand
he holds a hammer, in his left a piece of wood (?). On the^rall am
shown his instruments. V . ; • un rne wau ai e
3 ' fragment of a funeral stele. Sens. In the
1 Esperandien, 1. 1., No. 2780.
Metal-ware shop. A customer is looking at two ^larae pans
hung on the wall, while the shopowner offers him a small one ^
4- fragment of a stele. Sens. In the Museum.
P' ^3 and pi. IX; E. Esperandien, 1 . 1,, No 2778'
A man near a counter, before which lie a basket and a bag. ’
n .5' EFAGMENT of a stele. Sens. In the Museum
G. 1. 1 ., p. 87 and pi. IX ; E. Espdrandieu, 1. 1., No 2784
m or merchant behind his counter, holding & stilus
P 5* OF A STELE, Sens. In the Museum
Na.^78? ’ '-’ P- IX and LII ; E. Eapdrand^ri T;
Funeral monument of a tailor. The tailor (whose hands onlv are
preserved) is cutting a piece of doth with a large pa^of sdsLr?^
allStroSK^^^
(a driver, «S«s‘)Tno.^ 27V5 S deal5in bTrdJ) ,?>?? 2778’ (iSsonl^?U
No. 2782 (a merchant ?), and many funeral i/dae wfth portents' of
the deceased which depict attributes of the manTprSfortn
3 ^rfxS,'s=‘. mis t‘h^srp.“" ^ ”■ ^
a good ld„ .f tt, buslneas Me of a cSIfL^ of^nle^fdiriS
XXV. INDUSTRY AT AGED INCUM (SENS)
V Commerce and Industry 165
body was free to imitate, and even to counterfeit, the products
of a rival. Was this due to lack of initiative or to a definite
policy on the part of the government ? In any case it shows
that industrialists as such had no political influence whatever.
The great landowners could induce the government to protect
the wine production of Italy (as will be explained in the next
chapter), the rich merchants succeeded in getting important
privileges for commerce, but apparently no influential men
were interested in industry. The inference is that industry
remained in the hands of comparatively small shopkeepers
and never took the form of great industrial concerns in which
large capital was invested. This was a distinct declension, even
by comparison with the organization of industry in Athens
and probably in the Hellenistic states, and certainly by
comparison with the gradual industrialization of life which
we have observed in Italy in the first century a. d., especially
at Pompeii. Decentralization of industry stopped the growth
of industrial capitalism in Italy, and it was now stunting the
growth of large industrial concerns in the provinces. We
cannot indeed deny that the process of industrialization which
had begun in Italy spread over most of the provinces, and
that in many small provincial towns we may follow the same
evolution as took place at Pompeii. Most of the cities in the
provinces which had been originally centres of agricultural
life and head-quarters of the administration of a larger or
smaller agricultural territory developed an important local
industry. Every larger territory, too, every province, had
its own commercial and industrial centres, which produced
goods not merely for the local, or even the provincial, market.
The reader will recollect what has been said of the growing
industrial production of Gaul, and the part played in it by
Lyons, and of the big commercial and industrial centres of
the East. In these large cities we must assume the same
development towards capitalistic mass-production which we
noticed both in the East and in Italy. Yet even in these
greater centres the big capitalistic concerns never became
larger and more efficiently organized than they had been in
the Hellenistic period. Local shops of petty artisans competed
successfully in many fields with larger capitalistic organiza-
tions. The small artisans were not wiped out by the great
industrial firms as they have been wiped out in Europe and
America in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Even such
1 66 Flavians and iAntonines chap.
products as glass and pottery were successfully manufactured
by local workshops, and the competition of these local products
did not allow the large businesses to develop indefinitely. The
local shops, as for example in Timgad, kept the old form of
artisan shops which both produced and sold a special article.'^®
Another interesting feature of economic life in the pro-
vinces was the competition with the city shops and factories
of large industrial establishments which had developed on
some of the great agricultural estates. Some of these properties
belonging to wealthy owners began in the second century to
organize workshops which produced goods, not for consump-
tion on the estate, but for sale. A big woollen factory has
been discovered in a villa in South France near Toulouse,
another in a villa in Britain. Pottery kilns have been found
in a villa in Belgium, and it is well known that a factory of
enamelled bronze articles formed part of the famous villa
of Anthee in Belgium. The capitalistic character of such
concerns is evident. But their development meant a further
decentralization of industry.®®
At the same time as industrial activity was becoming
decentralized, the goods produced were gradually simplified
and standardized, whether they were produced in large
factories or in small shops. The sense of beauty which had
been dominant in the industry of the Hellenistic period, and
still prevailed in the first century A. D., gradually died out
in the second. No new forms were created, no new orna-
mental principles introduced. The same sterility reigned in
the domain of technique. Save for some new devices in the
glass industry, we are unable to detect any new invention in
industrial technique after the first century. It is very instruc-
tive to compare the early Arretine pottery with the early
sigillata of Italy and Gaul, and the latter with the products
of the second century of our era. The beautiful Arretine
bowls and jugs are full of charm, the terra sigillata of the first
century is a marvel of technical skill and is still pretty, while
the similar pottery of the second century is flat and dull and
repeats the same motives and the same combinations of
motives, though stiU remaining a good and solid ware for
practical use. The same observation applies to jewellery,
products of toreutic art, engraved gems, furniture, domestic
utensils, arms and weapons, and so forth.“
How are we to explain the concurrence of industrial de-
V Commerce ^ and Industry 167
centralization and of decay in artistic taste and technical skill ?
We shall discuss this question in the last chapter, and we
content ourselves here with a few considerations. It is
evident that industrial products spread quickly all over the
civilized world and were successfully ousting home pro-
duction even in the remotest comers of the Empire. Witness
the statistics of finds, for instance, in the villages of Egypt.
Hardly a single piece found in these villages was produced
at home : everything was bought in the village shops and on
the market. The same is true of the graves of the poorer
inhabitants whether of the cities or of the country, throughout
the Empire. The general demand, therefore, alike in the
cities and in the country was not for the better products of
industry. The demand for these was confined to the circles
of the ricYiex iown bourgeoisie. The mass of the population
asked for cheap things, the cheaper the better. We shall
see later that the purchasing power of the country population
and the lower classes of the city residents was very small.
But their numbers were large. The existence of such con-
ditions was bound to give rise to mass production and
factory work. Another factor which must not be left out
of account was the state of transport. The seaports were
provided with an abundant supply of cheap articles, sea
transport being comparatively cheap. But the risk was some-
what high. Thus even in cities situated near the sea an
article produced on the spot was much cheaper than one
imported from a distant place. These conditions produced
the first stage of industrial decentralization. In Egypt and
Gaul the rivers facilitated the transport of goods to the
remotest parts of the country : hence the important develop-
ment of industry both in Alexandria and in the large Gallic
cities. The conditions were different in some parts of Spain,
in Africa, in many regions of the Danube lands, in Asia Minor,
and in Syria. The more Greco-Roman civilization advanced
into lands remote from the sea and lost its strictly Mediter-
ranean character, the more difficult it was to forward the
various products of industry to regions which lay far from
the sea and from the rivers. This accounts for the second
stage of decentralization. Every inland city tried to become
self-sufficient and to produce on the spot the goods needed
by the population, using the improved methods of technique
and imitating the current types.
1 68
Flaviafis and ^ntonines
CHAP.
As the demand was for cheap, that is to say, standardized
goods, the artisans of the small cities, unlike those of the
Greek cities of the archaic period, did not produce original
articles, which would have been too expensive to compete with
imported wares. They simply reproduced the standardized
articles by the methods they had learned in the large factories.
As machines were unknown and no protection was given
against counterfeiting, the business of the artisans in the
small cities flourished and they were able to compete with
the larger concerns in almost all fields of industry. This
lorced the large shops to lo^er the quality of their products *
they made them still cheaper and naturally still more standard^
ized and lifeless.
^ The labour employed both in small workshops and in
large concerns of the factory type was chiefly, though not
exclupvely, ^ slave labour. This explains why no labour
question existed and why no organization of labour was
attempted. The associations of men of the same profession
were probably mostly associations of large merchants and
of shipowners, of shopkeepers, and of artisans. If, however
a trade was connected directly with the imperial administra-
tion, The government protected not only the associations of
mer^ants and shipowners, but also those of workmen and
for the same reason— in order to have organized bodies and
not a loose mass of individuals to deal with. The slaves and
free wage-earners of the industries in which the state had
no interest could join the so-called collegia tenuiomm, which
pursued no economic aims.“
• A .^^ception to the above rule is to be found in the
industrial collegia of the East, especially Asia Minor. In all
the large industrial cities of Asia Minor we meet with numerous
and influential associations of men engaged in a given in-
dustry mostly in some branches of the textile industry Who
were the members of these associations ? Were thev shon-
tTfSnr ^''o^bination of both ? I am inclined
o tlimk that they included none but shopowners Thev
were guilds or corporations of men whose hereditary occu-
pation was a special trade, successors perhaps of certain
families of priests who knew the trade-secrets of one or other
branch of industry. The situation of labour in Asia Minor
seems to have been peculiar. ^Dio speaks of the linen-workers
{\ivovprgoi) of Tarsus as if they formed an inferior class of
V
Commerce and Industry 169
the city population, which did not enjoy the full city franchise.
It is very likely that these linen- workers were descendants
of serfs who originally had been attached to the temple-
factories.*® Similar conditions prevailed in Egypt. Here
also the temple-monopoly of industry had been destroyed by
the earliest Ptolemies. A period of almost complete nationaliza-
tion followed, the workmen being attached to a special branch
of industry producing on behalf of the state. Finally, in the
Roman period the ties of the state-monopoly were relaxed ;
the shopowners began to work (at least partly) for them-
selves, using the labour of members of their families, of
apprentices, and of hired men or slaves. To what extent
nationalization survived, and how far the practical enslave-
ment of the workmen to the state went, it is as yet impossible
to say.*®
It is typical of the conditions prevailing in Asia Minor,
where the workmen had ceased to be serfs but had not become
citizens of the cities, that it is the only country where we hear
of strikes, real professional strikes, not flights {avaxtopyjcn';)
to the temples to seek the protection of gods or to the swamps
and the desert, as in Egypt. It is in Asia Minor, too, that we
frequently hear of the city mob, which certainly consisted
of workmen employed in shops and factories, organizing
genuine attempts at social revolution. Such were the dis-
turbances in the Bithynian cities of which Dio often speaks,
the tumults of the Tarsian linen-workers related by the same
author, and the riots which occurred from time to time in
other Greek cities of Asia Minor, the Balkan peninsula, and
Palestine.**
Besides commerce, industry, and agriculture (which will
be dealt with in the next chapter, together with mines,
quarries, &c.), an important branch of business life was the
profession of bankers and private money-lenders. Credit
and credit operations were fully developed in the pities
of the Empire. The growth of trade and industry and
the increasing number of landowners residing in the cities
required ever larger amounts of currency which could be
used in developing and improving any given concern. On
the “Other hand, quantities of cash accumulated in the hands
of many capitalists. It is no wonder that money-lending was
a profitable occupation both for rich men who were not
professionals in the business and for regular bankers. Real
170 Flavians and iAntonines chap.
banks, private and municipal, developed throughout the
Empire.
The complicated nature of the business transacted by
the many banks {Tpdmlcu) of Egypt is highly instructive.
In the Ptolemaic period the bank$, like commerce and in-
dustry, had been monopolized by the state and had not
developed any very considerable activity. The Roman
government set free the banking business, and scores of
private banks sprang up in the various cities of Egypt. Our
information is, indeed, limited to some small provincial
towns, and we cannot therefore form any conception of the
business life of bankers in such a great centre of commerce
and industry as Alexandria. But even the local banks form
a most interesting subject of study. It is certain that they
accepted money on deposit and paid interest on some of these
deposits. It is also clear that they effected payments by
mere transfer from one account to another. Even transfers
of money from one city to another were occasionally carried
out through the medium of local banks. Another important
feature of banking operations was the buying and selling of
foreign coins and the testing of genuine and of false or adul-
terated coins. The extent to which the Egyptian banks were
engaged in credit operations is unknown. It is evident that
the money which they accumulated did not lie idle ; but, so
far as our information goes, their main occupation was to
help their customers in transacting business, in paying taxes,
and so forth.
The same range of business is attested by the evidence
which we have for the banks of Rome, Italy, and the provinces.
The banking system came to the West from Greece and the
Greek East, and the banks of Italy and the Western provinces
were managed mostly by men of Greek origin. Among the
main reasons for the successful development of banking
operations were the existence of diherent types of currency,
even in the imperial period, and the scarcity of coined money
which made the introduction of a system of credit-transfer
both for money and for natural products highly desirable and
even indispensable. We should be glad to know more of
the credit operations carried out by the banks, but what we
do know indicates that they acted in a manner not very
different from that of private money-lenders. We have’ to
remember that the banks, like all other branches of business.
V Commerce and Industry 171
were individual enterprises, and that no large joint-stock
banking companies existed in the ancient world, although some
of the banks, of course, were managed by partners.^®
We have said that the development of banking operations
was to some extent due to the conditions prevailing in regard
to the circulation of coined money. A discussion of this
difficult and complicated problem would be out of place here.
Suffice it to say that the monetary chaos which reigned in the
Greek cities and the Hellenistic monarchies before the period
of Roman domination in the East was greatly reduced by
the introduction of the paramount currency of the Roman
state. The local coinage gradually decreased and slowly
disappeared. In the first two centuries of our era, save for
the issues of the vassal kingdom of Bosporus, gold and
silver were coined solely by the Roman state. A provincial
silver * coinage was maintained by the state in Alexandria and
temporarily in Antioch, the two commercial capitals of the
East, while copper money was struck by the senate at Rome
and by very many cities, especially in the East. The city
coinage is explained by the fact that the Roman mint was
unable to meet the increasing demand of the Empire for small
coins, and it was therefore natural to decentralize the coinage
by allowing certain Oriental cities to keep their currency and to
strike copper coins which were indispensable for the develop-
ment of local trade. The evil effects of the existence of various
types of coins were lessened by the establishment of definite
rates of exchange. Gold and silver coinage, on the other hand,
was monopolized by the state. Though the amount of currency
was not sufficient even in these metals, the evil was lessened
by the activity of the banks. As agents or concessionaires
of the cities, the banks also took an active part in the issue
and distribution of local currency, which often led to specu-
lation and profiteering and provoked acute crises. We know
of two cases (at Pergamon and at Mylasa) where the dis-
appearance of small currency from the market caused dis-
turbances and even riots.“
The dearth of coined money of small denominations
produced some interesting results which testify to a powerful
development of economic life, the claims of which were but
slowly and incompletely met by the state. In the reigns of
Claudius and Nero, after the suppression of local Gallic and
* In Egypt the silver was very impure.
172 Flavians and ’LAntonines chap.
Spanish coinages, numerous imitations of the copper coins
minted at Rome appeared in the Western provinces, including
the Rhine lands and Britain, and these imitations were
tolerated by the Government. Moreover, in almost all the large
and even in some of the small cities of the Empire the retail-
traders, barmen, innkeepers, owners of ferries and passenger
boats, &c., issued their own money in the form of tokens and
jetons. Great quantities of these tesserae, mostly of lead, have
been found in the River Tiber at Rome, some in Aquileia, in
Ostia, in Smyrna, and elsewhere. It is possible that in some
parts even the cities made regular issues of such tokens, as the
metrofoleis in Egypt certainly did.*’
The greatest owners of coined money were certainly the
emperor and his fiscus. There is no doubt that they lent
money at interest like private money-lenders and private
banks. Their financial operations were certainly very numer-
ous and the fiscus was probably the largest banker in the
Empire. In times of crisis we hear of the emperors cancelling
such private debts to the imperial treasury. In some cases,
particularly in emergencies, the emperors acted in the same
capacity as state-banks in modern times. An instance is
furnished by the financial measure taken by the Emperor
Tiberius on behalf of the landowners of Italy. The funds
deposited by Augustus with the aerarium militare for the
purpose of paying pensions to retired soldiers cannot have
lain idle in the safe of this special treasury. The large
foundation for the alimenta created by Nerva and Trajan, and
developed by their successors, required skilful management,
and the financial operations of this department might be
compared vmtatis mutandis with those of modern state-banks
which lend on landed security. W e have very little information
as to this side of imperial activity, but it is certain that these
operations were never carried out methodically by the
emperors nor on any system comparable to that practised by
large modern state-banks.*®
One of the most striking illustrations of the high develop-
ment of economic life in the Empire in the first two centuries
of our era is furnished by the Roman civil law of the period,
as embodied both in the legislative acts of the emperors and
of the Roman magistrates (to a certain extent, also, of the
senate), and in the documents which record the various
business transactions of the time. A third source of informa-
V Commerce and Industry 173
tion is the juridical treatises, which are preserved in full or
in fragments. Only a specialist is competent to deal fully
with this subject. It is a misfortune that the scholar who
was so well qualified to set forth the development of Roman
civil law, from the juridical as well as the historical point of
view, L. Mitteis, died before completing his standard work,
of which only one volume has been published.^ To him we
owe the fundamental discovery, based on the study of the
Roman juridical sources and of the Greek papyri of Egypt,
that along with the purely Roman civil law which regulated
the business life of Roman citizens there existed in the pro-
vinces other systems of law regulating the life of the provin-
cials, above all the system of Greco-Hellenistic law created
by the Greek cities and the Hellenistic monarchs. How far
this system of law was influenced in Egypt, Asia Minor, and
Syria by the pre-existing systems of Egyptian, Hittite, and
Babylonian law we do not know. The comparative study of
law is still in its infancy, and we need a thorough study of the
Oriental systems as revealed to us by Egyptian legal practice
and by the codes of Babylonia, Assyria, and the Hittites.
But the labours of Mitteis and his pupils leave no doubt that
there was a fairly general system of Hellenistic civil law,
known to us from the inscriptions of Asia Minor, from the
parchments of Syria and the Syrian law-book, and especially
from the Greek papyri of Ptolemaic Egypt. We may presume,
therefore, that in the other provinces of the Empire there
existed less elaborate and less complete systems of law which
formed the basis of their business life before the Roman
conquest. We must bear in mind that Gaul, Spain, Carthage,
and the Illyrian and Thracian lands had passed through
centuries of civilized life before they came under Roman
sway.®” All these local systems of law, and notably the
Hellenistic system, were not eliminated by the Roman civil
law or replaced by the so-called ius gentium. They continued
to exist throughout the imperial period and formed the basis
of legal practice in the various provinces. Influenced by the
Roman law and influencing it, they finally amalgamated into
the system of late-Roman and Byzantine civil law represented
by the great Byzantine Codices, the codex Theodosianus, the
codex Justinianus, and the Digest.
A careful historical study of these compilations, in the
light of the thousands of Egyptian papyri and of some docu-
174 Flavians and iAntonines chap.
ments discovered in Italy and the Western provinces, would
reveal the historical evolution both of Roman civil law and
of the provincial systems ; and such a history of the different
systems of law which prevailed in the Empire would form
the basis of a study of the economic conditions which underlay
them. Until such a study has been made, we must be very
careful in our use of Byzantine compilations to reconstruct
the economic conditions of any one period or any one portion
of the Roman Empire.®^ Nevertheless some groups of
documents and some legislative acts of the Roman emperors,
if used with circumspection, may help us in our study of the
social and economic conditions of the Empire. In this sense
they have been used in the various chapters of this book.
As a group, however, they testify to a marvellous development
of business life both in the East and in the West. Specially
instructive are the Greek papyri of Egypt. A glance at the
Chrestomathy of papyri compiled by Mitteis and Wilcken,
or at the fine collection of juridical papyri published by
P. Meyer, suffices to show how complicated and elaborate
business life was in the Roman provinces of Egypt. The
different forms of contracts, the various devices for recording
them and keeping them accessible, above all the activity of
the Egyptian notaries public and of the record offices at
Alexandria, and the marvellous institution of the fii^Xiod'qKT]
eyKr/jcretav — ^that combination of a land register and a record
office for storing statistics about the fortunes of all residents
in Egypt — all these convey the impression of a highly de-
veloped economic life, organized in a masterly fashion.®'^
The same impression is left by the study of the development
of Roman civil law and by the study of the documents which
illustrate this development— inscriptions, the wax- tablets of
Pompeii and of Dacia, the rescripts, edicts, and letters of the
emperors collected by Bruns-Gradenwitz and Girard. It is
worthy of note that in some spheres the imperial legislation
took over the constructive achievements of the Hellenistic
age : thus, for example, it accepted the Rhodian sea-law
and applied it to the regulation of maritime commerce.®®
In the second chapter we have already dealt with the
social and political divisions of the population of the Empire,
as created by the civil wars and consolidated by Augustus.
The social structure of the Empire did not greatly change in
the second half of the first and in the second century a. d.
V Commerce and Industry 175
The senatorial class remained the emperor's peers, men who ^
had an inherited right to govern the state under his leadership.
Instead of being an aristocracy of birth, as in the first century,
it became an aristocracy of service. One of the qualifications
of membership was still a certain amount of wealth. But this
amount was easily acquired by public service in the various
branches of the imperial administration, or it was supplied
by the emperor to men whose services he appreciated. The
aristocracy was composed not merely of servants but of
faithful servants of the emperor. Its members were practically
selected by him. The task of selection was made easy for
the emperors, not only by the fact that they were always able
to eliminate the undesirable but also by the fact that the
senatorial families, even the new families, were very short-
lived. With Augustus began the complaints against the
unwillingness of the upper classes to rear children, and this
reluctance was not overcome by the measures taken by
him. If the class as such did not die out, the reason was that
it was constantly recruited from the ranks of the imperial
bureaucracy, the equestrian order.
This second class of the imperial aristocracy was far more
numerous than the senatorial. It, too, was an aristocracy of
service, wholly dependent on the emperor. A census was
required, but not a high one. If we consider that it amounted,
only to 400,000 sesterces, and that the higher class of the
imperial civil officers received 200,000 sesterces yearly, we
can easily understand that the equestrian aristocracy was not
a hereditary plutocracy but almost purely an aristocracy of
bureaucratic officials. The members of this bureaucracy were
recruited from the ranks of the wealthier residents in the cities
who had served as officers in the army. They represented
therefore, like the senatorial order, the intellectual, educated
classes of the Empire. Most of them, too, like the senators,
were not born in Rome or in Italy but belonged to the
higher ranks of the city population of the West and of
the East. “
Socially, therefore, the two classes of the imperial aris-
tocracy belonged to the numerous urban aristocracy of Italy
and the provinces. This large and powerful body has not
been the subject of careful investigation from the social and
economic point of view. Such an investigation would yield
good results, if scholars studied the records of one city after
176 Flavians and ^Antonines chap.
another both in Italy and in the provinces. Meanwhile I
give the impressions derived from a detailed study of some
of the cities carried out by myself and some of my pupils.
The government of the cities was in the hands of the upper
section of the bourgeoisie, some members of which belonged
to the senatorial and the equestrian classes, while the rest
were at least Roman citizens. They formed an almost pure
plutocracy : the municipal administration could be under-
taken only by wealthy people, since office was elective and
unpaid, and involved obligatory gifts to the city and a far-
reaching financial responsibility towards the central govern-
ment. The origin of this wealthy class was different in
the various parts of the Empire. In Italy the municipal aris-
tocracy was descended partly from the old stock of the times
before the incorporation of the Italian cities in the Roman
citizen body. During the civil wars this old stock had been
partly replaced by veteran soldiers. Most of them were well-
to-do landowners. In the industrial and commercial cities,
side by side with this aristocracy of landowners, a new class
was gradually springing up and taking the leading part in
civic life, a class of rich merchants and shopkeepers, who were
partly freeborn but mostly freedmen and their descendants.
In the Celtic provinces of the West there was also an old stock
of native aristocrats, almost all wealthy landowners. Along-
side of them there appeared ever-growing numbers of emi-
grants from Italy. The original nucleus of this foreign popu-
lation consisted of the veterans who were settled in the Roman
colonies and the Italian merchants and money-lenders of the
time of the conquest and of the first years after the conquest.
The development of commerce and industry added an in-
creasing number of new immigrants and of native merchants
and shopkeepers, partly freedmen and their descendants.
The same picture holds good for the cities of Spain, Africa,
and the Danube provinces.
In the East a bourgeoisie of the Hellenistic type still
survived in the old Greek cities. This class, consisting partly
of Greeks, partly of Hellenized natives, absorbed the Italian
immigrants of the Republican period. Under the Empire
the number of new settlers arriving from the West was
relatively small. A few colonies of Roman veterans in Asia
Minor formed for a time Italian islands in a Hellenistic sea,
but they gradually yielded to Greek influences and became
V Commerce and Industry 177
Hellenized. The main stock of the wealthy bourgeoisie,
therefore, remained native.
How stable this aristocratic element in the cities was,
and how large its numbers, are questions beyond our power
to answer. The constant growth of new cities throughout the
Empire and the brilliant development of city life, which was
based on the wealth of the bourgeoisie, show that in the first
two centuries A. D. the bourgeois class rapidly increased in
numbers. Their increase, however, as in the case of the
senatorial and equestrian orders, seems to have been due not
exclusively to the continuance of the old stock but to the rise
of new men, especially natives and freedmen. The higher
municipal classes appear to have been in many cases as
sterile as the senatorial class at Rome. After one or two
generations the aristocratic families in the cities very often
disappeared or were maintained by adoption and recruited
by the manumission of slaves. Only in this way can we
explain the low standards of intellectual culture among even
the richest families of the city bourgeoisie and the superficiality
of Romanization and Hellenization which seems to character-
ize all sections of it, including the higher ; it is enough to
mention the fact that Septimius Severus did not speak good
Latin and that his sister did not speak it at all. The state
of culture need not surprise us, since the process of Romaniza-
tion and Hellenization had to begin over and over again with
the new families of natives and with the freedmen who
replaced the members of the old families.®®
The importance of the upper class of the city bourgeoisie
cannot be exaggerated. It was this class that gave the Empire
its brilliant aspect, and it was this class that practically ruled
it. From the point of view of the Roman emperors, it was,
like the senatorial and the equestrian classes, an aristocracy
of service, through which the emperors administered the
cities and their territories. One step below on the social
ladder stood the petty bourgeoisie, the shopowners, the retail-
traders, the money-changers, the artisans, the representatives
of liberal professions, such as teachers, doctors, and the like.
Of them we know but little. We cannot say how large their
numbers were as compared with the municipal aristocracy
on the one hand and the city proletariate on the other. The
ruins of the ancient cities of Italy and the provinces, with
their hundreds of smaller and larger shops and hundreds of
178 Flavians and ^ntonines chap.
inscriptions, mentioning individual members of this class and
their associations, lead us to believe that they formed the
backbone of municipal life. But we shall never be able to say
how many shops were owned by this petty bourgeoisie and
how many were run by slaves and freedmen {institores) iox
the members of the municipal aristocracy. Moreover, we
have no means of drawing a line between the higher and
bourgeoisie , as the former was certainly recruited
from the latter. To the petty bourgeoisie belonged also the
salaried clerks of the government and the minor municipal
officers, a large and influential class, mostly slaves and freed-
men of the emperor— that is, of the state — -and of the cities
{servi -publici). As to the size of their salaries and the amount
of the incomes of the petty bourgeois, our sources do not
supply the slightest indication.
On a lower plane stood the city proletariate, the free wage-
earners and the slaves employed in the shops and in the
households. We have no means of defining their numerical
strength or their material conditions. Our sources very rarely
speak of them, and the ruins of the excavated cities do not
yield statistics. But there is no doubt that the existence of
slave labour kept the wages of the free workmen very low,
hardly above the minimum required for bare subsistence.
Yet some of them had money enough to pay their subscrip-
tions to their associations, the so-called collegia tenuiorum,
which secured to them a decent burial for themselves and the
members of their families.®®
How thorough the Romanization and Hellenization of
the middle and lower classes of the city population was, is
beyond our knowledge. It seems as if most of them spoke
and many wrote Latin in the West, Greek in the East. The
highly developed public life of the cities, the shows and per-
formances in the theatres and amphitheatres, the daily
meetings in the streets and in the markets, were powerful
agents in spreading the two official languages of the ancient
world. We should like to know for whom the public baths,
the gymnasia, and palaestrae, the theatres and amphitheatres,
were built and to whom they were accessible. It is difficult to
suppose that they were not open to everybody. But good
education on Greco-Roman lines was certainly a privilege of
the higher classes only, and when the emperors of the second
century decided to pay the salaries of the teachers in the
V Commerce and Industry ijg
public schools out of the fiscus, their intention was, not to
educate the proletariate, but to help the city bourgeoisie in
its effort to secure a fair education for the rising generation.
Such were the cities of the Roman Empire. The picture
of their social conditions is not so attractive as the picture
of their external appearance. The impression conveyed by our
sources is that the splendour of the cities was created by, and
existed for, a rather small minority of their population ; that
the welfare even of this small minority was based on com-
paratively weak foundations ; that the large masses of the
city population had either a very moderate income or lived
in extreme poverty. In a word, we must not exaggerate the
wealth of the cities : their external aspect is misleading.
VI
THE ROMAN EMPIRE UNDER THE FLAVIANS
AND THE ANTONINES
The City and the Country in Italy and in the European
Provinces of Rome
We have no statistics to show the comparative numbers
of the city and the country population. But as every city
had a large ‘ territory ’ , that is to say, a large tract of land
which together with the city itself formed a political, social,
and economic unit, and as besides these city-territories there
existed large regions which had no city life, it is fair to say
in general that the population of the cities alike in Italy and
in the provinces formed but a small minority as compared
with the population of the country. Civilized life, of course,
was concentrated in the cities ; every man who had some
intellectual interests and had therefore something to discuss
with his fellow men lived in a city and could not imagine
himself living elsewhere : for him the yewpyds or paganus
was an inferior being, half-civilized or uncivilized. It is no
wonder that for us the life of the ancient world is more or less
identical with the life of the ancient cities. The cities have
told us their story, the country always remained silent and
reserved. What we know of the country we know mostly
through the men of the cities, for whom the men of the country,
the peasants, were sometimes the targets of jokes, as in the
Greek and Roman bourgeois-comedy, sometimes a foil to set
off the wickedness of city life, as in the works of the moral
philosophers, the satirists, and the idyllic poets. Occasionally,
though not very often, city people, like Pliny the Younger in
his letters and Dio Chrysostom in some passages of his
speeches, speak of the country in its practical aspect in relation
to themselves, as a source of income. The voice of the country
population itself is rarely heard. After Hesiod wrote his
poem, the country remained silent for many centuries, break-
VI
City and Country in Italy ^^:8 i
ing the silence from time to time with complaints about the
hardships of its life and its ill treatment by the cities and by
the government, which in its eyes represented them. These
complaints are preserved in certain documents, most of them
Egyptian papyri, some of them engraved on stone in other
parts of the ancient world. Indirectly we hear of the country
population and of its economic situation through official and
private documents — ^laws, edicts and rescripts of emperors
and imperial magistrates, orders of municipal authorities and
decrees of municipal senates, acts of the representative
bodies of the country population itself, decisions in lawsuits
and various business transactions. This information is,
indeed, scanty and very difficult to deal with. Hence it is
not surprising that in most modern works on the Roman
Empire the country and the country population do not
appear at all or appear only from time to time in connexion
with certain events in the life of the state or the cities. Yet
the question of the conditions of life in the country is as vital
and as important as questions connected with the state and
the cities. Without a careful investigation of this problem
we can never understand the social and economic development
of the ancient world.
Here even more than in other fields of historical research
it is very dangerous to generalize and to speak about the
country population as a unit. Country life differed in the
various parts of the ancient world according to the economic
and social conditions which prevailed in them ; and even
when these various parts lost their political independence
and were incorporated in the Roman Empire it remained
as multiform as it had been before. The upper classes
in the Roman provinces and the city population in general
were more or less Romanized and HeUenized ; city life
assumed common forms all over the Empire ; intellectual
interests and business life were more or less uniform in the
various provinces ; but country life, the life of the villages
and the farms, remained almost wholly unaffected by this
process of unification. While Romanization and Hellenization
succeeded in the cities, the country was very slow to accept
even the two official languages of the Empire. It used these
languages in its dealings with the cities and the a;dministration.
But among themselves, in their homes and villages, the
peasants still spoke their native tongues. This fact is well
182 Flavians and iAntonines chap.
known and does not need proof. The Phrygian and Galatian
peasants in Asia Minor spoke their own languages in the time
of St. Paul and later, and so did the Berbers of Africa, the
Celts of Britain and Gaul, the Iberians and Celt- Iberians of
Spain, the Germans on the Rhine, the Thracians and the
Illyrians in the Balkan peninsula, the fellahin of Egypt and
the hundreds of tribes, both Semitic and non-Semitic, in Asia
Minor and Syria — ^the Aramaeans, the Phoenicians, the Jews,
the Arabs, the Chaldeans on the one side, and the Lydians,
the Phrygians, the Carians, the Paphlagonians, the Cappa-
docians, the Armenians, the Lycians, &c., on the other.^ They
kept jealously, too, their native religious beliefs. Their gods
and goddesses might assume Greco-Roman forms and names.
The names and forms were a product of Greco- Roman civiliza-
tion and therefore were bound to be Greco- Roman, since the
engravers of inscriptions, the sculptors, and the painters were
educated in Greco-Roman schools and had at their disposal
no written language and no generally intelligible forms except
the Greco-Roman. But the gods worshipped under these
official names and these irrelevant forms were still the old
native gods of the peasants as they had conceived them
centuries before.^ And — ^what was not of least importance —
the country population kept also the traditional forms of its
economic and social life, the habits and customs which some-
times weie stronger than even imperial legislation.
In this short sketch of the economic and social evolution
of the Empire we can do no more than trace the general out-
lines of the problem as it presents itself nowadays. It is no
easy task to trace even these general outlines : they involve
the question of the development of agriculture in general and
the evolution of the forms of land-ownership and land-tenure,
and each part of the Empire must be treated separately.
We begin with Italy on which we are better informed
than on other parts of the Empire. It has been shown in the
preceding chapters that Italy was still, at all events in the first
century a. d. and the first half of the second, one of the best
cultivated lands of the Empire, The goods imported from
the provinces and from foreign lands were paid for, to a large
extent at least, by the excellent wine which was still produced
in large quantities all over the peninsula, especially in Cam-
pania and in the North. The production of wine was organized
in a scientific way on capitalistic lines, mainly for sale and
VI
City and Country in Italy i^3
for export. The eruption of Vesuvius in a. d. 79 was, of
course, a great catastrophe even from the economic point of
view. The fact that the buried cities were not restored,
despite the measures taken by the government, is typical of
the decline of economic forces in Campania. But in truth
we have no reason to suppose that the catastrophe of 79
seriously affected the general productivity of the district.®
As, however, we have observed in the preceding chapters,
vine-planting and the economy of Italy based on the export
of wine suffered gravely from another development, which
proved much more perilous for the country than terrible
catastrophes like the eruption of Vesuvius, namely, the
economic emancipation of the provinces. The decay of
industry and commerce in Italy meant a gradual impoverish-
ment of the city bourgeoisie, which, as we have seen, was the
main support of scientific and capitalistic agriculture. This
explains in large measure the fact that the process of concen-
tration of landed property in the hands of large capitalists
did not cease in the second century a. d., but rather assumed
larger proportions than ever, and went on at the expense not
only of the peasants but also of the city bourgeoisie. We may
follow this process of concentration even in such poor regions
as the territories of Veleia and Beneventum. The history of
these territories, as shown by the documents relating to the
alimenta,* was in the main the history of a slow concentration
of the fundi of these regions in the hands of a few landowners,
most of them not natives of the territories of Veleia and
Beneventum, and some of them apparently wealthy freed-
men.'^ Our literary sources also (Juvenal, for instance) still
use in the second century the familiar theme of first-century
poets and moralists, the expulsion of small landowners from
their paternal /wwiff by greedy large capitalists, and Pliny
the Younger, one of the great landowners, speaks frankly
of his investments in land and of his growing latifundia.^
It is easy to guess whence came the capital which was
invested in Italian land. We have seen that the ancient
aristocracy of Rome had disappeared. The land held by this
aristocracy in the provinces became mostly the property of
the emperors. In Italy, however, the emperors did not keep
the confiscated estates. They gave them readily away,
mostly to the members of the new aristocracy of service. Of
* See Chap. VIII.
DESCRIPTION OF PLATE XXVI
1. PICTURE IN ONE OF THE LUNETTES OF THE MAIN ROOM
OF THE EARLY CHRISTIAN GRAVE IN VIALE MANZONI. Viale Man-
zoni, Rome. G. Bendinelli in Not. d. Semi, 1920, pi. IV, and Mon. Ant., 28
(1922), pL XIIL
The upper part of the picture represents two farms or peasants’ houses near
a large fortified city. Between the two houses a large flock of animals (donkeys,
cows, sheep, and goats) is grazing. On the meaning of the picture painted on
the lower part of the lunette, see my paper, ' Une tablette Thraco-Mithriaqu6
du Louvre inM^m. prSs. par div. sav. d I’ Acad, des Inscr., 13 (1923), pp. 394 tf.
2. BAS-RELIEF OF A SARCOPHAGUS (?). Ince-Biundell Hall, England.
H. Bliimner in Arch. Zeit., 1877, PP* 128 :ff., pi. I; my article in Rom.
Mitth., 2^ (1911), P- 281, fig. 3 ; S. Reinach, Rip. d. rel., ii, p. 454, i.
The left part of the bas-relief shows two figures, both clad in the toga,
shaking hands. They probably formed the central group of one of the long
sides of a sarcophagus. On the right of them is depicted a large cella vinaria,
which is at the same time a vineyard. Men are busy filling amphorae from the
dolia (‘ diffusio ’) and carrying them ; some of them' are resting. In the right-
hand corner, under a shed, is a counter behind which a man is seated with
a polyptych in his hands, engaged in discussion with a customer. On the counter
lie some tablets. On his left sits an assistant, behind whom may be seen shelves
with rolls in them. The scene, no doubt, represents a big wine cellar, which
carries on an important wholesale business in wine. My view that the bas-relief
is part of a sarcophagus is supported by the parallel of the well-known sarco-
phagus of Annius Octavius Valerianus in the Lateran (S. Reinach, Rip. d. rel.,
hi, p. 282, 2), figured below. The scenes shown on this are (i) ploughing and
hoeing, (2) reaping the corn, (3) transporting it, {4) grinding it and baking bread.
Sarcophagus of Annius Octavius Valerianus. Rater an, Rome
3. FRAGMENT OF A BAS-RELIEF OF A SARCOPHAGUS (?) OR OF
A FUNERAL URN (?). Aquileia. In the Museum. E, Maionica, Guida del
Museo ... in Aquileia, p. 60, No. 64 ; cp. note 26 to Ch. V of the present
volume.
A municipal magistrate in state, with his short sceptre in his left hand,
driving in a carriage drawn by two horses. On his left are two apparitors and
a lictor. The carriage is preceded by a winged figure (the Death-demon).
Behind come four men carrying a litter (Maionica speaks of a little shrine with
a figure of a god inside). In the background is a building with Corinthian
columns. I think that the bas-relief of Aquileia reproduces a scheme, very
popular in Etruria from early times down to the Roman age, which represents
the last journey of the deceased and in the later period assumes the form of
a procession of a magistrate or a family journey. See, e. g., S. Reinach,
Rip. d. rel., iii, p. 472, 2 ; cp. E. Galli, Fiesole, p. 72, fig. 41, and p. 71, fig. 40
(the same motive in S. Reinach, Rip. d. rel., iii, p. 63, 4). These are only a few
examples out of many. On the various realistic modifications of this motive in
Roman times (e. g. pi. LIV), see my article in Rom. Mitth., 26 (1911), pp. 267 ff.,
and (for the Christian period) G, Rodenwaldt in Rom. Mitth., 36/37 (1921/2),
pp. 97 ff.
4. FRAGMENT OF A VOTIVE (?) ALTAR. Aquileia, Museum. E. Maio-
nica, Guida, See., p. 62, No. 81.
A man seated before a table (mensa^ rpaTrsC^}, on which lies a heap of coins.
He is, no doubt, an arppmtavhdc ^ ■
2 . A CELL A VINARIA
3* A MUNICIPAL MAGISTRATE
4 . AN ITALIAN BANKER
VI
City and Country in Italy 185
this aristocracy Pliny the Younger is a typical representative.
He was a member of a well-to-do family, probably of large
landowners, belonging to the municipal aristocracy of Comum.
Both he and other members of his family (like his uncle Pliny
the Elder) increased their inherited fortune by taking an
important part in the administration of the state: they
started by becoming procurators of the emperor like the elder
Pliny, and later, like the younger Pliny, after admission to
the senate they served the state and the emperor as governors
of provinces and managers of the various departments of the
imperial administration, particularly in the city of Rome. Not
that the younger Pliny and men of his type acquired their
fortunes by robbing the provinces, though cases of such
plundering were frequent both under the Flavians and under
the Antonines. Even honest governors had not only large
salaries but also various opportunities of enriching themselves
without overstepping the limits of legality. Those imperial
officials who were natives of Italy (as Pliny was) naturally
looked for a safe investment for their money and, both from
local patriotism and from considerations of efficient manage-
ment, they preferred Italian land or mortgages on Italian land.
Investment in land and, to a lesser extent, in mortgages was
the best means of obtaining a safe, though moderate, interest
on capital, and the ideal of the imperial nobilitas was still, as
before, to enjoy a safe income, the ideal of those whom the
French call rentiers. Nor must we underrate the numbers
of the imperial officials who were natives of Italy : they still
formed the majority of the imperial bureaucracy.
Many members, however, of this bureaucracy and of the
senatorial aristocracy were natives of the provinces. They
belonged to the wealthy municipal aristocracy of Spain, Gaul,
and Africa in the West, Asia Minor and later Syria in the
East. Their economic interests were naturally concentrated
in the provinces ; most, if not all, of them were rich provincial
landowners. Many of them, however, on entering the imperial
service became connected with the city of Rome, perhaps '
more intimately than with their native city. They took up
residence in the capital and invested at least part of their
money in Italian land, though their natural tendency was, of
course, to return to their native province and to spend their
old age there, surrounded by the esteem and admiration of
their countrymen. This tendency might last for generations.
1 86 Flavians and ^ntonines chap.
but it might also disappear quickly, the second or the third
generation being more attracted by life in the capital than by
the prospect of a quiet existence in a little provincial tfou.
Moreover, as has already been said, the emperors desired that
the senatorial families should have their domicile in Italy
and insisted on their investing a part of their money in Italian
land.
Besides the imperial aristocracy, there was the large body
of wealthy wholesale merchants and shipowners, of thrifty
imperial freedmen and slaves, of rich bankers and retail-
traders in Rome and other Italian cities which . remained
wealthy and prosperous, like Aquileia and the cities of Northern
Italy in general. We must remember that Rome constantly
grew, and that she played in the life of Italy, if not in the
life of the Empire, almost the same part as Paris plays nowa-
days in the life of France, and London in the life of England.
Many of the rich men of Rome were bom in Italy, most of
them spent their life in Rome and had their homes there. It
is not surprising that in looking for a safe investment for their
money they thought first of Italian land, which was near at
hand and easier to manage than land in the provinces.
Under the pressure of the large capitalists both the small
holdings which were owned by the peasants, mostly in the
hiUy and mountainous parts of Italy, and the moderate-sized
estates of the city bourgeoisie were bound to disappear and
to be merged in the latifundia of the imperial aristocracy and
of the Italian plutocracy. The statement of Pliny the Elder
about the evil effects of the latifundia on the economic life of
Italy was perfectly true. In speaking of the latifundia which
perdidere Italiam, Pliny had in mind, of course, the disappear-
ance not merely of peasant husbandry but also of the scientifi-
cally managed farms which were swallowed up by large
estates run, as we shall see, on different principles. Pliny’s
statement was a commonplace not only for his own time, but
for many generations to follow. The emperors were well
acquainted with the facts so effectively summed up by him.
They tried to save Italy in different ways., Claudius, Nero,
and the Flavians, acting in the interests of the fiscus as well,
endeavoured to restore to the state the public lands illegally
occupied by private owners and to sell this land in small
parcels to landless peasants.® The measures of Domitian
wifi, be spoken of presently. Nerva bought large tracts of
VI
City and Country in Italy 1 87
land to be divided among landless proletarians.’ Trajan
sought to come to the rescue of the city landowners, and
perhaps of the peasants as well, by giving them cheap credit
for the improvement of their lands and by helping them to
educate, or rather to feed, their sons and, to a certain extent’,
their daughters. He also founded some colonies in Italy and
forbade the sending out of Itahan colonists to the provinces.®
Of the measures which were taken by Hadrian, Antoninus,
and M. Aurelius we shall speak in the next chapter.
All these measures were fruitless. Economic evolution
was stronger than the efforts of the government. The main
cause — the emancipation of the provinces — could not be
eliminated nor even rendered less dangerous for the economic
prosperity of Italy. The gradual economic decline of Italy,
due primarily to the decay of its industry and commerce,
was aggravated by the crisis which befell the scientific and
capitalistic rural economy of the country at the end of the
first century, as a result of an over-production of wine, for which
there were no buyers. The approach of this crisis has been
alluded to in the third chapter. Wine was now, by a natural
process of development, produced in most of the lands which
had been the chief customers of South Italy — Spain, Gaul, and
Africa. In the East, Italian wine had difficulty in competing
with the wine of the Greek islands, Asia Minor, Syria, and
Palestine. The only markets stiU remaining open to it were
Germany and the Danube provinces. But these were chiefly
markets for North Italy, as it was not easy to ship wine from
the harbours of the Western coast of Italy to those of the
Dalmatian and Istrian shores. The same fate was in store
for the production of olive-oil. We have already shown that
Spain became the chief producer of the fine brands of olive-oil
and Africa of the cheaper ones. In the East, Italian oil was
displaced by the oil of Asia Minor and the excellent product
of the Syrian coast.
The developments briefly described above were more than
a threat to the economic welfare of Italy and particularly of
the Italian middle class. They were alarming for the state
in general. The ancient world had never su&red from the
over-production of foodstuffs, especially of com. As has
been frequently mentioned, Greece and Italy and even Asia
Minor were dependent for grain on the countries which
produced it in large quantities ; Greece and Asia Minor
1 88 Flavians and tAntonines chap.
were fed from South Russia, Italy from Sicily, Sardinia, Spain,
Gaul, Africa, and Egypt. The spread of the culture of vines
and olive-trees, both in West and in East, not only meant
economic ruin for Italy but might also result in a com famine
throughout the Empire. Rome, of course, was safe . Cora f rorn
Egypt and coni from the imperial and public lands in Sicily,
Africa, Gaul, and Spain, delivered as rent by the tenants,
secured a sufficient supply for the proletarians of the capital
and for the court. Besides, the emperors took certain pre-
ventive measures to guarantee sufficient grain for the popu-
lation of Rome in general by giving her a prior claim upon
the products of some of the com-growing provinces, in other
words, by prohibiting the export of com from Egypt to other
places than Rome save in exceptional cases.® But Rome was
only one of the cities of the Empire which lived on imported
grain. We have mentioned those of Greece and Asia Minor.
These provinces were unable to live on the import from South
Russia, as its production continued to decrease and much of
the corn grown there was used by the imperial armies of the
East. Thus, over-production of wine and olive-oil both in
the East and in the West meant a permanent crisis in the
East. The spectre of famine now hovered continually before
the Greek cities : the reader may recollect the vivid picture
in the Revelation of St. John, which is now proved to refer
to a widespread famine in Asia Minor by a Latin inscription
of A. D. 93, recently discovered at Antioch of Pisidia.* The
Roman government could not afford to let the Eastern provinces
starve. Revolts like that of the proletariate of Prusa in the time
of Vespasian, described by Dio of Prusa, were a serious danger.
Hence measures were taken by the emperors to encourage the
production of corn and to limit the production of wine and oil.
Very little is known about them. We may infer from one
accidental notice that Vespasian endeavoured indirectly to
encourage corn-production in Asia. In an inscription of
Cibyra of a. d. 73 a rich benefactor orders the money which
he gave to the city to be invested in ‘ corn-bearing lands ’ ,
and directs that the emperor and the senate shall be informed
of the fact. This inscription seems inexplicable except on
the view that it testifies to a recommendation, at least, on
the part of the senate and the emperor to the cities of Asia
The inscri;^ioii was found in the course of the excavations conducted there
by Sir William Kams ay and the Michigan Expedition in 1924.
VI
City and Country in Italy 189
Minor to invest the funds of their foundations preferably in
corn-bearing lands. Further, the emperors intervened
forcibly to stop profiteering in times of famine. In the
inscription of Antioch just mentioned a governor of Domitian
takes strict and even violent measures (reminding us of the
similar steps taken all over Europe during the great war) to
put down such practices, and to secure for the city a supply
of comparatively cheap grain.^®
However this may have been, it is well known that
a general order was issued by Domitian to promote the
cultivation of corn in the provinces and to assist the wine
producers of Italy. According to this order, no new vineyards
were to be planted in Italy or in the provinces. Further,
half of the existing vineyards were to be destroyed. We know
that this measure was not carried out in full. A special
embassy from Asia Minor, headed by the famous orator
Scopelianus, saved the vineyards of his province and perhaps
of the East in general. It is probable also that at least
Southern Gaul and Southern Spain (the provinces of Narbo-
nensis and Baetica) succeeded in keeping their vineyards.
We know that wine was exported from these countries with-
out interruption. But it is an exaggeration to speak of
Domitian’ s measure as being entirely abortive. It was
apparently enforced in Africa; to a certain extent in the
Danube provinces, in Northern and Central Gaul, and in
part of Spain. The fact is attested by the countermand
of Probus (about two hundred years later) by which per-
mission to cultivate vines was given to the Danube lands,
Gaul, Spain, and even Britain, where wine was never grown.
Moreover, in Africa the well-known lex Manciana (of the time
of Trajan) allows the planting of new vineyards only to
replace old ones, and another law of Hadrian’s time does not
mention vines in speaking of the utilization of virgin and
waste land for various forms of cultivation.^^
No measures of the same kind were taken to protect the
production of olive-oil in Italy. On the contrary, a free hand
was given to the Dalmatian coast, Spain, and Africa tO
increase their production of oil, and we know that these
lands gradually became the main centres of the industry in
the Empire. The importance of oil production in Africa and
the solicitude of the emperors to transform the country into
a land of olive-groves are shown by the laws of Hadrian on
190 Flavians and ^nto?iines chap.
the virgin and waste soil, which were published in and for
Africa, and by the fact that archaeological excavations have
demonstrated that the south-western part of the country in
the second and third centuries was an immense olive-grove
extending for miles and miles both along the coast and inland.^^
The protective measures of Domitian saved Italian viti-
culture, at least to a certain extent. But they did not succeed
in saving progressive agriculture in Italy in general and those
who carried it on, the middle-class landowners. In the crisis
at the end of the first century the middle class was the first
to suffer. The decay of industry and of commerce, which
were not protected by the emperors, accelerated their ruin.
Besides, labour and especially slave labour, on which scien-
tific agriculture was based, became more and more expensive,
and the quality of the slaves, who were mostly barbarians,
increasingly worse. It is no wonder that the city bourgeoisie
of Italy was unable to compete with the large capitalists of
the city of Rome. The appearance of the latter class meant
in fact the complete ruin of scientific agriculture.
It is needless to labour this point. Landowners like
Pliny the Younger may have been good business men and
good managers of their affairs in general, selling and buying
land, lending money, and so forth. But agricultural prosperity
cannot be based on men of such a type. They never lived on
their estates, as they were busy in the city, and they never
depended entirely on the income which they received from
one estate, as was the case with many members of the city
bourgeoisie of former times. Their attitude was, as we have
said, that of rentiers. They wished to have as little trouble
as possible, even at the expense of their income. The safest
way to receive a good but moderate income from the land
was, not to cultivate it in the scientific way by means of
slaves, which involved a large amount of personal attention,
but to let it. This system was already used by the great
landlords in the first century b. c. It revived again after the
ruin of the city bourgeoisie, which in the Augustan period
took the place of the magnates of the first century, at least in
Central and Northern Italy, and which included the veterans
of the revolutionary armies. The system of letting meant,
of course, giving up scientific management and to a certain
extent the cultivation of the vine. Tenants, especially long-
term tenants, are rarely good farmers, and in particular good
VI
City and Country in Italy 19 1
wine-growers. Besides, now that corn had become ever scarcer
in Italy, corn-growing was at least as profitable as the pro-
duction of wine, and it was less risky and required less personal
attention alike from the landowners and from the tenants.
The chief difficulty was to find the tenants. The fact that
the landowners did find the necessary number of them, as is
shown by the experience of Pliny and by some incidental
remarks of Martial,^® has always been a puzzle to modem
scholars. If the peasantry was already ruined in the times
of the Gracchi, if it had completely disappeared in the first
century b. c. and had been replaced by gangs of slaves, whence
came the coloni of Pliny ? If the reader has followed the
exposition we have given above, he will have seen that we
do not accept current views about the disappearance of the
peasants in Italy. In South Italy, no doubt, after the ‘ Social’
war the number of peasants decreased, especially in Apulia,
Calabria, and Bruttium, and to a certain extent in Campania
and in Samnium. But they still formed the majority of the
population in Central Italy and in the valley of the Po. Some
of them were no longer owners of their plots, but they still
lived in their vici and pagi as tenants and as manual workers
who found employment on the farms of the city bourgeoisie.
In the vineyards, indeed, they were replaced by slaves, but
the largest part of Italy consisted not of vineyards but of
fields, and the fields were tilled by the peasants. It is possible
that along with the old stock of peasants some slaves and
freedmen were settled by the landowners as tenants on their
estates, and that thus the numbers of the peasants were
increased. However, the question of finding good and suffi-
cient labour for the estates of the great landed proprietors
remained most important and difficult to solve. There were
peasants in Italy who were willing to rent the land of the large
estates. But their numbers seem to have been too limited
for the ever-growing demand, and they were rather lazy and
inefficient workers. And yet, even under such conditions,
the large landlords preferred the work of tenants to that of
slaves. Pliny, for example, makes use of slaves in cases of
emergency only, as a last resource. The niain labour on his
estates was that of tenants. Mr, Heitland indeed would not
accept this statement. In his view the tenants were mostly
overseers of a sort who supervised the labour of slaves, this
labour being furnished by the landlord. But there seem to
rgz Flavians and tAntonines chap.
be no indications in our sources that the letting of parcels
of land to tenants, with an inventory which included some
slaves, was a common feature of the second century a. d.
There is no doubt that Pliny regards his coloni not as middle-
men but as tillers of the soil, as furnishing the main labour on
the parcels which were rented to them. We do not deny that
a prosperous cofowws might purchase one or two slaves to help
him in his work, and that some parcels were let with an
inventory consisting of house, cattle, and rural implements,
and of slaves. The ma^isxxL mefcante di campagna was a type
well known to the ancient world. But the existence of this
type in modern Italy does not mean that modern Italy has
no peasants.^^
Thus we must assume that in the second century there
existed in Italy a large class of peasants, most of them tenants.
They formed the population of the pagi and vici as opposed
to the cities, they were the vicani and pagani as contrasted
with the intvdmuvani. The descriptions of Statius and of
Martial and the characterization of Pliny show that this
rural population of Italy formed a lower, humble class and
that the attitude of that class in the second century did not
differ from that of the coloni of a later period or from that of
the serfs in the Middle Ages all over Europe. We may use
the remarks of Martial, for instance, to illustrate the corre-
sponding scenes on the Igel monument, near Treves, of the
third century A. d. and on some African mosaics of the fourth.
I have no doubt that this attitude was not of a recent date.
I am convinced that at least the coloni of Pompey behaved
towards their patronus in the same way as did the coloni of
the lawyer who was a friend of Martial.
From the economic point of view the most interesting
feature of the second century in Italy is not the existence of
a peasant population : there was no period in the development
of Italy when a peasant population did not exist. The
striking fact is that the peasants appear no longer as the free
landowners which they had hitherto been, but as tenants of
great landlords. As such they played a prominent part, or
rather the leading, part, in the agricultural life of Italy. The
dominant type of husbandry now is not the middle-sized
farm run on scientific lines, nor the large estate tilled by
thousands of chained slaves, but once more the peasant plot
which had prevailed in Italy in the period preceding the
VI
City and Country in Italy 193
development of capitalism. The difference between that
period and the second century a. d. was that the peasant
plot was now the property of an absentee landlord, while the
tiller of the soil was his tenant. Not that the medium-sized
farms and the large estates tilled by slaves disappeared com-
pletely. Notoriously they did not. But these types of
husbandry became more and more obsolete, they were mere
survivals and did not represent the general condition of
agricultural Italy, as they had done in the time of Varro and
even of Columella, and as the free peasant system had done in
the fourth and third centuries B.
Clearly, then, there existed in Italy a large rural popu-
lation. Socially and economically, it formed a lower class
than that of the landlords, who usually resided in the city of
Rome or in other Italian cities. Politically, of course, there
was no distinction : all the residents of Italy were Roman
citizens and all belonged to one or other of the groups of
Roman citizens connected with one of the cities. With the
exception of Northern Italy, where many of the Alpine tribes
were, in Roman phrase, ‘ attributed’ to Italian cities (Brixia,
Bergomum, Comum, Tridentum, Tergeste, perhaps Aquileia),
which meant that they did not share the franchise with the
towns to which they were attached,^® Italy had politically no
gradation of citizens. Practically, however, those who lived
in the and 'pagi were regarded, like the urban proletariate,
as far inferior to the landlords who resided in the cities. Thus
the case of a ‘ pagan ’ becoming demrio of Sulmo, a city of
the Paeligni, was regarded as an exception worthy of mention.*
Socially there was not much difference between the pagani
and vicani of the ‘ attributed’ tribes in Northern Italy and
the same classes in the other parts of the peninsula.^’
Turning to the provinces, we find that the evidence about
their social organization and, still more, about the forms of
land tenure and exploitation is very unequally distributed.
For some provinces (Egypt, Africa, and Asia) we have abun-
dant information, for others almost none. Nevertheless it is
necessary to give a survey of all the more important Roman
provinces from the social and economic point of view. Such
a survey has never been attempted for the whole of the
Roman Empire and very seldom for single provinces, although
the political aspect of their development, that is to say, their
^ CIL . ix. 3088 ; Dessau^ 6531.
O
2354*2
194 Flavians and tAntonines chap.
gradual urbanization, the transformation of tribes and clans,
of 'pagi and vid, into territories with an urban centre adminis-
tered by magistrates who resided in the city, has been fre-
quently treated. As one of the forms in which the antagonism
between the city and the country was manifested, the relations
between the Gaugemeinde and the Stadtgemeinde have, of
course, a certain importance for our special investigation.
We begin with Sicily, Sardinia, and Corsica. In the
preceding chapters it has been shown that Sicily in the time
of the late Republic and the early Empire, except for a short
interval during the last stages of the civil wars, was still one
of the granaries from which large quantities of corn were
exported to Rome. The testimony of Strabo and scattered
notices of a later date furnish decisive evidence on this point.
We have now to inquire what were the main features of the
social and economic organization of the island during the
early Empire as compared with the Republican period. It
is difficult to believe that Sicily, like Greece and Italy, was
entirely subdivided into city-territories. Evidently the
Phoenician part of the island and the extensive regions in the
interior were not thus organized under Phoenician and Greek
domination. The Romans never promoted a thorough
urbanization of Sicily. Not a single new city was founded by
them, nor did they make any attempt to revive the decayed
Greek cities. In the Phoenician part they maintained even
such a peculiar institution as the Asiatic temple of Venus at
Eryx with its large number of sacred slaves and extensive terri-
tory. The picture which Cicero gives of the island shows that
Rome divided the Greek cities into several classes according
to their attitude towards her, and jealously kept the public
lands which were not assigned to the territory of one or other
of these cities, whether in the Phoenician or the Greek areas,
as ager publicus populi Romani to be rented to Roman citizens
and provincials by the Roman censors.
The land which belonged to the territories of the cities
(with the exception of those few which were exempt from the
land-tax) * paid the tenth part of the produce to the Roman
treasury. The collection of this tithe was regulated by a law
of Hiero II, which was not changed by the new rulers. In
these territories the land was in the hands of the city bour-
geoisie, those whom Cicero calls the possessor es or aratores
;■ * The public land also probably did not pay tithe.
VI
City and Country in Sicily 195
(yecopyoi). The number of landowners, even including the
men who rented arable land from the Roman state, was
comparatively small (12,000 to 13,000). Large tracts of land
outside the city-territories were in the hands of rich men,
who kept on them great- herds of cattle. These tracts do not
appear to have been the private property of the Roman
magnates. They probably leased them from the state. The
labour employed for tilling the soil and herding the sheep was
probably both slave and free labour (furnished by small tenants)
for the fields, almost wholly slave labour for the pastures.
From the devastation caused by the slave- wars Sicily
recovered quickly. The city bourgeoisie seems not to have
been affected by them : in Cicero’s time it was still numerous,
influential, and prosperous. These conditions changed during
the civil war. Sicily was the theatre of one of the most
striking episodes of that war— the struggle between Sextus
Pompey and Octavian, which lasted for years. Pompey
derived his main support from slaves, and it is natural to
suppose that he sacrificed to them the interests of the city
bourgeoisie. However that may have been, it is an attested
fact that after his victory Octavian was unable and unwilling
to maintain the grant of Roman citizenship to the whole of
Sicily, as projected by Caesar and carried out by Antony. The
' whole of Sicily ’ meant, of course, the citizens of the Greek
cities, the class of landowners {aratores). In his reorganization
Augustus set this grant aside, probably because it did not
mean very much, the city bourgeoisie of Greek origin having
been decimated and ruined by the civil war. Their ruin also
accounts for the fact that he reinforced by Roman colonists
the more important Sicilian cities — chiefly those which were
the main export harbours for corn, wool, and sulphur — and
that he granted to a few others, which probably contained
large colonies of Italian immigrants, the rights of a Roman
municipium or a Latin colony. But, in contrast to their
policy in Spain, Gaul, the Danube lands, and Africa, neither
Augustus nor his immediate successors attempted to revive
city life and the city bourgeoisie in Sicily. The great majority
of the civitates and ofpida were subjected to a stipendium, to
the payment of a land and perhaps a poll tax, and were thus
placed in the lowest grade of the municipal scale. There were
probably two reasons for the introduction into Sicily of the
category of civitates stipendiariae, which was. equivalent to
0 2
196 Flavians and \Antonines chap.
dropping the system of tithes {decumae), as the stipendium
was paid in money. The first was that the system of tithes
which depended on the existence of a class of prosperous
landowners did not pay any more, now that this class lay
ruined and prostrate. The second was that in the territories
of the civitates the leading part was now probably played by
natives, not Greeks, and that some of these natives were not
adapted for city life. Unfortunately our evidence on the
civitates sf ip endiariae and oppida is very scanty : civitas does
not necessarily imply an urban organization, it may denote
a complex of villages or the territory of a tribe.^®
Despite the ruin of the city bourgeoisie, Sicily remained
a prosperous country. While some of the cities (like Messana
and Tauromenium) developed a flourishing viticulture, yet,
as has been said, the country in general remained a land of
corn-fields and pastures. It looks as if this condition was
intentionally maintained by the emperors. They would
allow some cities to plant vines and fruit-trees, but they
wished the largest part of Sicily to be a corn-growing land,
while the mountains naturally remained the home of shep-
herds. This is probably why they abstained from pursuing
in Sicily a policy of urbanization and kept the native popula-
tion in its primitive condition. They needed the island as
a granary of Italy and they did not greatly desire its general
development. It was for the same reason that large tracts
of land remained in the hands of the state. In the time of
Domitian and Trajan there was in Sicily, as in Baetica, a
special administration of the public lands which was called
the administration ‘ of the public com’ {frumentum mancipale),
that is, of the corn received from the tenants of public land.^®
To the same cause, too, was due the growth of large estates
in the island and the corresponding increase of the imperial
domains. We have dealt with the vast lands which Agrippa
owned in Sicily. Many ancient geographical names recorded
in the Itineraries are derived from Roman family names and
show that Agrippa was not the only owner of wide tracts of
country in the province. The outbreak of a revolt in the time
of Gallienus, which was probably a revolt of peasants — such
risings being a characteristic feature of the third century in
general — ^shows that the growth of large estates did not
cease during the first two centuries of our era.®^
To sum up, Sicily in the first two centuries was a land
VI City and Country in Sicily i97
containing a few prosperous cities, inhabited to a large extent
by Roman colonists, and scores of civitates, some of which
still kept the external forms of city life, while some were rnere
aggregates of villages inhabited by the native population.
Both the latter had certainly a purely rural aspect : they
consisted of groups of peasants and shepherds. The estates
of the Roman people and of the emperors were probably
managed in the same manner as the great estates in other
provinces. They were let out to farmers-general (con-
tractors) and tilled by tenants. On the large estates of some
rich landowners grazing was probably the main source of
income and the herds were tended, as in the second century
B. c., by large numbers of slaves. The Roman emperors
succeeded, therefore, in keeping Sicily a granary of the
Roman people, a land of fields and pastures with some
oases of more progressive economic life.
The same picture applies to the province of Sardinia.
Sardinia had been the granary of Carthage, artificially kept
in this condition by the ruling city, and it remained for ever
the granary of Rome and Italy. Urban life developed but
slowly under Roman administration alike in the Republican
and in the Imperial period. The chief cities of the island were
Caralis and Turris ; both were large export harbours for the
corn produced in the island and for the metals extracted from
its mines, the former a municifium, the latter a colony of
Roman settlers. Tribal organization prevailed in the interior
even under the Empire, and the tribes did not advance
towards city life. Some of them may have formed adminis-
trative units {civitates), some apparently lived on the territory
of large estates — public, imperial, and private. They culti-
vated these estates as tenants, in a condition of half-serfdom,
and attended to the herds of their masters. We have already
mentioned the large estates of Acte, the mistress of Nero :
they seem to have been typical of the economic structure of
the land. In this way, by the colonization of a few cities
and by the subjection of the natives, the island became, like
Sicily, more or less Romanized — thoroughly in the cities,
very slightly in the country.
On Corsica we have almost no information. It remained
a land of forests and pastures, as it had been from time
immemorial. No efforts were made by the Roman government
to civilize the province and develop town life in it.^®
198 Flavians and ^ntonines chap.
Spain has always been considered the stronghold of
Romanity, the most thoroughly Romanized province in the
West. Apart from the fact that the country still speaks
a Romance language— less near, indeed, to Latin than is
Roumanian, the language of the latest and the most short-
lived province of the Empire~the supporters of this view
point out that Spain was (after Sicily, Sardinia, and Corsica)
the most ancient province of Rome, and that she was com-
pletely urbanized by the Romans, all Spanish tribes and towns
having received Latin rights from Vespasian. There is no
doubt that one part of Spain was thoroughly Romanized
and urbanized. Baetica was a bit of Italy in Spain, as
Narbonensis was in Gaul. The same (more or less) must be said
of the coast of Tarraconensis and of the lowlands of Lusitania.
This need not surprise us, for these parts of Spain had had
a long cultural development before the Roman domination.
We know how old Iberian civilization was, and how closely
connected with the other civilizations of the Southern Mediter-
ranean as early as the Minoan period. We know, also, that
both Greeks (the Phocaeans) and Phoenicians (colonists first
from Tyre, later from Carthage) settled down in Southern
Spain and introduced city life in its Greco-Oriental form.^®
The Romans were the last to come. They took over what
they found and did not at first add very much of their own.
Gradually, however, Spain and especially Baetica became
the happy land of Roman colonization. Thousands of
Italians, besides veteran soldiers, settled in the ancient cities
of Baetica and of parts of Tarraconensis and Lusitania.
From the earliest times Roman colonies were sent out thither.
In this way the civilized and economically prosperous parts
of the country became Romanized, the old ruling classes in
the cities and in the country being supplanted by Romans
and Latin-speaking Italians. The rest of the city population —
what remained of Greeks, Phoenicians, and Iberians — ^was
absorbed by the new-comers and gradually adopted the
language and the customs of the dominant class.
The basis of the prosperity of Southern and Western Spain
was the exploitation of the natural resources of the country.
Apiculture, especially the cultivation of olives and flax, and
mining (silver, copper, iron, tin, and lead) had been from
ancient times the most important sources of wealth for the
Spaniards. These natural resources led to the growth of
VI
City and Country in Spain 199
a prosperous industry, particularly the fabrication of steel
and the weaving of linen garments. This economic activity,
and above all the mining industry, was developed by the
Romans. For Spain was the richest mining district of the
growing Empire, and the earliest to be exploited. Much
attention was paid also to the excellent olive-oil of the
country, which was better and cheaper than that of Italy.^^
Rich and prosperous as it was, Southern Spain remained
for long years a land of Italian colonization. Many a Roman
capitalist, both of the senatorial and of the equestrian class,
invested money in Spanish land. Together with the descen-
dants of the old colonists and some representatives of the
pre-Roman upper class, the new-comers constituted the city
bourgeoisie. Among them were to be found business-managers
of Italian capitalists and agents of the emperors, some of whom
settled down in the attractive province. These continued
to grow in numbers and in wealth. Their income was
mainly derived from agriculture. We know that both in
Baetica and in Lusitania the Roman colonists received
unusually large holdings. This was the original source of
their wealth, which steadily increased till it reached its climax
in the second century a. d. The beautiful ruins of the cities
of Baetica, Lusitania, and part of Tarraconensis — ^notably
those of Tarraco and Emerita — attest a splendid growth of
prosperity. It is reasonable to suppose that the foundation
of this wealth was the exploitation of the land. Good examples
of rich landowners are the families of the Emperors Trajan
and Hadrian. Labour for such estates and for the mines was
probably supplied by the natives, who remained what they
had always been — tillers of the soil and miners.^®
Southern Spain, however, contained large tracts of land
which were not in the hands of private owners. From the
first years of the conquest the Roman people possessed large
estates and most of the mines. As in Africa and in Asia, the
emperors of the Julio-Claudian dynasty rivalled the Roman
people in the extent of their properties, which they steadily
enlarged by confiscation and inheritance. The largest con-
fiscations were carried out by Nero, and in the second century
they were represented by huge tracts of patrimonial land.
The same fate befell most of the mines. On the mode of
cultivation of these patrimonial and public lands information
fails, but we may fairly suppose that it did not differ from
DESCRIPTION OF PLATE XXVII
1. FRAGMENT OF A BAS-RELIEF. Found at Linares in Spain. Stili at
Linares ?. A. Daubr6e in Rev. arch., 43 (1882), pp. 193 ff., pi. V ; H. Sandars,
ibid., 4^6 s6r., i (1903), pp. 201 E., pi. IV ; idem in Archaeologia, 59 (1905),
pp. 311 £f. and pi. LXIX ; S. Reinach, Rep. d. rel., ii, p. 192, 4.
Eight miners in two files marching down a mining-gallery towards a pit.
The last in the first line holds a miner’s pick or hammer, the second from the
end a lamp. The taller figure behind them is a foreman, who carries lai'ge double-
looped tongs and a lantern (?). All are dressed in the same manner : the upper
part of the body and the legs are naked ; round the waist is worn a short tunica
(or trousers) and a leathern belt (?). Linares (ancient Castulo) was one of the
most important mining centres of Spain ; its mines were very rich both in silver
and in lead (Polyb., 10, 38 ; ii, 20 ; Strabo, 3, 2, 10) ; a paved road connected
Castulo with the famous mines of Sisapo. See CIL., ii, pp. 440 ff. and 949 ff. The
town was rich and prosperous, as is shown by many Latin inscriptions found
there. Some mining implements from Linares have been recently published
by H. Sandars in Arch., 1. 1., figs. 12-15, and pL LXX, LXXI.
2. SILVER GUP ADORNED WITH BAS-RELIEFS. Found at Castro
Urdiales (Flaviobriga) in North Spain. Formerly in the Museum of Madrid.
Now lost? E. Hiibner in Arch, Zeit., 1873, p. 115, pi. XI ; Gaz. arch.,
pp. 261 and 270 ; Daremberg and Saglio, Diet. d. Ant., fig. 6089 ; CIL., ii, 2917 ;
S. Reinach, Rep. d. rel., ii, p. 195, 3.
The bas-reliefs which adorn the inside of the cup are surrounded by an
inscription in letters inlaid with gold : Salus Umeritana. At the top is shown
the personification of the Waters, the Salus of Umeri, reclining, half-naked,
holding a reed in her right hand and leaning with her left on an urn, out of which
a stream of water flows into a tank of big rustic stones. On either side of her
are old trees. The medicinal spring of Umeri (site unknown) probably made it
one of the well-known health resorts in Spain. (On the Spanish health resorts
see Pliny, iV. iJ., 31, 2, cp. 23 ; and on the sojourn of Augustus at one of them
in the Pyrenees, Krinagoras in Anth. Pal., 9, 419.) Near the spring a boy-
servant is filling a large jar with water. To the left a man dressed in a toga (a
patient who has recovered his health) is sacrificing at an altar. To the right a
native traveller, or shepherd, places offerings on another altar. Close to the spring
a sick old man, seated in a wicker chair, takes a glass of water from the hands
of a boy-servant. At the foot a third boy pours water from a jar into a barrel
placed on a cart drawn by two mules. It is evident that Umeri was a flourishing
health resort, one of many in the Pyrenees and other parts of the Roman Empire,
and that it even exported its water to distant places. Cp. E. Hubner, Romische
Herrschaft in Westeuropa, 1890, pp. 288 ff., and p. 262. On health resorts in
general, see Pauly- Wissowa, ii, pp. 294 Friedlander-Wissowa,
9th ed., i, p. 387 ; iii, p. 178.
/s|/ ' 4**1
VI City and Country in Spain 201
that which we find in Africa and Asia. The land was probably
leased to large and small tenants, conductores and coloni. The
former, who were farmers on a large scale, were townsmen ;
the latter lived on the estates and cultivated their farms with
their own hands.
Far less Romanized were the uplands of Lusitania and of
the Hither Province, especially the districts of the Celt-
Iberians, the Asturians, and the Callaecians. These districts
did not attract colonists from Italy and so they retained their
national aspect and the peculiarities of their social and
economic system. Romanization and urbanization was super-
ficial, and the division into clans and tribes (gentes) survived.
The fact that Vespasian gave Latin rights to all the tribes
of Central, Northern, and Western Spain does not imply
that they were thoroughly Romanized before the grant was
made. It only meant that city life was not alien to the social
system of Spain before the Roman domination and that,
through service in the army, a part of the population of the
tribal territories had become slightly Romanized and could
form a governing body on the Roman municipal model for
the rest of the tribe and parts of other tribes. The reform of
Vespasian was intended both to break up the national and
tribal connexions and to secure for the Roman legions, which
were no longer recruited in Italy, a supply of good soldiers
who, being descendants of veteran q.uxiliaries and members
of the urban aristocracy, were Romanized to a certain extent
and separated by their higher social standing from their kith
and kin. While one group thus became members of a civic
community, the rest remained in the same condition as before,
living their wonted tribal life and sending soldiers to the
auxiliary regiments of the Roman army. By this division
of the population Vespasian probably met the criticism of
those who reproached him with ‘barbarizing’ the army of
the Empire.®^
The meagre evidence which we possess as to the social and
economic life of the uplands shows that even after the reform
of Vespasian the land remained in a poor and primitive
condition, just as it had been in the times of Polybius and
Strabo.® The fact that, from the very moment when city
life on the Roman pattern began, it was not easy to find
a sufficient number of candidates for the municipal magis-
tracies, proves that the formation of a city bourgeoisie was
202 Flavians and ^ntonines chap.
a somewhat slow process and that the population of the
interior remained, even in the .cities, largely composed of
peasants and shepherds.^® In these parts, as is shown by
Schulten’s excavations at Numantia, the cities never reached
the state of prosperity which characterized those of the
coast and the lowlands. They remained more or less what
they had been before, native towns. Some of them, indeed,
left the hills for the plains, but the complaints of the Sabo-
renses show that this was not always a sign of prosperity.
Naturally the capitals ol large territories developed more
rapidly than the rest.®° Regarding the organization of the
tribes and clans which lived in the territories of the new
cities or, in some cases, in territories of their own we have
no evidence. The frequent mention in the city territories of
incolae and of contributi, some of whom were even intramurani —
that is to say, lived inside the cities — shows that those who
held Latin rights and were more or less Romanized formed
a small minority of the population of Spain, while the status
of the rest remained the same' as it had been before the
‘ thorough urbanization ’ of the country.®^
We are better informed about the social and economic life
of Gaul. The masterly pictures which have been given recently
by C. Jullian and F. Cumont justify a very brief account.®^
Here again we must be very careful about generalizing.
Gallia Narbonensis, like. Baetica, was much more Romanized
than Aquitania and Gallia Lugudunensis (including Belgica).
The southern province was as thoroughly Romanized as the
Northern part of Italy. Just as with Baetica, a predominant
part in its life was played by the Roman colonies, to which large
tracts of land were given. Some of these colonies (like Arelate
and Narbo) became rich commercial and industrial cities,
others (like Vienna) were centres of large and well-cultivated
rural districts. In the territories of the two most important
tribes of the province, the Vocontii and the Allobroges,
Romanization followed a peculiar course, which is paralleled
among the Helvetii in Gallia Comata. These territories
remained for a very long time rural regions with few cities
The main development of life took place in the pagi and via,
the latter of which under the influence of growing prosperity
naturally developed, to a certain extent, into regular cities.
Their administration, however, remained non-urban in type,
though it was separate from that of the rest of the land.®*
VI
City and Country in Gaul 203
As in Baetica, and perhaps more than in Baetica, landed
property was concentrated in the hands of a few owners.
We do not know how large the imperial share was, but it
is not impossible that the beautiful villa of Chiragan near
Toulouse, which has been recently excavated, was an imperial
estate, and that the large mass of sherds from the province
found on Monte Testaccio indicates the absorption of con-
siderable areas of public land.®* Moreover, Narbonensis has
yielded inscriptions which speak of imperial agents of the
■patrimonium ; and this is not surprising, for no doubt rich
Roman senators of the Republican period possessed extensive
properties there. The wealthiest landowners were certainly
the residents of the large and prosperous cities, who were
partly of Italian, partly of local origin. In the last chapter
we have spoken of the important commerce which these
members of the city bourgeoisie carried on, and we may be
sure that the successful merchants invested much of their
money in land. The beautiful buildings in the cities of
Southern France and the gorgeous funeral shrines of the
urban aristocracy testify to their great wealth and strong
public spirit. How far moderate-sized and small estates
developed alongside of the large domains of the Chiragan type
cannot be even guessed. It may be seriously doubted whether
the mention of possessores in Aquae Sextiae is to be taken as
a proof of the existence of a group of small landowners in the
territory of the city. It is more likely that by possessores are
meant owners of houses, not of land.®®
More definite is the picture which can be drawn of the life
of the other provinces of Gaul. There is no doubt that here
the cities developed slowly, and contained mostly a commer-
cial, industrial, and bureaucratic population. The main
source of prosperity was the land. It is interesting to read
the description of the many innovations which were introduced
into agriculture by the Gauls before and after the Roman
domination. The exploitation of land in Gaul was thoroughly
capitalistic and scientific. The representatives of this hus-
bandry were the large landed proprietors, the tribal aris-
tocracy, which owned the land before and after the Roman
conquest, and the immigrants who acquired their wealth by
means of commerce, industry, and banking operations. There
is no doubt, too, that some of the native artisans and traders,
after building up their fortunes, invested their money in land.
DESCRIPTION OF PLATE XXVIII
MOSAIC. Found in 1890 at Saint Remain en Gal (ancient Coionia Julia
Vienna) in South France. Louvre Museum, Paris. G. Lafaye in Rev, arch. ,
3«ie s6r., 19 (1892), pp. 322 ff., with drawings; Inventake des mosatqms de la
Gaule,i (1909), No, 246 and three photographic plates ; Cagnat-Chapot, Manuel,
&c., ii, p, 173 ; R. Billiard, La vigne dans Vantiqu/iU, p. 425 and passim ;
S. Reinach, Rip, A, peint,, pp. 223 ff.
The mosaic formed the pavement of a large room in a private house at Vienna.
Only one part of it is preserved. The whole consisted of forty squares surrounded
by an ornamental frame (omitted in our plate). Of these, twenty-eight are
preserved, but three have been badly damaged by fire. The Tour squares at
each end of the mosaic were purely ornamental ; the remaining thirty-two
were filled with pictures referring to rustic life. The whole was intended to be
a rustic pictorial calendar. The centre of the composition is occupied by four
figures of genii mounted on four animals — a boar, a panther, a bull, and a lion.
The genii certainly represent the four seasons : that on the boar is winter, that
on the bull spring, that on the lion summer, and that on the panther autumn.
The representation of seasons is quite common on ancient monuments, especially
mosaics ; see, e. g,, our plates XLIII and LIX. The genii in the r6Ie of seasons are
rather uncommon, but compare another mosaic of Vienna {Inventaire, No. 207).
Seven pictures are grouped with the figure of each season ; those which refer to
the winter and autumn are complete ; for the summer we have only three, and
for the spring only two. The pictures show a close agreement with the descrip-
tions of agricultural work both in the two rustic calendars which have come
down to us [Menologium rusticum Colotianum and Vallianum, CIL,, i. 2,
pp. 280 ff. ; vi. 2305, cp. p. 3318 ; Dessau, I. L. S,, 8745) and in our literary sources
(the Scriptores rei rusticae, and Vergil). The number of the pictures cannot
be brought into strict correspondence with the twelve months of the year (which
is the order in the written rustic calendars). It seems that for the author of
our calendar each season of ninety-one days was divided into sections of thirteen
days each. A detailed description of the pictures cannot be given here, but
they may be briefly enumerated in the natural order from above downwards.
I. Winter, (i) Two persons seated near a stove inside a room. (2) A man
bringing a bundle of reeds or osiers to a woman who is plaiting a basket (the
calendar for January says: salix, harundo caeditur). (3) Two men are busy
sowing something, probably beans (Cal. Dec. : faba seritur). (4) A man and
a boy (slave ?) performing a libation before the house on a portable altar (Cal.
Jan. : sacfifioant dis penatibus). (5) Grinding grain (Verg., Georg,, i. 267).
(6) Baking bread (?) in an oven. (7) Carrying manure to the vineyards (Cal. Dec. :
vineae stercorantur). II. Autumn, (i) Much damaged. Perhaps the arborum
oblaqueatio of Cal. Sept. ? (2) Vintage (Cal. Oct. : vindemiae). (3) Pressing of
the marc du raisin, (4) Picking apples or other fruit from the trees (Cal. Sept, :
poma leguntur), (5) Treading grapes. (6) Pitching jars (Cal. Sept.: dolia
picantur). (7) Ploughing and sowing (Cal. Nov. : sementes triticariae et hordia-
riae). III. Summer, (i) Much damaged. Harvesting barley (Cal. JuL : messes
hord%ar\iae\ eifabarliae]) ; it is too early for wheat, which is not reaped till August.
(2) Perhaps a rustic festival-contest (throwing of javelins: Y erg,, Georg,, ii. 529).
(3) Sacrifice to Ceres. IV. Spring, (i) The arrival of the first stork. (2) Graft-
ing trees.
It is noticeable that this rustic pictorial calendar (the designs of which were
certainly taken from illustrated manuscripts) deals almost exclusively with
viticulture and gardening. We must remember that Vienna was a great centre
of agricultural life and that her speciality was her famous wine. Compare the
large number of mosaics found at Vienna which refer to, wine and vine-planting
{Invent, des mos., Nos. 169, 174, 187, 207, 220, 236, 243).
A RUSTIC PICTORIAL CALENDAR
(Mosaic of Vienna)
XXVIIL AGRICULTURE IN SOUTH GAUL
vr
City and Country in Caul 205
These facts are proved not only by the descriptions of Gaul in
Polybius, Strabo, Caesar, &c., but also by the hundreds of
ruins of large and small villas which cover the soil of the
Gallic lands. The distribution of such villas all over the
country is a well-known fact, on which it is unnecessary to
insist. Careful excavations made in recent years both in
France and Belgium and on the Rhine (especially its left
bank) have fully illustrated the different types of these
domains : on the one hand, the large villas of rich land-
owners, the scattered farms of the cultivators, and the exten-
sive vici of workmen attached (not by any law but by the
economic conditions) to the villas, and on the other the more
modest villas, similar to those of Pompeii. It is worthy of
note that many of the modern names of cities and villages
in these lands are derived from the names of the owners of
the villas.* They may, indeed, be counted by thousands.®®
It is also a significant fact that many temples of the native
gods of Central, Northern, and Western Gaul were not con-
nected with the cities but formed centres of worship for the
country people who lived in native Celtic villages. Some of
these villages have been excavated, and we find that they do
not differ very much from the Celtic villages of the pre-Roman
period. Another interesting fact is the existence of many
theatres scattered all over the land and associated mostly
with the rural temples just mentioned. Originally, no doubt,
they were used mostly for religious ceremonies connected with
the native cults.®’
We pass to Germany. It is well known that the two
Roman provinces on the Rhine, Lower and Upper Germany
{Germania inferior and superior), were of comparatively
late origin (a. d. 8,2-90), and that the Rhine long formed
the military frontier of the provinces of Gaul. We cannot
here narrate once more the history of the military occupation
of the Rhine by the Romans.®® It will be enough to say that,
after the failure of Augustus to form a province of Germany
and to advance the frontier to the Elbe, the Rhine remained
for about sixty years the frontier [of the Empire. Military
considerations on the one hand, and the over-population of
Gaul on the other, combined with the necessity of finding
good arable land for veteran soldiers, forced Vespasian and
* The estates ( fundi) were designated by the owners’ names formed into an
adjective by means of the suffix -acus ox -anus*
DESCRIPTION OF PLATE XXIX
1. FUNERAL STJS'LjB. Found at Sens (Agedincum), Museum of Sens,
] ullio% MusSe de Sens, p. 73, pL XIII ; E. Esperandieu, Rec, gen., iv. No. 2803.
Husband and wife. The husband (on the right) is clad in the usual Gallo-
Roman dress and holds in his left hand a large purse full of coins. The wife wears
a similar dress and holds with both hands a small bottle, containing scent {?).
2. FRAGMENTS OF BAS-RELIEFS WHICH ADORNED A FUNERAL
MONUMENT. Found at Sens (Agedincum). Museum of Sens. Julliot, Musee
de Sens, p. 79, pi. XI ; E. Esperandieu, Rec. gen., iv, No. 2806.
Men standing in niches. The best-preserved is dressed in the usual Galio-
Roman style. He is busy writing in his ledger, a thick polyptych.
3. TWO BAS-RELIEFS OF A FUNERAL CIPPUS. Found at Arlon
(Orolaunum Vicus). Museum of Arlon. E. Esperandieu, Rec. gin., v, No. 4044
(with bibliography).
The front (not reproduced) is occupied by the figures of the deceased, the
husband holding a purse and the wife a box, both standing in a niche (similar
to No. I of this plate). On one of the sides (not reproduced) are figured a man
driving in a two-wheeled car (cisium) and a woman selling fruit to a traveller.
The other side is that reproduced in our figure. The upper panel depicts a shop
where fruit or vegetables (turnips ?) are exhibited for sale on a table, and are
being sold by a man and a woman to a customer. Under the table are three
baskets, and from the ceiling hang bunches of onions. In the lower panel two
men are working in a field : one hoeing, the other digging. The couple portrayed
on the cippus were probably landowners, who sold the products of their farm (or
of their vegetable garden ?) in their own shop and on the road which passed
near their farm.
4. FRAGMENT OF A BAS-RELIEF OF A FUNERAL MONUMENT.
Found at Arlon (Orolaunum Vicus). Museum of Arlon. E. Esp6randieu, Rec.
gin., V, ISo. ^0^6.
A man and two animals (oxen ?) in a cornfield. The operation represented
is probably reaping by means of a machine drawn by a team of oxen.
5. PART OF A FUNERAL MONUMENT (?). Found at Arlon. Museum
of Arlon. E. Esp6randieu, i?ec. gew., v. No. 4037.
A man in his office seated on a chair at a table, on which he pours out coins
from a purse. Another bearded man stands in front of the table, his light hand
lifted, in his left a cane. Perhaps a peasant in a bank making a payment or
borrowing money ?
2. A GALLIC BUSINESS MAN
I. PROSPEROUS BOURGEOIS OF GAUL
SELLING TURNIPS OR PEARS
5 , A BUSINESS : MAN ANU'. HIS PEASANT
, CUSTOMER : ;
HOEING AND DIGGING
XXIX. BUSINESS LIFE IN GAUL
VI City and Country in Germany 207
his sons to begin the conquest of Germany afresh, and with
the same chief object of connecting the army of the Rhine
with the army of the Danube by shorter and better roads.
For this purpose it was necessary to annex the angle between
the Rhine and the Danube — the fertile lands on the right bank
of the middle and upper Rhine, on one section of the Main,
and on the Neckar — and to surround the mountains of the
Taunus and of the Schwarzwald (Black Forest) with a con-
tinuous chain of military posts. By the efforts of Vespasian,
Titus, Domitian, and Trajan this task was gradually accom-
plished and a series of fortified posts with a continuous wall
of earth and, farther to the South, of stone were built for the
protection of the new territory and of the excellent system
of roads which connected the Rhine with the Danube.
Though the literary evidence on this achievement of the
emperors is very scanty, thorough archaeological investigation
has revealed to us all the details of the military occupation.
And more than that : it has enabled us to trace the broad
lines of economic development in the Rhine lands and the
salient features of the late Roman civilization which gradually
grew up bn both banks of the river in its middle and upper
course. Our detailed knowledge of Roman Germany is one
of the most notable triumphs of archaeology. Without the
careful work of excavation done by German scholars, we
should have known very little of the history of the Rhine
lands under the early Empire and of the early history of
Germany in general.®®
After the districts on the East bank of the middle and
upper Rhine had been incorporated in the Empire, the Rhine
lands as a whole were treated by the Roman government no
longer as the military frontier of Gaul but as two independent
provinces, the province of the lower and that of the upper
Rhine. The lower province was confined to the lands on the
left bank of the river ; the upper included large tracts on both
sides, extending to the Main and the Moselle. The economic
and social aspect of life in these two provinces demands a brief
description.
From this point of view the division of the Rhine lands
into a lower and an upper Germany appears purely artificial.’
In fact, the lands on the left bank of the river formed one
unit, those on the right another. The former, especially in
the South, did not differ greatly from the rest of Gaul, to
2 o 8 ttdvians and ^ntonines chap.
which they originally belonged. It is true that the large
cities on the left bank, with the exception of Augusta Trevero-
rum, were all of military origin. Colonia Agrippinensis,
Castra Vetera (Colonia Ulpia Trajana), Novaesium, Mogun-
tiacum, Bonna, &c., all developed out of the settlements
which arose round the great military fortresses, the so-called
canahae which gradually took the form of one or many villages
{vici). But these cities, half military and wholly Roman,
lived a life of their own, distinct from that of the country
behind them. Gradually, though slowly, they received the
usual constitution of a Roman community, while the country,
as elsewhere in Gaul, was subdivided into large tribal terri-
tories (civitates), which practically coincided with the district
inhabited by a single German or Celtic tribe, mostly German
and Celtic mixed, like the Ubii with their capital at Cologne
or the Treveri with their capital at Treves.
At the time of the Roman occupation the left bank of the
Rhine was not a no-man’s land. It formed part of the Celtic
commonwealth, with its own towns, villages, temples, and
so forth, and with its own social and economic life, which has
already been described. But the redistribution of population
after the time of Caesar, the settlement of many German tribes
in the region, and direct contact with the military frontier
were new and important factors in the economic and social
development of the whole land. From the economic point
of view the country was a paradise for the capitalist, especially
the districts of the Moselle and the Meuse. Rich and fertile,
it was bound to become the granary of the Rhine armies and
their main source of supply for wine, clothing, shoes, lumber,
metals, pottery, and the like. From the outset the land
attracted large numbers of immigrants, who were chiefly
engaged in the work of supplying the army with the things
it needed most. These men were not sutlers, but merchants
on a large scale and transport agents. Their main centres,
apart from Lyons, which was the clearing-house for imports
from Southern and Central Gaul and Italy, were Treves on
the Moselle, Cologne and Nijmegen (Noviomagus) on the
middle and lower Rhine. Of these the most important was
Treves, the earliest Roman city on the Moselle. Treves was
not only a great centre of commerce ; it became, as it was
bound to become, the economic centre of the whole surrounding
country.^® The merchants of the city, who acquired great
VI City and Country in Germany 209
wealth by selling goods to the Rhine army, invested their
money, as might be expected, in profitable undertakings in
the vicinity, and their example was followed by the merchants
of Cologne and the other commercial cities on the Rhine.
The idea of producing com, cattle, and wine on the spot
instead of importing them, and of manufacturing wool, metals,
leather wares and other goods in the neighbourhood, instead
of shipping them from far distant places, was natural enough.
The easiest way of realizing it was to promote agriculture, cattle-
breeding, and viticulture on a large scale and on capitalistic
lines. Gradually, therefore, the left bank of the Rhine, along
with the valleys of the Moselle and of the Meuse, became a
great centre of capitalistic and mostly agricultural enterprise.
It became, in M. Cumont’s phrase, a land ‘ non de villes, mais
de villas ’ . Its economic condition is depicted on the splendid
funeral monuments which the wealthy merchants and land-
owners of modem Belgium, Luxembourg, and above all the
neighbourhood of Treves, built for themselves all over the
country. The bas-reliefs which adorned these pillar-monu-
ments have already been mentioned in connexion with the
development of wholesale commerce in Gaul and on the
Rhine. They are no less important as illuminating evidence
of the rapid evolution of agriculture. Further testimony to
the prosperity of the whole region is furnished by the fine ruins
of large villas which are to be seen everywhere. Most of these
villas were either luxurious residences of the city merchants
or big agricultural and industrial concerns, combining a luxu-
rious summer abode with a series of buildings of a purely
business character.*^
The funeral monuments and the ruins of villas tell us also
of the social conditions of the land. Labour for the large
agricultural concerns was furnished by the native population,
by the Ubii, Treveri, &c., who lived in villages and huts near
the great villas. The bas-reliefs of the Igel monument near
Treves and the ruins of villages near some of the Belgian villas
show that the native population gradually became clients,
and in some cases tenants, of the rich city merchants. Though
the bas-reliefs of Neumagen, which represent peasants making
money payments to a city man, assisted by one or more clerks,
do not necessarily depict the coloni of a great landowner paying
their rent, yet the scene on the Igel monument, where peasants
bring gifts in kind to their master, reminds us so strongly of the
2354-= p
■ DESCRIPTION OF PLATE XXX, ,
i.DNE OF THE SCULPTURES . OF A FUNERAL MONUMENT OF
NEUMAGEN (RESTORED). Found at Neumagen. Museum of Treves.
Hettner, Fuhrer, &c., p. 14 ; E. Foizer, ' Ein Neumagener ScME neii erganzt
in Bonn. Jahrb., 120 (1911), p. 236; E. Esp6randieu, gSn.,^ vi, No. 5193 ;
Germania Romana (Atlas), pi. XLII, 2 ; S. Reinach, Rip. d. rei., ii, p. 90, 5,
and iii, p. 528, 7.
A rowing barge loaded with four large wine-barrels, and manned by six
oarsmen and two steersmen, one of whom is marking the time by clapping his
hands. The barge, according to the restoration, had its prow and stern adorned
with a ram's and a wolf’s head. '
: 2-3. FRAGMENTS OF BAS-RELIEFS ON THE FUNERAL MONUMENT
OF A RICH MERCHANT OF MOGUNTIACUM. Found at Mainz. Centra!
Museum of Mainz. Mainzer Zeitschr if t, i (1906), p. 31 ; E. Espdrandieu, Rec.gin.,
vii, No. 5833 ; S. Reinach, Rip. d. rel., ii, p. 71, 3, 4; Germania Romana (Atlas),
pL XLII, 8, and 5. To the same monument belongs the bas-relief, pi. XX, 2.
Three workmen rolling barrels up a plank, which leads apparently to a ship.
Four men unloading a ship : one has fallen dowm with his sack ; two are ashore ;
the other is running down the plank. Are the ships laden with wine and corn,
and was the owner of the monument a large dealer in these products ?
4. ONE OF THE BAS-RELIEFS OF THE COLUMN OF IGEL. Igel
near Treves. E, Espdrandieu, Rec. gin., vi. No. 5268, p. 454; F. Drexel in
Rom. Mitth., 35 (1920), p. 92; H. ■ DragendorE und E. Kruger, Dm GraPmal
von Igel, pi. IX.
Transport of large bundles on horseback over hilly country. Two horses
are crossing a hill At each end of the road is a large building.
5. AS NO. 4. E. Esperandieu, gin., vi, p. 455 ; F, Drexel, 1. I., p. 91,
fig. 3 ; Germania Romana (Atlas), pi. XLII, 7 ; H, Dragendorff und E. Kriiger,
1. 1., pi. XVI. ^
Two or more men (the relief is broken) are hauling a large and heavy ship
loaded with two bales. A steersman is seated on the stern. Compare the
recently found bas-relief of Cabri^res d’Aigues (Vaucluse), which represents the
same scene with some new and very interesting details, F. Drexel, I. L, p. 109,
fig. 10 (not in Esperandieu).
These five typical monuments, selected from scores which may be easily
consuited in Esp6randieu’s Recueil, furnish good illustrations of the lively
commercial life of the Rhine and its tributaries. Cp. Ch. V, note 26,
• --iJfV* •"‘'*' -'V -
ifif^ll |4
WINE BY RIVER
5. HAULING A BARGE ALONG A RIVER
XXX. COMMERCE IN GAUL AND GERMANY
VI City and Country in Germany 21 1
descriptions of Statius and Martial, which have been mentioned
above, that we cannot help thinking that the peasants of the
bas-reliefs are not only the clients and debtors but also, at
any rate in some cases, coloni of the owners of the monu-
ments.
How the city capitalists became owners of the richest
fields and the best pasture-lands in the region of the Rhine
is a question difficult to answer. They certainly did not
belong to the local tribal aristocracy. Such an aristocracy
hardly existed among the Ubii and the Treveri, who were
new German, or Celto-German, settlers on the left bank of
the river. Certain bas-reliefs of the same series may suggest
an explanation. Besides commercial and agricultural enter-
prises, the rich men of the Rhineland carried on money-lending
on a large scale. They were the bankers of a new business
community growing up under the influence of new economic
conditions. I am inclined to explain the so-called rent-pay
scenes as illustrations of banking operations. The villas were
not only large agricultural and industrial concerns, they were
also the local banks. It is easy to understand how shrewd
business men, by lending money to the villagers and farmers
of the neighbourhood, became the patrons and presently the
masters of their debtors, and gradually transformed into
tenants those who were formerly independent peasants and
landowners. The new system of Roman taxation helped them
to achieve their aim, and the new conditions of capitalistic
life which gradually developed on the left bank of the Rhine
contributed to the same result.^®
On the right bank of the Rhine different conditions pre-
vailed. The land annexed by the Romans was rich and fertile,
but very thinly populated. For many years it had been a
battle-field between Germans and Romans. The conditions
were too unsettled to attract permanent settlers in large
numbers. To this land the Romans brought peace for the
first time. Forts were built, roads constructed, rivers opened
to traffic. The forts, which were numerous, occupied the
vantage-points on the rivers and the cross-roads. Villages
arose around them. The native population began to till
the soil more intensively. Settlers flocked to the new lands
from Gaul . V eterans received parcels of land in the neighbour-
hood of theforts. Theland nearthe forts formed their territory,
which was exploited by the military authorities : they rented
P2
CHAP.
It to _soldters, who certainly sublet it to civilians, both natives
and immigrants. But the territory assigned to the forts was
never large. hen the forts moved forward, the civil popula-
tion remained and formed a village, a vicus. The whde land
was state property and the greater part of it was managed as
imperial estates (saltus) by the imperial administration. These
estates were partly left in the hands of the natives, partly
ricW sZSfSd oS o--
and new villages developed, some of which assumed the aspect
of replar cities. The fact was recognized by the government
The land was subdivide on pe pattern of Gaul into civitates,
the most prosperous village in each becoming its capital and
receiving in due time the organization of a city. ^Yet the
Its distinctive
feature, as revealed by systematic excavation, was not the
villages but the farms. Some of the farms lying near the
Itmes were _ given, more especially in the third century to
active soldiers and became a nursery of recruits, but most
conSS^ capitalistic agricultural
r.fw Moselle estates, but
rathei resembling the Pompeian villas. The typical villa had
the^Wit comfortable, though not luxurious, house, like
the big farm of rural Amenca to-day. The owners were
certainly welRo-do men, though they were not wealthy
apmte® Imdlords from the cities. According to the nature
of the land some of these farms produced com other^were
Tn^+h?' cattle-breeding was extensively carried on.
msorte Sin *^® and health
devdope^^ ^ industry also
conformity with the economic trend the native popula-
nf ^ 5?® tenants and shepherds
of the foreign farmers. Occasionally we hear of ctouds of
colom, w^ probably belonged to one or other of the larger
estates. Thus on the right bank of the Rhine, as on the lift
came to be divided into an upper class of well-
farmers and a lower class of peasants and tenants.^
. Britain was practically an annexe of Gaul. Thp cmT-iinrY-o
7 - peasanrs ana tenants.*®
, iJRiTAiN was practically an annexe of Gaul. The subiura-
lon of the lowlands, which were protected by the military
1 ^.
flfii
VI City and Country in Britain 213
occupation of the Western uplands on the one hand and on
the other by the construction of the Roman limes, com-
parable to the German limes, against Scotland, amounted in
fact to an extension of the provinces of Gaul and Germany
northwards, with the shortest possible military frontier. In
its social and economic development Roman Britain shows
a great similarity to the Rhine lands, especially those on the
right bank of the river. The brilliant sketch of the Romaniza-
tion of the province by the late F. Haverfield enables me to
confine myself to a few brief remarks.^®
Life on the military frontier was, of course, almost iden-
tical with that on the Rhine. Peculiar as it is and worth
a closer study, it has but little bearing on our subject. City
life in the lowlands developed in close connexion with the
conquest and the military occupation of the island. The four
colonies of Britain (Camulodunum, Glevum, Eburacum, and
Lindura) were aU of military origin and are comparable there-
fore to Colonia Agrippinensis, Castra ’^tera (or Colonia Ulpia
Trajana), Novaesium, Bonna, Moguntiacum, &c., in Ger-
many. The richest commercial city was Londinium, which
played in the life of Britain the same part as Treves and Lyons
in the life of Gaul and Germany. The health resort of Bath may
be compared with the many watering-places on the Rhine. The
other Roman cities of Britain, like most of the cities of Central
and Northern Gaul and Upper Germany, were towns of the
Celtic population which provided a market for farmers,
chefs-lieux of tribal and rural districts, the centres of their
administrative, religious, commercial, and industrial life.
Two of them, Calleva Atrebatum and Venta Silurum, have
been thoroughly excavated and they present the picture of
a large village with some public buildings.
Like Northern Gaul and Germany, Britain was a land not
of cities but of farms and agricultural estates, a land of villas
and squires, not of peasants and small proprietors. These
landowners were partly Roman emigrants and veterans and
their descendants, partly representatives of the native Celtic
aristocracy. This character of the lowlands is proved by the
widely distributed remains of villas. Although, in accordance
with the smaller scale on which life developed in Britain, none
of them was as large and as luxurious as the villas of Treves,
the courtyard type represents the houses of great landowners
combined with a large farm run on capitalistic lines. The
DESCRIPTION OF PLATE XXXI
1. ROMAN VIULA AT CHED WORTH, GLOS. Reconstructed by A.
Forestier {Illustrated London News, 1924, July 12, p. 75). On the excavations,
see G. E. Fox in Archaeological Journal, 44 (1887), pp/322 ff. and plate, and in
Archaeologia, 59, 2 (1905), pp. aioff., pi. LVII ; Prof. Buckmann and R. W.
Hall, ATofes on the Homdn Villa at Chedwofth, GloucBsiershife, Cirencester, 1929.
The villa (see the appended plan) consists of (i) a large court with barns,
storehouses, and quarters for the workmen on two sides, and an entrance gate
m front, and (2) a smaller court and garden surrounded by three groups of
buildings, of wmch one (the southern wing) housed the servants (?) and another,
with a portico in front, formed the residence of the owner. The latter contains
a large dining-room and baths on the ground floor and living-rooms on the first.
The dining-room was adorned with a fine mosaic showing figures of the four
seasons (compare our pi. XXVIII). The third, or northern, wing of the villa was
occupied by a forge and by a large fullery (fullonica), too large to serve domestic
purposes merely, see Ch. V, note 39.*
KOR.THERN, WPjgt.
COUl^T or
qA^DEhL
LODGE
PJ^OBABLE LHLE OP
2. BRONZE STATUETTE OF A PLOUGHMAN. Found at Piercebridge,
in the County of Durham. British Museum. British Mmemn Guide to the
Antiquities of Roman Britain, 1922, p. 90; E. Wooler, The Roman Fort at
Piercehridge (London, 1917), facing p. 148.
The plough is drawn by a team of oxen. The ploughman wears the Celtic
dress — a cloak with a hood. Models of a plough and of some agricultural imple-
ments have been found in a tumulus in Sussex ; see Gtiide to the Ant of Rom Brit
p. 42, fig. 39.
3. HANDLE OF A SILVER PATERA. Found in 1747 at Capheatoii
Northumberland. British Museum. Bibliography in my article in T R S' '
13 (19^3), P. 99 , note 5, ‘
The top of the handle is adorned with the bust of an empress, flanked on the
right by a traveller carrying his pack and leaning on a stick, and on the left bv
a shepherd with his sheep ; below (not reproduced here) is a temple with figiirt^s
of Mercury and of Bacchus and Ariadne, and in the corners the personifications
of a river and of a seaport. In the article quoted above I have endeavoured to
show that the paterae of Capheaton were probably made in Britain, The handle
gives a general picture of the prosperity of the land under the enlightened govern-
ment of Rome, with safe roads, a wealth of cattle, and communications by river
and sea.
4. FUNERAL STELE IN THE FORM OF AN AEDICULA. Found at
York (Eburacura). Museum of York. Gordon Home, Roman York 10^4
facing p. 24. ’
A blacksmith hammering on an anvil a piece of metal which he holds with
a pair of tongs.
4- A BRITISH BLACKS?vIlTH
3 , BRITISH TRAVICLLER AND SHERHERD
XXXI. BUSINESS LIFE IN BRITAIN
VI City and Country in Britain 215
corridor and bam examples are comparable, from the archi-
tectural as well as from the social and economic point of
view, with the farms of Upper Germany on the right bank
of the Rhine.*’
It is natural to suppose that the economic and social
development of Britain was very similar to that of Gaul and
still more to that of the two Germanies. Life was created by
the military occupation and lasted as long as the military
occupation was real and its protection effective. The lowlands
started their economic life under the shelter of the Roman
peace, as the Hinterland of the armies. The chief consumer
of their products was the army : the country itself supplied
a market later, but it never played a decisive part in the
economic life of the island. Intensive cultivation of the land
became profitable because a permanent market in the North
and in the West was secured to the producers. The people
of Britain soon realized their opportunities and used them.
The Celtic landlords who kept their estates developed agri-
culture and cattle-breeding on the lines familiar to their
kinsmen in Gaul. As in the valley of the Moselle, however,
the owners of the large estates were mostly rich merchants,
the business men of Londinium, who supphed the army with
goods from the continent during the first years of the occupa-
tion. It was to them that the large courtyard villas belonged.
Besides these, there were veterans who received and bought
parcels of land, thrifty Celts who adopted the new fashion
of intensive agriculture, and new settlers coming from the
continent. These were the owners of the corridor and barn
farm-houses.*®
None of these landowners tilled the soil with his own
hands or sent his sons and daughters to herd his sheep, pigs,
and cows in the meadows and forests. Labour was supplied
partly by slaves but mostly by the natives, who inhabited
villages of the type of those which were excavated by General
Pitt-Rivers near Salisbury and by Mr. D. Atkinson on Low-
bury Hill. In the poorer parts of the lowlands the villagers
may have possessed their own land and their own pastures,
but in the more fertile regions they certainly became shepherds
and tenants of the larger and smaller landowners. They
learnt to use Roman pots and safety-pins. Those who lived
in the cities learnt the Latin language and may have re-
membered the tags that we find quoted from Vergil, but in
2i6 Flavians and tAnmmies chap,
the mass they remained, like the feilahin of Egypt strangers
Greco-Roman civilizatiS~to citJ life
and all that was connected with it. How large their numbers
were as compared with the numbers of the soldiers the dtv
oS^the^A?p™® squires, we are unable to judge*^^®
NorSurn wtm fb^ provinces of Rome, of which Raetia?nd
dwell at leneth important, we cannot
some Darts Df +Ka social and economic point of view
some parts of these mostly mountainous districts shnw
the same features as the adjoinmg Ptrts of IMv
Iwge cities of Augusta Taurinorum and SeS aSuI
Eporedia, Comum, Bergomum, Brixia Verona
AquUeia, aU of which were iriginailv
SihTxtasi^t'SriJorief became great agricultural centres
tribes^ttTcS to“ OtL” par terf the*^, I'V*”
Mong in fact to the mountainous regions of fSem cSl
^etia the second largest of the Alpine lands was not verv
different in social and economic constitution fmm 7ho ^
mg parts of the country behind the /“ fpSr Lin?'
At any rate the excavated cities of Raetia misprif P '
reaching peculiarities to mark them off sharol?
of Upper Germany .» In relation to the and
its Augusta Vindelicum (Auesburui hS i ^
Mr&xiKs;t*
potte.y“^ S Tat
&^ttTdXTater“S\“‘ n—gSfs
tinned to cultivate it as fenmts of theTortA°”“’
fonnerly had a‘ Celfe no"”'
VI
Otty and Country tn ^ytlpine d^rovinces 217
the influence of Aquileia. The penetration of Italian elements
into the cities and valleys of Noricum was facilitated by the
fact that the country had for long lived a peaceful life united
imder the sceptre of a native king. Almost without a struggle
the kingdom was transformed by Augustus into a procura-
torial province. United with Italy, its valleys soon reached
a comparatively high degree of prosperity. Urban life
developed, unhampered by wars and rebellions, in many old
town centres of the various Celtic tribes, of which the largest
were Viranum (the capital), Celeia, Teurnia, and luvavum.
they all had vast territories, and consisted both of native
and of Italian elements. The emperor Claudius organized
these Celto-Roman on Itahan municipal models and
gave to the more important centres of urban life the constitu-
Uon of municipia. The inhabitants of the cities who were not
Roman citizens received the Latin citizenship, while the
country people, the peasants and shepherds, remained
gnm pd retained their native habits and customs indefinitely
especially in the remote corners of the land, like luenna and
the valley of Lavan.
The chief economic resources of Noricum were rich iron
and lead mines, forests, excellent pasture land, and some good
fields. These were mostly in the hands of the rich city bour-
geoiste. The mines were owned chiefly by the state and were
run, as in Dalmatia and Spain, through the medium of sub-
stantial entrepreneurs’ (conductores). The forests, pasture
lands, and fields belonged to the citizens of the cities. The
less attractive parts of the territory were probably left in
the hands of the native peyegrini.^ ■
We now turn to the lands inhabited by the two leading races
of the Danube region the Illyrians and the Thracians
One section of the Illyrians, which had a strong admixture of
Celtic blood, namely Histria, became part of Italy at an early
date ; another which shared the land with Thracian and Celtic
tribes was incorporated in the Roman Empire as the province
of Illyricum, to be later subdivided into the mainly Illyrian
piovinces of Dalmatia and the two Pannonias, and the chiefly
1 hracian provinces of Moesia Superior and Moesia Inferior,
toe former being Thraco-Illyrian, the latter almost purely
1 hracian The absence of any general work of recent date
on the Illyrian and Thracian provinces, comparable to
the volumes of C. Jullian, F, Haverfield, F. Cumont, and
me so-called some of which were afterwards
replaced by Roman cities, show that a high degree of civiiiza-
hon was reached as early as the late Mycenaean period.
Histria was colonized by the Romans very early (chiefly in
the first century b. c.) and became thoroughly Romanized
^ ar at le^t as the large cities of the coast were concerned—
JirSSr did not belong to Histria from the
tfS B ^ if of View, Parentium, and above all Pola
th her beautiful harbour. The territories of these cities
were to a large extent owned by the emperors and by the
Italians resident in them, among whom there was but a sliaht
admixture of native blood. (We leave aside the usual freed-
^ certain number of Greeks and
Orientals.) One of the most prominent and most active
Italian families was the family of the Laekanii in Pola, which
.,?® respect of its various economic
activities with the family of the Barbii in Aquileia. Pola
members of this family, both descendants of the
gmal Laekanii and freedmen and descendants of freedmen
ot the various members of it.“
Th«e mm introduced into the Histrian peninsula the
cultivation of land Almost the
whole of South Histna was transformed into an olive plan-
Si were tl^ islands in the bay of Pola, especially
the charming island Brioni Grande with its beautiful villa
a combmation of a real palace and an enormous farm, which
has recently been thoroughly excavated by A. Gnirs and is
the best example of a large villa of this type in the Roman
world, whether m Italy or in the provinces. Remains of many
villas, which were centres of large estates^
nd the rums of many scattered farm-houses, probably parts
estates, have been found and partially excavated by
Imt tut ^ ^7 Austrian Archaeological
^ similarity to the Pompeian
nnf Villas, except that production was concentrated
not on wme (which was probably produced in no very large
VI
City and Country in Hi stria
2 19
quantities) but on olive-oil. Another difference between the
Pompeian and the Histrian villas is that the latter were the
centres not of medium-sized estates but (at least in the best-
known cases) of regular latifundia of a type similar to those of
Gaul, Britain, Belgium, Germany, and Africa.®®
Italians resident in the Histrian cities also owned large
factories of tiles and jars, situated near Tergeste and Pola
:niese tiles and jars were used in Histria and Dalmatia and
throughout the Danube lands. It is probable that the Italians
who owned the large estates also bought up the wool produced
.y. native tribes in the mountains which lay behind the
cities. Some flocks of sheep, no doubt, were owned by the
city people and shepherded by their slaves. From this wool
were made the famous Histrian woollen garments which
competed with the Gallic articles of the same rather rough
and primitive kind.®®
Much less Romanized was the interior of the peninsula
and the land behind the territory of Tergeste. Tergeste
itself was originally an Illyrian settlement and afterwards
a village of the Celtic Carni. We have already quoted the
inscription which speaks of the Cami and Catali as being
attached to Tergeste : their conditions of life were probably
of the primitive rural type. Their ‘ chiefs’ became Roman
citizens, but the other members of these tribes probably
never attained the Roman franchise. The same is true of
the Illyrian tribes in Histria, as is shown by the Latin inscrip-
tions they have left, for instance, those of the territory of
Nesactium and Piquentum.®’
_ The Illyrians of Dalmatia, Pannonia, and of one part of
Moesia S uperior were not a pure race. The earliest population
of these lands was Thracian. Then came the Illyrians, who
enslaved it. Later appeared the Celts, who mixed with the
most important of the Illyrian tribes— the Libumians,
Dalmatians, lapudians, and Maezaeans in the Northern parts
ot the Adriatic area and the Taulantians, the Encheleians, and
the Ardiaeans in the Southern regions. The Illyrians when
they hrst came into contact with the Romans (in the third
century b c.) had, like the Iberians in Spain, a long historical
them. In the late Bronze and in the early Iron Age
they had been strongly influenced by the late Minoan civiliza-
tion. Very early they had come into touch with the Greeks.
Under these influences they developed a material civilization
DESCRIPTION OF PLATE XXXII
large villa on the island of brioni grande
XNiiAM FOLA..
_ The villa was excavated ^ the Austrian Archaeological Institute. The
chrector of the excavations, A. Gnirs, carried out the work with the greatest care
and achieved splendid results. Fig. 3 (Jahresh. d. oesterr. arch. Inst, 10 (1007)
Beiblatt. PP- 43-4. %• I) gives a general view of Val Catena, the charming bay
around which the buildings of the villa were erected.
General plan of the villa on Brioni Grande
Ja^esh^% reproduced from
PP; ?33-4. fig- 54) there was a fine quay, with three
^ semicircular portico (fig. i, from Jahresh., 7 (1904),
temples (N on the plan) was probably
d^cated to Neptune. Fig. 2 (Jahresh., 18 (1915), Beiblatt, pp.^^^-S^ fir, A
bifiMin^^' the mam building of the villa, the M?called “’terrace-
■ The villa was built on a large podmni rising above the quay. A lone
i ’ round a spacious oiurt was
oiT ^^hose used for making
wing was a gorgeous dwelling-house. The other prominent
buildings of the villa, as shown on the plan, are the harbour (B), the fish-tank
ii^i’ thermae (F), the long portico on the quay Ik) a pavilion-
at the end of the portico (L), another Maeia wth a peristyle
and an airmm (H), a garden (S), and a large water-tank fV). On 4?
Mpply of the large vilte in Histria generally, and on the cisterns of the villa on
Brioni (,rande, cp. A. Gnirs in Strena BuHSiana, 1924, pp. 138^ ««
PT““ "j'f'l
P .
itillT
tiJ
Im
Ij the three temples of the villa on brioni
(Restored by A. Gnirs)
THE MAIN BUILDING OF THE SAME VILLA
(Restored by A, Gnirs)
OF \ AL CATENA AND OF THE RUINS OF THE VILLA
XXXIL A HISTRIAN VILLA
VI Ckj and Country in T^almatia zzi
of their own, which was affected also by the civilization of
their kinsmen on the Italian side of the Adriatic Sea. It shows
many distinctive features of an interesting kind.
Socially, the various Illyrian tribes lived under rather
primitive conditions. The distinctive features of their life
j were very similar to those of the Iberians. The tribes and
i clans had their centres in fortified towns on the tops of hills
and mountains : grazing and agriculture were their main
occupations ; in some cases there existed a peculiar system
of redistributing the land among the members of the tribe
and the clans every eight years. Like the Iberians in Spain,
the Illyrians formed from time to time larger political units
under monarchical rule— the Encheleians near Apollonia and
: the Taulantians near Epidamnus, later the Ardiaeans, and
finally the Dalmatians. But these states showed no real
cohesion and were somewhat loose federations of tribes and
clans rather than centralized monarchical states.®®
The Romans dealt with the Illyrians and the Celto-
Illyrians in the same way as they did with the Iberians and
the Celt-Iberians. At a very early date they entered into
diplomatic and commercial relations with the cities on the
coast and protected the early Greek settlements and cities in
the Illyrian lands. The more such Roman influence on Illyrian
affairs asserted itself during the long period of renewed wars
f against the leading tribes, the closer did these relations become. •
In the second and first centuries b. c., when the military
! power of the Illyrians was broken for ever (although some
tribes still maintained a nominal independence), large groups
of Italian merchants and money-dealers settled in the more
important maritime cities. When the Illyrian lands were
finally annexed to the Roman Empire (in the time of Augustus
from about 33 b. c. and under his first successors), the Romans
i transformed these cities into colonies : Senia, lader, Salonae,
N arona, and Epidaurum were the first to be colonized. Coloni-
zation meant the creation of almost purely Italian centres of
I urban life. To the colonies were assigned large tracts of the
i best arable land. Many of the colonists became prosperous
landowners and probably used the native population as
tenants and labourers. We are able to follow the gradual
extension of Roman land-tenure in the territories of Salonae
and Narona. Some families resident in these cities were real
pioneers in the new lands. They built villas in the lowlands
222 Flavians and tjintonines chap.
of Dalmatia and introduced the capitalistic methods estab-
lished in Italy and in Histria. Lumbering and grazing were
their earliest forms of activity. Later came the production
of corn, and still later the cultivation of vines and olive-
trees.®® Besides the cities, two legionary fortresses were
established in the country, at Burnum and Delminium, as
well as scores of smaller forts. In the time of Vespasian,
however, the legions were removed from Dalmatia to Pan-
nonia, though some of the smaller forts remained. These
military establishments no doubt contributed largely to the
Romanization of the country. One of them — that at Burnum
—owned large pasture lands in the neighbourhood.®"
Meanwhile culture was gradually extending far into the
interior of the Dalmatian country. Extensive recruiting
among the Illyrian tribes gradually created a more or less
Romanized native aristocracy, consisting of the veterans
who returned to their tribes and villages after completing
their service in the auxiliary regiments. To these aristo-
cratic elements Vespasian assigned the leading role in
tribal life, and out of them and some Italian immigrants he
formed the new bourgeoisie of the urbanized towns and
fortified places of refuge in Dalmatia. His policy here, was
the same as that which he pursued in Spain and had the same
end in view. The tribal organization afforded no guarantees
of security. On the other hand Rome needed the tribes to
provide recruits for the auxiliary troops. The only way out
of the difficulty was to split up the tribes and to put control in
the hands of the more or less Romanized, or at least discip-
lined, members who had already served in the Roman army.
On them was imposed also the obligation of furnishing
recruits for the legions. As was natural — and here again we
have an analogy to Spain — many of the new cities were
transferred from the hill tops to the plain : cities situated in
the plain were much safer for the Romans than eagle-nests
on, the tops of steep hills and mountains.®^
The new municipia received in the usual way large and
fertile tracts of land which were carved out of the tribal
territories. Most of this land was divided among the newly
created citizens, while the rest of the tribal territory remained
in the hands of its previous owners, who formed the country
population and were not inscribed on the roll of citizens but
remained in the condition of feregrini. From the economic
VI d'ty Country in Oalmatia 223
point of view, many of these incolae gradually became tenants
of the well-to-do landowners, who lived in the city.®* Along-
side of agriculture a lively commerce grew up within the
province and with other provinces, as well as local industries.
On the funeral altar of a citizen of a municipality in the rich
valley of the Drinus the deceased is represented twice : on
one side of the stone as a landowner with ears of com in his
hand, and on the other side as a shoemaker.®® Some of the
members of the city aristocracy became very wealthy and
owned large areas of arable and pasture land ; as rich men
they entered the imperial service, attained equestrian rank,
and even occupied a seat in the Roman senate.®®
A good example of one of these native cities is Doclea,
formerly the fortified refuge of the tribe of the Docleates.
It has been excavated by a Russian ’archaeologist, and the
results have recently been published by an Italian scholar
of Trieste. Under Vespasian the town became a municipium.
Its citizens consisted of native principes (leading men of the
tribe), veterans, and immigrants from Salonae and Narona.
The city soon became rich and prosperous : we find its
wealthy landowners building a large forum with a fairly good
basilica, some temples, and a large bath. The same may be
said of many inland cities of Dalmatia (for example, Asseria
and Aenona behind lader).®® It is worthy of note that none
of these cities was granted the rank of a colony. The last
colony was created by Claudius (Colonia Claudia Aequum) ;
even under Hadrian, who established a new series of mnni-
cipia, no Dalmatian city received the higher status. The
policy of the government was the same as we found in Spain,
and in both countries it was evidently dictated by the same
motives. The municipia were intended to break up the tribal
life of Dalmatia. Their creation did not, however, mean
that Romanization was already achieved : it was a step
towards that end, not a crown set on a work already accom-
plished. Moreover, a thorough Romanization of city and
country was not in the interest of the Roman government,
as it deprived the state of excellent recruits both for the
legions and the auxiliary troops. In these circumstances it
is not surprising that the work of Romanization was never
completed in Dalmatia. Even in the cities the population
was not at all thoroughly Romanized, much less in their
territories. Further, many of the tribes were never urbanized.
Fig. 5 ^ A gricuitare in Moesia
i. I'X)WER PART OF A PAHNONIAN FUNERAL STELE, Fmiml in
vSerbia. ^ ^ Miisenm of Beigracle. My article in Rom, Mitik, 26 (1911), p. 278,
fig. 'Z ; S. Remach, Rip, a. reL, ii, p. 160, 2.
The office of a banker or a business man. The banker (in Roman tlrcss)
is seated on a chair near^a folding wall-table. In his left hand he holds a triptych,
his ledger {codex accepti et expensi) , and on the table before him lies a large "bag
containing coins — ^the day’s takings. In front of the table stands a slave reading
his daily report from the adversaria or ephemerides (the daily record-book), f )!'i
the book-keeping of the Romans, see R. Beigel, Rechnungswesen imd Buchfiikrung
der Rdmer, 1904, and cp. C. Bardt in Woch, kl. Phil,, 1905, pp. 13 If. On the
development of civilization and art in Pannonia,
A, Hekler in Sfrena Buliciana, 1924, pp. 208 E.
2. A MINING GALLERY IN TRANSYL-
VANIA.
3. BAS-RELIEF OF A VOTIVE ALTAR (?),
Unfinished. Found at St. Martin-am-Baclier
' (Pannonia) in the vicinity of stone quarries.
Museum of Pettau. V. Skrabar in Sirena BulL
diana, 1924, p. 159, fig. 9.
A miner (or perhaps rather the god of the
miners, Hercules or Silvaiius Saxanus) in a gallery,
half-naked, attacking the wall of the mine 111 froiit
of him with a heavy mining pick or hannner.
Near Iiim are some quarried slabs of marble. The
figure recalls Statius’ well-known description of
the .Dalmatian gokl-ml lies (SiAw, iv, 7,
' quando to dulci f^alio remittent immte.s Dai-
matae, ubi Dite viso pallidns fossor redit eru-
toque con color auro?'’ It is worthy of note
that, for Statius, Dalmatia and Spain were the
main gold -producing lands {SUvm, iii, 3, 89-90,
cp. i, 2, 153): Compare our pi XXVII, i*' (Spanish
miners).
. 4. FUNERAL ALTAR FOUND AT SEE-
■ LANI (DALMATIA). C. Patsch, ' Arch.-ep.
Unters. zur Gesch. d. rom. Prov. Dalmatien, VII in Wiss, Mitth, am Bosnian,
II (1909), p. 155, figs. 63-4.
Altar with a fragmentary and almost illegible inscription. On both sides of
it the same man is represented ; on the one side he is shown standing, clad in
the local dress, with a cane in his right hand and a bunch of corn-ears in his
left ; on the other he is represented as a cobbler with a shoe or a boot-tree in his
right hand and his implements near him. The reliefs furnish an excellent
illustration of the acquisition of land by a native who started as a shoemaker
in a small city, or of the augmentation of a landowner’s or a peasant’s income
from the profits of a boot-shop in the city.
- 5. FUNERAL CIPPUS FOUND AT ULMETUM IN MOESIA INFERIOR.
Museum of Bucharest. C/L., iii, 12491 ; V. Parvan, Inceputurile vietii Romane
la gurile Dunarii, 1923, pp. 52 fi., figs. 31-3 ; see note 85 to p. 232.
The cippus was erected on the tomb of a certain C. luiius C. f. Quadratiis,
princeps loci and quinquennalis of the territorium Capidavense, The upper part
shows the god Silvanus, the protector of agriculture and grazing ; the lower, a man
ploughing a field. On the other side a herd in a forest is visible.
DESCRIPTION OF PLATE XXXIII
A LANDOWNER AND SHOEMAKER OF DALMATIA
, XXIII, BUSINESS LIFE IN PANNONIA AND BALMATIA
VI City and Country in Tdalmatia 225
but remained as they had been, and continued to live in the
old fashion. The proof is given by scores of inscriptions on
boundary-stones which describe the delimitation of territories
between the various Dalmatian tribes. It is characteristic
of the conditions prevailing in the country that a purely
Roman ‘ centuriation’, or delimitation, of the land was never
carried out there, as it had been, at least to a certain extent,
in Pannonia, Dacia, and Africa. Clearly, apart from some
exceptions, the old-fashioned mode of cultivating the land
remained, and a Roman division into centmiae was not
required : all that was needed was a fair distribution of the
land between the tribes and the newly created mtmicipia.^^
From the economic point of view, one of the greatest
attractions of Dalmatia for the Romans was the rich iron
mines which had been exploited by the natives from time
immemorial. To the Romans the possession of them was
extremely important for providing the Danube armies with
arms and weapons ; they were as important and as vital as
the Gallic mines were for the Rhine army. Naturally, there-
fore, they were very soon taken under imperial administration
and managed by special contractors under the direction of
imperial procurators. The labour employed in them was
supplied by the native tribes, whose members had been accus-
tomed to this work for centuries. About the conditions under
which they worked we have no knowledge, but we may'
suppose that they were similar to those which prevailed in
the mines of Spain, where single pits were farmed out to
individual miners.®’
Similar was the social and economic development of the
frontier provinces with a Celto-IUyrian or Thraco-Illyrian
population — the two Pannonias and Moesia Superior,
which were the main centres of the military life of the Empire
on the Danube frontier. We do not propose to describe the
phases of the conquest and of the military occupation of these
lands. That has been done in a masterly way by Mommsen
and his collaborators in the Corpus of Latin Inscriptions,
vol. iii, and the general outlines of the process were sum-
marized by Mommsen in the fifth volume of his Roman
History. New evidence has been supplied by the excavations
carried out by the Austrians in some of the most important
camps : Poetovio, Lauriacum, Camuntum, and Aquincum.®®
For the purpose of this book it will be sufficient to say a few
2354-2 0
Flavians and \Antonines chap.
words about the main features of social and economic life in
these provinces.
The progress of city life on the middle Danube, on the
have, and on the Drave was determined by the great Roman
mihtery centres, which gradually moved from the Save to
the Drave, and finally to the Danube. Siscia and Sirmium on
the Save, Poetovio and Mursa on the Drave, Vindobona,
Camimtum, Brigetio, Aquincum, Singidunum, Viminacium,
^d Ratiaria on the Danube, and Scupi in the land of
. tile ,, unruly Dardanians, were all great fortresses, of the
legions and some of them remained so to the end of
me I^man domination. Mursa was the chief station of the
Danube fleet. The Roman troops, however, were not planted
in a desert land. Celtic, Illyrian, and Thraco-Illyrian tribes
these regions, and they were not exterminated by
the Romans. In fact most, if not all, of the fortresses were
built m the immediate vicinity of large Celtic, Illyrian, and
ihracian villages. _ Such a village certainly existed near
Carnuntum , Siscia was an important Illyrian town, the
mpital of the tribe of the Colapiani ; Scupi was a citadel of the
Dardanians, and Ratiaria of the Moesians (Thracians). To
meet the needs of the troops, large stretches of fertile land
meadows, woods, &c., were taken from the native tribes and
assigned to the fortresses. The prata legionum are often
mentioned in inscriptions. In the second and third centuries
these lands were usually let out to soldiers for exploitation ■
the larger part of a legion’s territory, however, was not
exploited directly by them, but was left in the hands of the
mhabitants of the villages {vtci), who probably were obliged
to deliver part of the produce of their fields, meadows, forests,
fisheries, and so forth to the fortress and to help the soldiers
by personal labour. A good illustration of the use of native
labour is furnished by the funeral cippus of a soldier belonging
to the fortress at Carnuntum. In the pediment the deceased
IS represented, with a virga in his hand, leading a rustic cart
dragged by two oxen and driven by an Illyrian peasant, who
holds a whip and an axe. It is clear that the soldier was
in charge of wood-cutting for the fortress, and employed
for this purpose the services of one of the peasants of the
neighbouring village (see pi. L).^®
territories of the legions and the native tribes
hved on them were under the management and r.nn tml
VI Cifjy and Country in ^annonia 227
of the military authorities. The extent of these prata legionum
is unknown to us. It is difficult to suppose that the lands of
all the tribes which lived near the Danube were regarded,
in the strict sense of the word, as territories of the different
legions. But whatever the size of the prata may have been, the
development of the fortresses was uniform all over the Danube
provinces. Near them settlements of civilians, the so-called
canabae, gradually grew up. On the other hand, the native
villages assigned to the legions were gradually invaded by
foreigners, mostly former soldiers of the fortress concerned,
who settled down in them, organized a community of Roman
citizens, and introduced Roman habits and customs and the
use of the Latin language. We know, for instance, of a pros-
perous community of this type in the neighbourhood of
Aquincum, called vicus Vindonianus, some of the members
of which were even Roman knights.''^ Gradually these
native yf a coalesced with the canabae of the fort to form
one settlement, which assumed the aspect of a real city.
Fora and basilicae, baths, theatres and amphitheatres
were built, the streets were paved, the city style of house
was adopted, and to this amalgamation of canabae and
native vici were finally granted the rights of a municipium
or a colony.’^
Those parts of the Danubian provinces which were not,
in the strict sense of the word, assigned to the forts but
which maintained their tribal organization were ruled, at
any rate in the first century a. d., as in Dalmatia, by military
officers {praefecti) appointed by the emperor or by the governor
of the province . Such a prefect of the tribe of the Colapiani was
the well-known Antonius Naso.’® Gradually, however, urban
life developed on those territories also, and some of the chief
villages were transformed into municipia, while others were
obliged to receive a colony of Roman veterans. In this way
arose such cities as Savaria, Solva, and Scarbantia in Pannonia,
and Ulpiana, Margum, and Naissus in Moesia Superior.
Colonies of Roman veterans were sent out also to Poetovio
in Pannonia and to Scupi in Moesia Superior, which had been
in origin important military fortresses.’^ The transformation
of such towns and villages into Roman cities meant, of course,
at the outset a revision of the rights of property in the land.
The best part was given to the colonists or to the citizens of
the new city, the worst was left to the common members of
Q2
DESCRIPTION OF PLATE XXXIV
T , THE LOWER PART OF THE COLUMN OF TRAJAN AT ROME.
ROM 'F«»m rf Ajan. C. Cichorina, DU Ediefs to r,a,„d,mk, pi, 1\ -.\X.
oi the decpraUon „mo
and Roumama. The Roman bank is Piot c > t, living-
™XdTy"palisades°“The ground floors of ^
,o„te, by the giMon of auxabary
quarters by « 8*™” »< ““ which
upper floor, furnished mth a gallery, served as an
the enemy could be watch^ and sign f ^ , interpreted as stocks of
the* enemy could be watched ana be i^nteroreted as stocks of
towers are seen piles of wood and s , fodder for the horses, but more
material for the repair of the buildings and of fodder lor th^^
material for the repair ^ft^e buildings ^
probably represent ‘ection ffi^ e^band i. left part) shows more civilized
Mm^rnm
SI dr
S“ Sii'’MpeSr'S”^lto£ ?‘v?S £*sacrifSe to the gods in the
;o“gf£VlSr!lp“Sy“eToi,SM»tt.^^ SS
of thrar armv Fig i band 3, shows the construction of fortifications near a
? vS on^^ch a newly built^bridge is seen ; fig. a. band 3. depicts the con
l?rSnt\r£
purpose. Roman trade and civilization marched with the troops across the
bribes, and concentrated in the new fortified centres of Roman life.
fc . . .. . '
THE MILITARY FRONTIER OF THE DANUBE AND THE DACIAN LANDS BEHIND THE FRONTIER
(Cokmiii of Trajan) -
VI City and Country in T^acia 229
the tribe. The land assigned to the colonists was upally
centuriated in the Roman fashion.^® In the territories 01
these colonies and municipid large tracts of land were gradu-
ally concentrated in the hands of a few landowners, partly
natives and veterans, partly foreigners. In the territory of
Ulpiana, for example, large estates were owned m the third
century by a member of the senatorial class, a certain G. Furius
Octavianus. Near Singidunum a native princeps loci built
for himself and his family a beautiful tomb gorgeously painted
and adorned with statues of the owner and of the members
of his family. There is no doubt that labour for these large
estates was furnished partly by a lively commerce in slaves
from the other side of the Danube, partly by the native
population.'® •, j
How much land was still owned by the native tribes and
how many villages which were not assigned to one or other
of the cities existed in Pannonia and Moesia Superior in the
second and third centuries, we cannot say. Districts like
Dardania no doubt retained their ancient tribal organization
for a very long time, perhaps in perpetuity. But even m the
regions assigned to cities and forts life retained its rustic
character, and the land never became thoroughly urbanized
and Romanized. A glance at the Pannonian and Moesian
funeral monuments shows to what an extent the natives
retained their original habits and customs.’’
Different was the aspect presented by the province of
Dacia, the last acquisition of the Romans on the banks of
the Danube. After the terrible war which was carried out
in two campaigns by Trajan and after a systematic extermina-
tion of the best of the natives, Dacia became a land of inten-
sive colonization, save in some districts which were left to
the native tribes. The gold mines of the province were
worked by Dalmatians, the Pirustae, who were brought
thither from their native land. The arable land was measured
out and distributed to colonists, most of whom came from the
East (as, for instance, from Galatia). In the many prosperous
cities settled a motley crowd of ex-soldiers, Greek and Oriental
merchants and artisans, and others. The land was rich and
offered various opportunities to the new settlers. We need
not be surprised that an opulent boufgcoisic soon grew up m
the cities. Thus we know of a family of Apulum which played,
as traders and landowners, almost the same part in the life
230 Flavians and tAntonines chap.
of the province as the family of the Barbii in Aquileia and in
the provinces of Noricum and Pannonia.'*
The original population of Dacia consisted mainly of
Thracians, a large and powerful nation with a long and
glorious history. Like the Illyrians, the Thracians belonged
to the Indo-European stock and were closely connected in
culture and religion with the population of Macedonia and
Greece. The history of the Thracians is the history of a
permanent struggle against enemies who threatened them
from East, North, West, and South. Scythians, Illyrians,
Celts, and Macedonians all tried to conquer the Thracian land
and all failed. The Romans succeeded, but not without
a long and bitter struggle in the Balkan mountains and in
the plains of Hungary.
Of the social and economic life of the Thracians we kno\^’
very little. They have left but one written document, and this
we are unable to understand. The archaeological e\idence is
as yet meagre and poor. The only ascertained fact about their
social and economic life is that they were an agricultural
people, a people whose life was concentrated in villages, not
in cities. Some of their villages were fortified ; one may have
been the residence of the king, the capital of one or many
tribes. But they were not real centres of urban life : we never
hear of any large development of industry or commerce in
them. The inhabitants of the villages were and remained
peasants, tillers of the soil, hunters, fishermen, cattle-breeders.
Their internal organization was tribal. The exchange of goods
between the tribes took the form of seasonal fairs, which are
still the chief feature of the commercial life of many Slavonic
peoples.'®
The Thracians first came into contact with the Romans
on the lower Danube in Moesia Inferior, which was not
organized as a regular province till after the annexation of
the Balkan Thracians by Claudius but, in fact, had been in
vassalage to Rome since the time of Augustus and Tiberius.®®
The first to recognize Roman supremacy were the Greek
cities on the Western shores of the Black Sea, formerly rich
and powerful centres of Greek life — Histria, Tomi, Callatis,
Dionysopolis, Odessos, Mesembria, Apollonia.®^ Their only
chance of regaining something of their old prosperity was the
establishment of a strong political force on the Danube and
Black Sea. When the Roman government secured the lower
VI
City and Country in dCloesia 231
Danube by a chain of fortresses (Oescus, Novae, Durostorum,
and Troesmis), the Thracian tribes on the lower Danube and
near the shores of the Black Sea became, by force of circum-
stances, the Hinterland both of the Roman fortresses and of
the old Greek cities. Without a reasonable economic and
social organization in the rich land between the Danube and
the Black Sea both fortresses and cities would be dependent
on uncertain imports of foodstuffs from far distant regions.
This was the reason why the Romans paid so much attention
to the organization of the province of Lower Moesia and
displayed so much interest in the affairs of the Greek cities
on the Black Sea within and beyond the Roman frontier —
at the mouth of the Dniester (Tyras) and the Dnieper (Olbia),
and in the Crimea. So long as Dacia was independent, even
the most intensive exploitation of the Dobrudja could not
provide both the Roman army and the cities with sufficient
quantities of foodstuffs. Import from South Russia was,
therefore, welcome ; and this meant that the Roman govern-
ment must police the Black Sea and afford military protection
to the Greek cities in South Russia.®^
The social and economic organization of the province
involved first of all a revision of rights to ownership of landed
property. The land was subdivided into territories belonging
to the fortresses, to the Greek cities, and to the native inhabi-
tants. As regards the military territories, the measures taken
in Moesia Inferior did not differ from those adopted in Dal-
matia, Pannonia, and Moesia Superior, and development
followed the same lines.®® In the ancient Greek cities the
Romans endeavoured above all to revive their decaying
economic life and to impart fresh vigour to it by attracting
new settlers. It is quite clear that for this purpose they
enlarged their territories and attached to them many native
villages. To the new and old citizens they freely granted
the Roman franchise. The inhabitants of the villages which
became attached to the cities had, of course, no share in their
government. From the Roman point of view they were and
remained peregrini, from the point of view of the cities they
were ‘by-dwellers’ {ndpoiKoi). On the other hand, when
dwellers in the cities acquired land in the territories of the
villages, they became members of the village communities.
Being its richest members, they were recognized along with
the native elders of the community as the ‘ senate ’ of the
232 Flavians and <u 4 .ntonines chap.
village, and as such they elected or nominated the ‘ chiefs’,
the magistri or magistratus. All the villages of a given terri-
tory appointed in turn one person to represent the territory.
This man received the title of quinquennalis and probably
had the duty of apportioning among the landowners of the
villages the payments due to the state and to the city as well
as personal services.®*
The same type of organization developed in the territories
of the native tribes. Here also the Roman citizens, who were
mostly veterans and immigrants from the other Danube
provinces, played an important part in the life of the village
communities. These new settlers were, of course, the chief
Romanizing influences, but in fact they never succeeded in
absorbing the native population and thoroughly Romanizing
it. With a few wealthier natives, who had assimilated Roman
culture, they formed a small minority of well-to-do land-
owners amid the mass of peasants and tenants who worked
the land for them.®®
On the south of Moesia Inferior, in the hilly and moun-
tainous land of the modern Bulgarians, the Thracians, who
had been subjects of the Odrysian dynasty but from the time
of Claudius were incorporated in the Roman province of
Thrace, retained for about a century their ancient organiza-
tion and their tribal and village life.®® Hundreds of villages
were scattered over the hills, mountains, valleys, and plains.
Their inhabitants were hard-working peasants, tillers of the
soil, shepherds, gardeners, hunters, just as they are to-day.
To the Roman army they furnished sturdy and brave foot-
soldiers and excellent horse. For the sake of an abundant
supply of these soldiers to serve in the numerous cohorts of
Thracians, the Roman government left the internal organiza-
tion of the country as it had been under the kings. The main
unit was the village ; a certain number of villages formed
a ‘ komarchy ’ (Kcojjbapxia ) ; all the villages of a tribe or, in other
words, an aggregate of ‘ komarchies ’ represented the adminis-
trative and territorial unit of a tribe Finally, one or
more tribes formed a district (crTparjjyta) under a military
commander.®’
, The Roman peace and the good opportunities of selling
, their farm produce to the agents of the Roman military
i ' establishments and to the merchants of the Greek cities of the
» ’ coast (Mesembria, Anchialus, Apollonia on the Black Sea, and
VI
City and Country in Thrace 233
Aenus, Maroneia, Abdera on the Aegean) brought wealth to the
Thracian peasants. Their old tribal market-places, where
the seasonal fairs {ifnropca) were held, gradually developed
into real towns. Some new market-places like the i/xTropiov
of Pizus, the nuclei of future cities, were created by the Roman
government.®® Roman citizens went to settle down in the
richest regions. For a time the Roman government remained
somewhat passive and did not make any strong effort to
develop city life in Thrace ; neither did it interfere with the
life of the few old Greek cities of the interior (Philippopolis
and Pautalia). One Roman colony was planted under
Claudius, three under the Flavians. The first serious attempt
to foster the growth of cities was made by Trajan in connexion
with his military operations on the Danube and in the East.
To exercise more effective control over the life of the province
he needed larger and better organized centres. New cities
(Trajanopolis, Plotinopolis, Traiana Augusta or Beroea, and
Nicopolis) were created, and municipal organization and
municipal rights were granted to certain villages like Serdica
which became large and prosperous settlements. Hadrian
continued his predecessor's policy. The well-known and
beautiful city of Hadrianopolis still exists under its old name.
Did this policy produce a real diffusion of city life ?
Did it result in the Hellenization of the land ? We say Helleni-
zation, for Greek influence in the Balkans was too strong to
permit of Romanization. I hardly think so. It resulted
in the separation from the rest of the population of a city
bourgeoisie consisting of immigrants and rich natives, in
additional burdens for the villages, in the disappearance of
some strategiai, which were replaced by city territories. But,
even with her cities, Thrace remained a land of villages, of
village communities, of small peasant landowners. For these
peasants the cities were an evil, not a blessing, as can be
clearly seen from the well-known inscription of Scaptopare,
of which we shall speak in the eleventh chapter.®® The
peasants, too, jealously kept all the peculiarities of their life
and their religion. In the Bulgarian mountains the Thracian
dress may be found to-day, and in the Christian churches
may be seen the figure of the great unnamed God, the hunter
and fighter, galloping on his Thracian horse, revered by the
peasants as the great Christian ‘ Herbs ’ St. George.®®
The adjoining province of Macedonia (including Paeonia
HI*
234 Flavians a?id %Antonines ■ chap.
and the lands of the Adriatic shore with Dyrrhachium and
Apollonia) was never a land of intensive urbanization,
apart from its Eastern coast. The strength of the Macedonian
kingdom was based on the Macedonian peasantry, on the
villages. During the Macedonian wars the country suffered
heavy losses. Under the rule of the Roman Republic it
experienced many disastrous invasions of barbarians. Then
it became, with Thessaly, the main battle-field of the Roman
generals during the civil wars. It was no wonder that this
fertile land was less densely populated than it had been
under its kings. The decline of population and the stra-
tegic importance of the land — through which passed the great
road from Italy across the Balkan peninsula, by w^ay of
Egnatia, to the East — induced Augustus to attempt to
Romanize at least one portion of the province by sending out
colonies, partly of veterans, partly of civilians, to many
important places (Dyrrhachium, Philippi, Dium, Pella, Cas-
sandrea, Byblis) and by granting to others the rights of
a Roman immicipium, as, for instance, to Beroea, the capital,
to Thessalonica, the chief harbour, to Stobi in the land of
the Paeonians. The numbers of the Romans were large
enough to prevent their absorption by the more or less Hellen-
ized population of the Macedonian cities and to enable the
emperors to recruit a considerable number of praetorians from
among the Romans in the province . The new settlers, as usual,
became mostly landowners and played an important part in
the life not only of the cities but also of the villages. Many
senatorial families possessed large estates in Macedonia.
Nevertheless the impression one gains is that the economic
backbone of the country continued to be the native tribes and
the numerous villages, particularly the mountain villages, of
peasants and shepherds.®^
On the social and economic conditions which prevailed
in Greece (the province of Achaia) in the imperial period it
is unnecessary to dwell at length. The general picture is
familiar. It is a picture of poverty and gradual depopulation.
The famous description of Euboea by Dio Chrysostom is, of
course, a fiction. His general statement in the Tarsian speech
is a rhetorical exaggeration. Yet the essential features of
his description, the depopulation and the existence of large
f tracts of waste land, are certainly true.®® A striking confirma-
|tion of Dio’s picture is afforded by the economic situation of
: . • ' ’ t;
VI
VI City and Country in Greece 235
many of the great sanctuaries of Greece in the imperial period.
The inscriptions of Delphi show that the income of that sanc-
tuary was now derived mainly from the sacred land and the
sacred herds. A recently discovered inscription of Ly cosura
in Arcadia testifies to the extreme poverty both of the city
and of the sanctuary, which were unable to pay the taxes
due to the Romans without the aid of a rich citizen. The
explanation of these conditions is clear. The industry and
the commerce of Greece were gone. As an agricultural country
Greece is probably the poorest land in the Mediterranean area.
It is not surprising that the Greeks, most of them clever and
educated men, emigrated in masses to countries which offered
better opportunities. But it is an exaggeration to speak of
an almost complete devastation of the land. The cities still
had a well-to-do bourgeoisie of landowners of the type of
Plutarch of Chaeronea, and the richer lands in Greece still
produced corn and oil, grapes and wine. Some of these
products (the oil of Attica, the wine of some of the islands)
were even exported to other provinces. As in the Hellenistic
period, landed property was concentrated in the hands of
a few families who lived in the various cities. The labour
required for the lands of the city bourgeoisie was normally
supplied, as might be expected, by slaves and tenants. The
well-known general description of Plutarch must therefore
be taken cum grano salts. What Plutarch had in mind was
the Greece of the glorious times of Themistocles and Pericles.
That Greece had gone for ever.®**
234 Flavians and ^ntonines - chap.
and the lands of the Adriatic shore with Dyrrhachium and
Apollonia) was never a land of intensive urbanization,
apart from its Eastern coast. The strength of the Macedonian
kingdom was based on the Macedonian peasantry, on the
villages. During the Macedonian wars the country suffered
heavy losses. Under the rule of the Roman Republic it
experienced many disastrous invasions of barbarians. Then
it became, with Thessaly, the main battle-field of the Roman
generals during the civil wars. It was no wonder that this
fertile land was less densely populated than it had been
under its kings. The decline of population and the stra-
tegic importance of the land — through which passed the great
road from Italy across the Balkan peninsula, by way of
Egnatia, to the East— induced Augustus to attempt to
Romanize at least one portion of the province by sending out
colonies, partly of veterans, partly of civilians, to many
important places (Dyrrhachium, Philippi, Dium, Pella, Cas-
sandrea, Byblis) and by granting to others the rights of
a Roman mmiicipium, as, for instance, to Bei'oea, the capital,
to Thessalonica, the chief harbour, to Stobi in the land of
the Paeonians. The numbers of the Romans were large
enough to prevent their absorption by the more or less Hellen-
ized population of the Macedonian cities and to enable the
emperors to recruit a considerable number of praetorians from
among the Romans in the province. The new settlers, as usual,
became mostly landowners and played an important part in
the life not only of the cities but also of the villages. Many
senatorial families possessed large estates in Macedonia.
Nevertheless the impression one gains is that the economic
backbone of the country continued to be the native tribes and
the numerous villages, particularly the mountain villages, of
peasants and shepherds.®-
On the social and economic conditions which prevailed
in Greece (the province of Achaia) in the imperial period it
is unnecessary to dwell at length. The general picture is
familiar. It is a picture of poverty and gradual depopulation.
The famous description of Euboea by Dio Chrysostom is, of
course, a fiction. His general statement in the Tarsian speech
is a rhetorical exaggeration. Yet the essential features of
his description, the depopulation and the existence of large
tracts of waste land, are certainly true.®* A striking confirma-
tion of Dio’s picture is afforded by the economic situation of
VI
City and Country in Greece
23s
many of the great sanctuaries of Greece in the imperial period.
The inscriptions of Delphi show that the income of that sanc-
tuary was now derived mainly from the sacred land and the
sacred herds.®* A recently discovered inscription of Ly cosura
in Arcadia testifies to the extreme poverty both of the city
and of the sanctuary, which were unable to pay the taxes
due to the Romans without the aid of a rich citizen.®® The
explanation of these conditions is clear. The industry and
the commerce of Greece were gone. As an agricultural country
Greece is probably the poorest land in the Mediterranean area.
It is not surprising that the Greeks, most of them clever and
educated men, emigrated in masses to countries which offered
better opportunities. But it is an exaggeration to speak of
an almost complete devastation of the land. The cities still
had a well-to-do bourgeoisie of landowners of the type of
Plutarch of Chaeronea, and the richer lands in Greece still
produced corn and oil, grapes and wine. Some of these
products (the oil of Attica, the wine of some of the islands)
were even exported to other provinces. As in the Hellenistic
period, landed property was concentrated in the hands of
a few families who lived in the various cities. The labour
required for the lands of the city bourgeoisie was normally
supplied, as might be expected, by slaves and tenants. The
well-known general description of Plutarch must therefore
be taken cum gram salis. What Plutarch had in mind was
the Greece of the glorious times of Themistocles and Pericles.
That Greece had gone for ever.®®
VII
THE ROMAN EMPIRE UNDER THE FLAVIANS
AND THE ANTONINES
The City and the Country in the Asiatic and the
African Provinces of Rome
When we cross the Aegean Sea or the straits from the
West, we come to a different world, the world of an age-old
Oriental civilization characterized by a peculiar social and
economic organization. Islands of Hellenic culture set in
an ocean of an Oriental population were unable thoroughly
to transform the aspect of these lands, and in the time of the
Empire we find here precisely the same contrast between
Greek life in the cities and Oriental life in the country as
had been so marked a feature of the Hellenistic period. The
contrast was less pronounced in Africa where the development
of city life was due not to the Greeks but to the Phoenicians,
and after them to the Romans.
The Roman provinces of Asia Minor were rich and pros-
perous lands. Their economic and social conditions need not
be treated at length, as they have already been discussed by
the present writer in a special volume.^ It will be enough
brie% to recapitulate the conclusions reached in that book
and to discuss the new evidence that has come to light in the
last fifteen years. In the provinces of Asia Minor there
existed many types of land-tenure. The first was the
system of small and large ownership which prevailed in the
territories of the Greek cities, whether of ancient or of recent
origin, and was recognized by the Romans. Land owned in
this way was cultivated either by the owner himself or by his
slaves or tenants. What proportion of the city territories was
so cultivated we do not know. Some late documents show
that in the cities near the sea this method of cultivation was
widely spread.® Besides the land which was divided among
the citizens (/cX-^poi), many of the ancient Greek cities pos-
VII City and Country in ^Asia Elinor 237
sessed extensive tracts which were cultivated and inhabited by
natives who lived in their old-fashioned villages. From the
Roman point of view these villages were ‘ attached ’ or
‘ attributed’ to the city; from the Greek point of view the
villages were inhabited by ‘ by-dwellers’ (rrdpoiKOL or /cdroLKoc)
who never had had and were never destined to have the full
rights of municipal citizenship. How to deal with these large
numbers of peasants was as serious a question for the city
aristocracy as was the problem of the city proletariate. The
villagers insisted on their right to be admitted to the muni-
cipal citizenship ; the governing aristocracy endeavoured
to postpone this solution of the problem, as it probably
involved certain financial consequences which were unpleasant
for them. In his well-known speech on o-woi/cio-^os Dio of
Prusa gives us a glimpse into the conditions created in the
cities by this antagonism between the city and the country.
As a liberal and a philosopher, he insists on a <xvvoiKio-p.6<i
which would unite city and country into one social and eco-
nomic body. The question was a vital one for many cities
of Asia Minor, for instance, the capital of Phrygia, the pros-
perous Celaenae, which had numerous villages attached to it.®
In spite, however, of the constantly growing number of
cities throughout the country, there were many tracts of land
which never belonged to the territory of any city. Such tracts
were owned either by the emperor and members of his family —
who succeeded to the inheritance of the Hittite, Phrygian,
Lydian, and Persian kings, of the Populus Romanus, and of
the rivals of Caesar and Augustus— or by members of rich
senatorial families, or by the ancient sanctuaries of the native
gods and goddesses which were scattered all over the penin-
sula.* Some of these sanctuaries were either absorbed by
the cities or attached to them, but many of them, especially in
Armenia, Cappadocia, and Commagene, still formed special
territories which were no less independent of the cities than
some of the imperial and senatorial estates.® Life on the
lands which did not belong to any city was of a rustic character.
The peasants who cultivated the soil as tenant-serfs of the
emperors, as free tenants of the senators, or as sacred
slaves or serfs of the Anatolian gods, lived in villages far
remote from the cities and wholly alien from them in life and
civilization. Some of these villages increased in size and
economic importance, and some of the villagers became rich
DESCRIPTION OF PLATE XXXV
. ,1. ¥OTI¥E STELE TO THE GOD MEN. Alleged to have been found in
Attica but certainly brought from Asia Minor. British Museum. Th, Homolle
in B. C.H., 23 {1899), p, 389, p!, I ; A. Legrand in Daremberg and Saglio, Diet,
d,. AmI, Mi, p. 1395, 4671 ; S, Reinach, ESp, d. rei., ii, p. 483, i.
Inscription : Mijvl ml IlXovrod(^rifi (sic). The side is a curious
testimony to the popularity and rapid spread of the Solar pantheism of Asia
Minor and Syria, in the Ilnd and Illrd cent. a. d. In Asia Minor these beliefs
centre round the God M§n. The cult of the gods of light was at the same time
a cult of deities who had created civilization and prosperity. This idea is ex-
pressed alike in the inscription and in the bas-reliefs of our sUie (cp. F.
Cumont, Oriental Religtons. igii, p. 61 f.). The upper part of the stele
is occupied by a mask of Men-Sol, adorned with a solar crown, with the sun
and the crescent in the centre, and resting on a large crescent. On right and
left are three stars. The centre of the stde shows a curious composition. An
object resembling a balance is formed by a scale-beam consisting of a snake
with two heads, each crowned by a crescent, and scales composed of the attribute
of Fortune (cornucopiae) , with a lunar snake on it, and the attributes of Hercules
(club and bow). The balance is supported by a large bulbs head, a symbol of
Men, with two crescents and two solar disks and a cornucopiae between the horns,
while on its brow is a large eye surmounted by a crescent. Right and left of
the head are shown the cult instruments of Men — the harpe and the syrinx
and the two rudders of the goddess Fortune (all with crescents appended, like
every object represented on the stde). Below them are the attributes of Xhilcan
(the tongs) and of ¥enus (the mirror). The cormwopiae of the balance rests
on the two caps of the Dioscuri, and the club of Hercules on tlie wheel of Nemesis.
The balance is hanked by two pairs of torches, one resting on a bulbs head,
the other on a goat’s (symbols of Demeter and of the Eleusinian mysteries).
The lower portion of the slab is filled with four signs of the Zodiac, symbolizing
the four seasons — Virgo (Autumn) in the middle, supporting a plate with leaves
and a cake stamped with a crescent, Capricorn (Winter) supporting Virgo, on
the left Aries (late spring, May) with corn-ears and fruit behind it, and on the
right the Lion (Summer) with a lunar snake behind it. BehiiKl Aries is the
caduceus of Mercury, beneath the capricorn the omphalos of Apollo, the crane,
and the raven,
2, FUNERAL STELE. Found in Phrygia (Asia Minor), presumably at
Dorylaeimi. Ottoman Museum at Constantinople. P. Perdrizet in B.C.H,,
20 (1896), p. 64, pi. XVI; A. Legrand in Daremberg and Saglio, Did, d. Ant.,
iii, p. 1395, fig. 4670 ; S. Reinach, Rip. d. rel., ii, p. 174, 2.
Funeral stele of Apphion and her husband Gains dedicated to, or put iiiider
the protection of, Hecate the Saviour. In the pediment stands the solar eagle
of apotheosis. In the first panel is figured the triple Hecate, with the solar
bust and the crescent above ; on the left Men ; on the right the solar and thunder
god of Asia Minor, the god of the axe, and his sacred animal the dog. Above
Men is the husband’s ledger, the diptych ; above the god of the axe are placed
the symbols of the housewife — ^the basket and the dove, the mirror and the comb.
The lowest panel contains the busts of Apphion and Gains, the latter holding
a distaff. Underneath is a plough. A tombstone of a coupie of honest, well-to-
do, thrifty bourgeois, a landowner and his wife, who is a mode! housewife.
3. PART OF A SCULPTURED FRIEZE. Found at Ephesus. British
Museum. J. T. Wood, Discoveries at Ephesus, 1877, pp. 213 ft'. ; A. H. Smith,
Catalogue of Sculptures of the British Museum, ii. No. 1285.
Two heavy carts, one drawn by a team of mules, the other by a team of
oxen, and both loaded with big heavy sacks. Another part of the same frieze
represents a gladiatorial combat. Wood suggests that the two friezes formed
part of the decoration of the Magnesian gate of Ephesus. I am rather inclined
to think of a funeral monument outside the gate. The sculptures recall a gladia-
torial show given by the deceased (cp. similar monuments in Italy, e. g. the
funeral monument of Umbricius Scaurus at Pompeii, see Mau, Pompeii, p. 438,
fig. 258, and that of Rieti, S. Reinach, R6p. d. rel., iii, p. 334) and perhaps services
which he rendered to the city by importing corn in time of famine or by taking
the responsibility for the prosecutio annonae {TrapantypTfr}) , imposed on the city
by the government, cp. Chapters VIII and IX.
I, VOTIVE STELE TO THE GOD MEN, THE
SAVIOUR AND GIVER OF WEALTH
LANDOWNER AND HIS WIFE
3. TRANSPORT OF GOODS IN ASIA MINOR
XXXY. LIFE IX ASIA MIXOR
vii City and Country in South Russia ' ■ '239
and prosperous ; and this development might be recognisted
by the grant of a city constitution. But that was exceptional.
The villages of Asia Minor continued down to the days of the
late Roman Empire and of the Turkish conquest to be what
they still are, mere agglomerations of peasants' cottages
with a market-place, a shrine, an inn, and premises for local
authorities and government officials.® Finally, in the wild
mountains of Cilicia and Isauria, in the Taurus and Antitaurus,
on the high plateaus of Cappadocia and Armenia, shepherd
tribes lived their half-nomadic life, caring little to whom they
had to pay their meagre annual tribute and robbing any one
when opportunity offered.
It is difficult to say how much of Asia Minor was included
in city territories and how much was exempt from city
administration. The proportion varied in different parts of
the country. On the coast the cities were certainly pre-
dominant : the valleys of the Hermus and the Maeander
were almost wholly partitioned between city territories. But
the farther we move from the sea and the large rivers, the
rarer did they become. In parts of Cilicia, in Cappadocia,
Armenia, and Commagene cities were quite exceptional.
Cappadocia was still subdivided into sirategiai, with a native
sheikh or satrap as chief. But even in the territories of the
cities life was mainly rustic. Outside the city itself it ran on the
old Oriental lines and was diffused over hundreds of peasant
hamlets. Despite the notable development of large and
prosperous cities, Asia Minor remained a land of 'peasants
and villages.’
From the time of Augustus the Greek cities and the semi-
Greek state of Bosporus on the Northern and Eastern shores
of the Black Sea and in the Crimea formed in fact part of the
Roman Empire. With the political and cultural history of
this region under the early Empire I have dealt in a separate
book.® From the social and economic point of view the
area in question may be subdivided into three sections : the
territories of the Greek cities (especially Olbia and Cher-
sonesus and the maritime cities of the Caucasian shore), the
Bosporan kingdom, and the Thracian and Iranian tribes
and states which were nominally vassals of the Bosporan
kingdom. The territory of Chersonesus, as is shown by the
archaeological remains, was probably subdivided into KXTjpoi
owned by the citizens and cultivated mostly as vineyards.®
CAPAEUM. Formerly at Kerch, now destroyed. Compte-vendu de la Comw
Arch, de Riissie, 1878, pi. I, i ; N. Kondakoff, J. Tolstoi, and S. Reinacli, Ant.
de la Russie Mer., 1892, p. 203, fig. 187; M. Rostovtzeff, Ancient Decorative
Painting in S. Russia^ 1913 (in Russian), pi. LI ; idem, Tranians and Greeks in
S. Russia^ 1922, pi. XXVIII, i. The inscription reads ' XvB^ariipLoi 6 ‘^HyjjfTiVTrou
0 Kill KTrjiTap^vik.
The scene represents the rural life of a large landowner of Panticapaeuni.
The dead man, armed and followed by a retainer, is riding towards his family
residence, a tent of true nomadic type. His household (wife, children, and
servants) is assembled in the tent and beside it, under the sliade of a single
tree ; beside the tree is his long spear, while his quiver hangs from a branch. "It
is of course summer, and in summer during the harvest season the landowner,
who lived as a rule in the city, went out to the steppes, armed and accompanied
by armed servants. He supervises the work in the fields, and defends his
labourers and harvesters from the attacks of neighbours, the Taurians from the
mountains and the Scythians from the plains,
2. PART OF THE MURAL DECORATION OF A TOMB AT PANTICA-
PAEUM. Kerch. V. Stassoff in C. R. de la Comm. Arch., 1872, pi. X; Koii-
dakoff, Tolstoi, ^and Reinach, 1. L, p. 209, fig. 192 ; M. Rostovtzeff, Anc. Decor.
Paint., pL LXXIX, and Iranians and Greeks, pi. XXIX, 3 ; idem in /. H. S., ^9
(^ 9 i 9 )> p- ^5^1 pl* VHI ; S. Reinach, Rep. d. peint., zyi, 2.
Fight between a Panticapaean landowner and a Scythian feudal chief from
the lowlands of the Crimea. The Panticapaean is followed by his little army,
composed of his friends, clients and serfs. A band of shag-haired Scytiiians,
bold archers and horsemen, is attacking him but is surrounded by the Panti-
capaeans, and one of the band lies slain, with his horse, on the Crimeaii prairie.
Many Panticapaeans, as we leam from the inscriptions, met the same kind of
death while defending their fields and herds.
3. AS NO. 2. Stassoff in C. R. de la Comm. Arch., 1872, pi. VI ; Rostovtzeff,
Anc. Decor. Paint., pl. LXXVIII ; idem, Iranians and Greeks, pl. XXIX i*
S. Reinach, Rep. d. peint,, 271, 4. ^ *
A Panticapaean knight attacking a Taurian foot-soldier.
VII
City and Country in South Russia 2.4^1
In Olbia and in the many half-Greek cities at the mouth of
the Dnieper and Bug the conditions were different. We
have no direct evidence about them, but we may suppose
that the fertile land was cultivated by natives paying
a tribute in kind to their armed lords, who left the cities in
spring and summer to supervise the agricultural work.^“
We have better information about the social and economic
constitution of the Bosporan kingdom. It comprised the
so-called peninsula of Kerch and a part of the Taman penin-
sula — the territory of Panticapaeum, Theodosia, and some
minor cities on the Crimean side of the straits of Kerch, and
of Phanagoria and the other cities on the peninsula of Taman.
This fertile, though not very large, territory was protected
against the inroads of the half-nomadic population of the
Crimea and the Taman peninsula by earthen walls with
watch-towers and small castella. Inside these walls the land
was owned partly by the king and the citizens of the Greek
cities, partly by temples and their priests. The land was
cultivated and the stock of the landowners (largely horses)
was guarded by natives who lived in huts and caves and were
practically serfs, if not slaves, of their masters.^^ In spring-
time the landowners with their families and their armed
retinues left the cities in heavy four-wheeled carts and on
horseback, settled in tents on their fields, and supervised the
cultivation of the land and the tending of the flocks. Fully
armed and accompanied by armed servants, they rode out
in the morning and returned to their tents in the evening ; if
the approach of a robber host were notified by signals from
the wall, all the landowners went forth with their retinues
and a band of armed peasants to meet the enemy and, no
doubt, to retaliate by raiding the fields and flocks of their
neighbours. In the autumn they returned to their houses in
the city and brought with them the reaped corn. The animals
probably remained in the steppes under special protection.^®
The corn collected by the landowners was sold to merchants
from Greece and from Asia Minor. A large proportion of it,
partly paid as a tax by the landowners and partly garnered
from the royal domains, belonged to the king, who, indeed,
was the largest landowner and corn-merchant in the kingdom.
Some of his corn was shipped to the Roman armies, especially
those of Pontus, Cappadocia, and Armenia, and in payment
he received an annual subsidy from the governor of Bithynia.^^
DESCRIPTION' OF PLATE XXXVII
1. BASALT STATUE OF- THE GOD DUSAEES. 'Found at Ghariye»
Shonbeili, south of Djebei ed Druz in the Aujranitis. Mnsenin of Aleppo, R.
Dussaud in C. R. Acad. Inscr., 1923, p. 399, %- ; Oh. Virolleaud in Syria, 5 (1924),
p. 51, pi. XX, 2.
The god Dnsares is represented standing in a frontal position with a kaMkos
or a mural crown on his head, ^patera in his right hand, and a cornmopiae full
of grapes in his left. He is dressed in a chiton with short wide sleeves and a
cMamys. Dusares was the great god of the Arabians in the Auranitis. In the
Roman period he is the protector of vineyards and of agricultural life in general,
being identified with Dionysos. He was worshipped under various names and
is probably identical with the protecting deity of the new cities — the Bms \^BpcLr}pm¥
and the divine of Soada ; see Dussaud et Macler, Voyage arch, au Safa,
pp. 182 ff. ; idem, Mission dans les regions desertiques, pp. 32, 270 ff., 309 if.,
and Dussaud, Notes de mythologie Syrienne, p. 168 {Rev. num., 1904, p, 161).
A bust of Dusares was found in the temple of Sei' near Soada and is now in the
British Museum (De Vogue, Syrie Cenirale, i, p. 34 and pi. III).
2. BRONZE STATUETTE OF A DONKEY. British Museum. H. B.
Walters, Catalogue of the Bronzes in the Br. Mus., 1899, p. 280, No. 1790 ; A Guide
to the Bxhih. illustr. Greek and Roman Life, 2nd ed., 1920, p. 178; cp, S. Reinacli,
Rep. d. stat., ii, p. 745, 3.
Donkey witli panniers, braying, with head raised and legs set stiff. A * sur-
tout de table ' of the same sort is described by Petronius, Cm. 31 : ‘ ceteriii'n in
promuisidari asellus erat Corinthiiis cum bisaccio positiis, qiii habebat olivas
in altera parte albas, in altera nigras.'
3. TERRACOTTA STATUETTE OF A CAMEL. Found in Syria. British
Museum. H. B, Walters, Catalogue of the Terracottas of the Br. Mus., 1903,
p. 247, C. 544 ; A Guide, kc., p. 178.
C^el kneeling with panniers. In the pannier on the right side are two
wine-amphorae in wicker baskets ; that on the left side contains a boar*s head
and a cock in a large wicker basket (Kncjnpos) ; between the two the mouth of
a jar is visible.
4. TERRACOTTA STATUETTE OF A CAMEL AND ITS DRIVER.
Found in Asia Minor (Aphrodisias). Louvre, Paris. Unpublished (?), By
permission of Mr. E. Pottier.
Camel kneeling, with its driver on its back. Its load consists of a big wine-jar
and a sheep {the head of the sheep, or kid, is broken off).
These statuettes illustrate the intercourse between the city and the country
in Syria and in the East generally. Donke5^ and camels were the chief draught-
animals in those parts of the Empire ; every day they brought the products of
the country to the Syrian cities for sale in the market-places and bazaars.
Hundreds of donkeys with panniers and sacks came daily with loads of corn,
cheese, vegetables, &c., to cities like Antioch, where, as" Libanius complains,
they were requisitioned by the magistrates to carry away the city refuse, see
Libanius, Uepi r&>v ayyap€iS>p (Or. L., ed. Foerster), 23 ff. "
DONKEY, WITH PANNIERS
A CAMEL AND ITS DRIVER BRINGING COUNTRY” PRODUCTS TO THE CITY
vn City and Country in South Russia 243
On the steppes of the Crimea the Scythian king who had
his residence in the half-Greek town of Neapolis, near the
modem Simferopol, lived more or less the same life as the king
of Bosporus. Here the landowners were the members of the
dominant tribe. The com was shipped from the harbour of
Eupatoria to Olbia and thence to Greece and to the armies
of the Danube ; some of it was bought up by the merchants
of Chersonesus.^® Not very different, in all probability, was
the life of the Maeotian and Sarmatian tribes in the peninsula
of Taman, on the river Kuban, on the shores of the Sea of
Azov, and on the river Don. The Sarmatians, for example,
certainly enslaved the population of the valley of the Kuban
and forced it to work for them. The produce was shipped
down the Kuban to the Greek cities of the Taman peninsula,
and down the Don to Tanais and from there to Panticapaeum.
The same organization probably applied mutatis mutandis
to the fisheries at the mouths of the great Russian rivers, in
the Sea of Azov, and in the straits of Kerch. Merchants from
the Greek cities ultimately secured the produce and exported
great quantities of salted and dried fish to the Greek and
Roman markets, including those of the Western provinces.^
Thus the population of the Greek cities was chiefly a
population of landowners and merchants. In the kingdom
of Bospoms the king himself stood at their head, while under
his leadership the citizens formed a well-organized army,
which co-operated with the Roman garrisons in Chersonesus
and Olbia. The great merchants of Bosporus supplied the
ships which formed a part of the Roman navy cruising
in Black Sea waters. Besides the landowners and the
large export merchants (most of the latter being probably
foreigners), there lived in the South Russian cities some
business men who manufactured articles which were in
demand in the Sarmatian and Scythian lands, some merchants
who sent out their agents to trade with these lands, and a large
mass of proletarians, mostly slaves, who worked in the docks,
the harbours, and the workshops of the cities. There is no
doubt that the population of the cities formed only a small
minority even within their own territories, and that Hellenism
and Hellenization were not advancing but retreating on the
shores of the Black Sea, the Iranian elements gradually
invading and Iranizing even the city population.’^’
It is no easy task to form a correct idea of social and
R2
244 Flavians and >iAntonines chap.
economic life in the Syrian lands. To begin with, a warning
must be uttered against generalizing and speaking of the
Syrian lands as a single unit. We must sharply discriminate
between the Aramaean North-Syrian lands bordering on
Asia Minor, the Phoenician coast-land, Palestine, and the
lands bordering on the desert, including the great oases,
particularly those of Damascus and Palmyra. The lands to
the East of the river Jordan, the so-called Decapolis (the
modem Hauran and the Ledjah) and Arabia Petraea, formed
a unit by themselves. Recent archaeological investigation,
especially in North Syria, the Hauran, and Arabia Petraea,
has brought to light new and valuable material which
helps us to form a conception of the social and economic
aspect of these lands, where remains of ancient life, ruins
of cities, villages, villas, and farms, exist in great abundance.
We must bear in mind that the Roman period was only a short
episode in the life of those regions, which extended over many
centuries before and after the Roman domination. Rome
had neither the time nor the strength radically to transform
or even to modify the life of the country; she confined herself
to some slight and inessential changes. A complete picture
of the social and economic constitution of Roman Syria (in
the large sense of the term) cannot be given without adequate
information about pre-Roman conditions, which in fact is
very scanty except for Palestine. The following sketch,
therefore, is far from complete, but it may suffice for our
present purpose.^
The North Syrian lands consisted mainly of the territories
of four large cities, which were foundations of the Hellenistic
period— Antiochia with her harbour Seleucia, Apamea, and
Laodicea, sometimes together called the Syrian Tetrapolis.
None of these cities has been excavated and none has well-
preserved ruins to show. Our epigraphical and archaeological
evidence is, therefore, very meagre save for the district north
of Antioch, which teems with beautiful ruins mostly of the
late Roman period. On the other hand, our literary evidence
is unusually good, at least for Antioch and especially for the
fourth century a.d. Her citizens Libanius and St. John
Chrysostom and, later, Malalas give us illuminating pictures
of the life of the fair city ; the Emperor Julian also in his
Misopogon and some other works furnishes excellent sketches.
Antioch, the capital of the Syrian kingdom of the Seleucids
City and Country in Syria 245
and afterwards of the Roman province of Syria, was one of
the largest and most beautiful cities of the Empire. She
possessed a vast territory. Julian speaks of her 10,000 KXrjpoi,
which were certainly leased to her citizens by the city council.
In the fourth century the greater part of the municipal land
was in the hands of a few rich owners,’^® to whom belonged
the fine villas described by St. John Chrysostom. Their well-
preserved ruins, investigated by the late H. C. Butler, show
them to have been large and solidly built villas, with stables and
rooms for cattle and slaves on the ground floor and luxurious
apartments for the owners and managers above.®® These
wealthy proprietors represented, in the fourth century, about
one-tenth of the population. Another tenth was formed by
the proletariate, while the rest appear to have been moderately
rich small landowners and shopkeepers. We have, therefore,
in Antioch the same evolution as we find in Italy and the
provinces in general, a gradual concentration of landed
property in the hands of city landlords.®^ During that century
the land was worked by small tenants and, as far as vineyards
were concerned, by hired labourers. Their life is fully de-
scribed in the brilliant picture given by St. John. We should
expect to find coloni of the usual type attached to the soil,
serfs and half -slaves of the landowners. Yet St._ John gives
no indication that such were the relations existing between
the landowner and his workers. His picture implies rather
that they were free tenants and hired labourers, exploited by
their masters and living in extreme poverty, but not attached
to the soil and enslaved.®® However that may have been, the
rustic peasant population is constantly represented by the
writers of the fourth century as a poor and oppressed class,
ground down by rich lords who were the landowners of the
city.®® At the first opportunity the peasants were ready to
show their hatred of their oppressors.®^ It is highly improb-
able that these conditions were a development of the third
and fourth centuries a.d. I am inclined to believe that they
existed both in the Hellenistic and in the early Roman period.
It is probable that the tenants and the hired labourers on
the large estates belonging to the citizens of Antioch were
small landholders who lived in the villages scattered all over
the territory of the city and attached to it. The inhabitants
of these villages were, of course, the natives who lived there
from time immemorial. There is not the slightest doubt that
■ DESCRIPTION OF PLATE XXXVIIT
1. BRONZE STATUETTE OF A CAMEL. Found in Syria. Ashmolean
Museum. Unpublished. Reproduced by permission of the Trustees.
A loaded camel stopping on its march across the desert, with its legs set
stiff. A typical feature of the Syrian desert.
2. BAS-RELIEF OF A SARCOPHAGUS. Found at Sidon. Museum
of Beirout (?). G. Contenau in Syria, i (1920), pp. 35 if., pi. VI, and fig. 10 f.
The sarcophagus was found intact in one of the hypomea of Sidon. The
iSi
'i' '\X^'“\.K*’^
‘r, ■'‘-■■'c'C'“ :>■■%*; ,:
'-„ ’• > ' n
I. THE SHIP OF TI-IE DESERT : THE CARAVAN-CAMEL
2. A MERCHANT SHIP OF SIDON
XXXVIII. COMMERCE OF SYRIA
City and Country in Syria
they had no share in the life of the city and could not even
dream of ever becoming citizens. In this respect Syria was
far behind even Asia Minor. While the city population sent
hardly a single soldier to the Roman army, the villages were
always the main source of the supply of reliable soldiers for
the auxiliary regiments and the legions.^®
It may safely be assumed that the same conditions pre-
vailed in the territories of the other cities of North Syria.
Besides the city territories, North Syria included some half-
independent temple lands. One type is represented by the
temple of Baitocaece, which owned a large village and was
attached to the city of Apamea. A Greco-Latin inscription
enables us to follow its destinies from the Hellenistic age to
the time of Valerian. Throughout this long period the con-
ditions remained almost unchanged. The temple enjoyed
full immunity. It owned the land and collected the revenues.
Its ‘inmates’, the ko-toxoi, supervised the annual fair which
was connected with the temple, and they represented the
temple in its dealings with the city authorities. The latter in
their turn forwarded the complaints of the temple to the
higher authorities up to the emperor himself. Similar privi-
leges, we may assume, were enjoyed by scores of other sanc-
tuaries, such as the famous temple of lupiter Dolichenus at
Doliche, another village in North Syria, or that of Baalbek.
Some temple territories were still more independent. The
Ituraeans in the districts of Abila and Chalcis in the Lebanon
region formed vassal states as late as the reigns of Claudius
and Trajan respectively. We may suppose that here the
cities were no more than chefs-lieux of large agricultural
territories, which continued to live their ancient rustic life.®®
The territories of the great commercial cities such as
Damascus, Emesa, and Palmyra — to say nothing of those of
cities like Edessa in Osrhoene, which was never fully incor-
porated in the Roman Empire and retained for centuries its
native dynasty — bore a greater resemblance to the Bosporan
kingdom with Panticapaeum as its capital than to the lands
of Roman provincial cities. We have already dealt with
Palmyra. The rule of the city extended over a large region
covered with villages as well as over some nomadic tribes.
These villages, which were sometimes identical with the
estates of the rich merchants of Palmyra, are mentioned in
the well-known Palmyrene tariff. The villages and the tribes
248 Flavians and ijlntQnines chap.
no doubt furnished the excellent archers and camel-riders
{dfomedarii) for the Palmyrene militia and the Roman army.
Some places, like Doura, lying on the frontiers of the Palmy-
rene territory and commanding the military and trade routes
leading into Parthia, developed into prosperous cities with
a military fort as their centre.^^ The same picture applies
probably to Damascus, whose territory bordered that of
Sidon.^ Emesa, as is well known, was ruled by its native
aristocracy of priest-kings throughout the period of Roman
rule. As in Palmyra and Damascus, this nobility entered
for a short time the ranks of the imperial aristocracy and
took an active part in the administration of the Empire, even
before two members of it ascended the imperial throne. In
the third century a scion of the old house of Sampsigeramus
appears again as ruler of the Emesene land and, like the kings
of Palmyra and the Abgari of Edessa, leads his subjects
against the Parthians."® The conditions which produced
Oriental feudalism in Syria never disappeared completely,
and the cities of Emesa, Damascus, Palmyra, and Edessa
remained what they had been, the residences of priest-kings r
they never became regular Greek cities, like Antioch. These
states continued to be based, as of old, on the religious awe
felt by Oriental peasants towards the representatives of god
on earth, the prelate-princes.
Of the cities of Phoenicia in the imperial age we know
very little save for the part they played in the commercial
and industrial life of the Empire, of which we have spoken
before. As regards Palestine, we must sharply distinguish
from the rest of the land the old Greco-Philistine cities of the
coast (Gaza, Anthedon, Askalon, Joppa, Ptolemais-Ace), the
new foundations of Herod on the coast and inland, especially
Caesarea on the sea, Tiberias, Sebaste (Samaria), and the
later Roman city of Neapolis. It would be out of place here
to trace the evolution of the ‘ heathen ’ , that is to say, the
Hellenized cities of Palestine. There was probably no very
great difference between them and the cities of Syria and
Phoenicia. They all had a large territory peopled by natives
and they lived to a large extent on their labour. But the
largest part of Judaea, Galilee, and Samaria remained, as
before, a land of villages and peasants. It is sufficient to read
the Gospels from this point of view to realize the extent to
which Palestine was an agricultural land and how rustic was
VII
City and Country in Syria 249
the character of the life of the common people. The so-called
cities of Judaea, including Jerusalem, were purely religious
and administrative centres, chefs-lieux of rural districts
which closely corresponded to similar districts both in Egypt
and in Thrace and bore the Greek name of toparchies. The
type of the rich man in Judaea is the wealthy owner of land or
of large flocks of sheep and goats, or the tax-collector (reXwi'Tjs).
The type of the common man is either the peasant toiling in
his field or in his garden and vineyard, or the small village
artisan, carpenter, blacksmith, cobbler, and the like.
The Gospel picture is corroborated by the evidence
furnished by Josephus, particularly in his Jewish War and
in his Life. Judaea, Samaria, and still more Galilee are
studded with hundreds of villages inhabited by peasants,
above whom — just as in the late Hellenistic period under the
Maccabees — stands a native aristocracy of large landowners,
who are patrons of the villages, men like Josephus himself
and his rival John of Gischala, Philip son of Jakimus, and
others. These men are not only rulers of the land and leaders
in its religious life, but capitalists and merchants on a big
scale, who sometimes add to their wealth by daring specula-
tions (such as John of Gischala’ s sale of oil to the city of
Caesarea) and keep their money in the national bank — the
temple at Jerusalem. Still more opulent are the officials of
the kings and tetrarchs, and the kings and tetrarchs them-
selves and their families. Lastly, we find estates of the
Roman emperor himself and the imperial family, and even
a Roman military colony established by Vespasian at Emmaus
after the Jewish War. Such were the conditions of life in
Palestine, and in later times there was clearly no change,
except that landed proprietors of other than Jewish origin,
like Libanius, increased in number.®"
A peculiar picture was presented by the fertile land
beyond the Jordan, the modern Hauran and the adjacent
strip of half-desert land inhabited by Arabian tribes. In the
Hellenistic period it had been a field of colonization. Many
Greek cities had been founded there by Alexander and his
successors, all of them town-centres of large agricultural
districts, with a population of landowners. Most of them
took the place of what were formerly native villages. In the
times when the Seleucid Empire was decaying they gradually
relapsed into the old manner of life, with native half-Hellenized
DESCRIPTION OF PLATE XXXIX
, i-~2. . A SPHERICAL RED-GLAZED CLAY BOWL.
.Found near Teheran in Persia. Metropolitan. Museum, New
York. - Gift of G, J. Demotte. M. P6zard, 'La cimmique
ris/ijm, 1920, p. 205, pi. VI, 6.
The realistic, bas-reliefs of the bowl' represent various
scenes of rustic life. A couple of camels are resting : one is
lying on the ground, the other is standing with one of its legs
fettered. Behind is the man in charge, or the owner, in typical
Iranian dress— a ‘ kaftan ’ and a * bashlyk ' — with a spherical
bowl in his hands, praying. On the other side of the bowl is
shown a long-bearded Persian dressed in a long ' kaftan with
a * bashlyk ' on his head, ploughing his field or herding oxen.
Behind him comes another Persian with a stick in his left
hand and a spherical bowl in his right. Our bowi seems to
be a bowl for sacrifice, sacrifice performed for the safety of the
men and the animals, and for the fertility of the fields.
Pdzard appears to me to be right in thinking that these
and similar bowls belong to the Ill-IVth cent. a. d. I am
inclined to attribute them to the late Parthian art, as the
style is very similar to the few extant Parthian sculptures
and to some frescoes in the graves of Panticapaeum. Com-
pare the bronze statuette in the British Museum, H. B. Waiters,
Cal of Bronzes, p. 22, No. 222 and pi. Ill (from Cameiros), a
prototype of the Parthian art, and F. Sarre, Die Kumsi des
cdten Bersien, pp. 27 ff. and 59, pis. LXIV, LXV, and CXLVII.
The bowl is an illustration of life in the Iranian part of the
ancient world during the period of the Empire. In the neigh-
bourhood of Palmyra life w^as probably not very different : see
the documents of Auroman and Doura quoted in Ch. V,
note 50. Other pots of the same series illustrate various sides
of Parthian life, especially religion and cult. Compare
M. P6zard, ' Pottery that reveals people in Internationa!
Studio, 75 (1922}, p. 225. (For this reference I am indebted to
M, Dimand, Assistant Curator of the Metropolitan Museum.)
vn
City and Country in Syria 251
kings at the head of the communities. With the advent of
Roman rule a new era opened in the life of these regions.
As in many parts of Asia Minor, the Roman emperors en-
trusted the work of civilization to enlightened representatives
of Greco-Roman life — the Hellenized Idumaeans of Palestine,
Herod the Great and his successors. Strabo and Josephus
give a striking picture of the gradual Hellenization of the
fertile lands of Trachonitis as the result of repeated efforts
to colonize them with a settled agricultural population and
to subjugate and swamp the old stock of native (mostly
Arabian) shepherds and robbers. When the Roman govern-
ment, especially after the annexation of Arabia Petraea,
established peace and security in the Hauran and in the
adjacent stretches of cultivable land bordering on the desert,
and when good Roman roads replaced the ancient caravan
tracks and the most vital places on these roads, the water
stations, were fortified and garrisoned by Roman soldiers,
a new life blossomed in the Transjordanian region. The old
cities became centres of a brisk trade, and grew rich and
prosperous. The ruins of Bostra, Gerasa, Philadelphia,
Canatha, and of many flourishing villages still testify to the
splendour of the new buildings which vied with the best
edifices in the Herodian cities of Palestine. Protected by
the Roman troops, the inhabitants of the country turned
definitely to a settled agricultural life, and many Arabian
tribes transformed their tents into stone houses and their
pastures into rich corn-fields. Some, of course, adhered to
their old nomadic life, but they gave up their habits of pillage
and robbery. ‘ The stationary population,’ says Dussaud,
‘ protected against surprises and relieved of the heavy tribute
imposed by their nomadic neighbours, pushed back the limits
of the desert by utilizing all the cultivable land. Numerous
villages, now in ruins, sheltered a motley population of
Syrians and Arabs, who developed a lively commerce with
the nomads, cultivated the olive-tree, the vine, and cereals, and
devoted themselves to the manufacture of woollen stuffs.’
Hundreds of inscriptions and many imposing ruins of
villages and farms attest this development. The fact that
most of the inscriptions in the region of the Safaites are
written in the Safaite language proves the persistence of the
ancient tribes and the maintenance of their religion, habits,
and customary occupations. Yet the general aspect of the
DESCRIPTION OF PLATE XL
1. A SILVER PATERA WITH AN EMBLEMA. Found in a villa near
Boscoreale. I^avre, Paris. A. H 4 ron de Villefosse in Mon, et Mim. Piot, 5
(1899), pp. 39 if, (description), pp. 17711. (analysis) and pL L Repeatedly
reproduced since. Cp, S. Reinach, Rip, d. tel., i, p. 84, i.
Tlie emhUma represents the bust of a beautiful stem-looking. %vomaii, her
bead covered with the spoils of an .elephant. In her right hand she holds an
urams,^m her left a cornucopiae filled with grapes and fruit crowned by a crescent,
which is attached to a ceaar-cone, the well-known attribute of Attis. On the
comucopim figured the bust of Helios, the sun-eagle, and the two stars of
the Dioscuri. In her lap the goddess holds various fruits (grapes, pomegranates,
figs, cedar-cones, &c,). Among the fruit is a peacock, the bird of Hera, and,
stepping over the fruit, a large figure of a she-panther. Corresponding to the
oorniicopiaey dedicated to the gods of light, the right shoulder of the goddess is
covered with the symbols of Heracles — ^the lion, the club, the bow, and the quiver.
These symbols, which are as large as the umeus, the panther^ and the cor uncap iae,
are the primary^ attributes of the goddess. The others are much smaller. On
the left is the sistrum of Isis, under the right hand a personification of the sea
(waves and a dolphin), under the fruit the tongs of Hephaistos and the snake-
sceptre of Asciepios. To the right of the cornucopiae is the lyre of Apollo. There
is no doubt that the figure personifies not Africa, as H6ron tie Villefosse .suggests,
but .Mexandria. This fact has been recently proved by P. Perdrizet, Bronzi\<
gr, d'Egypte de la call. Fouquet, 1911, p. 39. The skin of the elephant s head is
characteristic of certain portraits of Alexander, and was later used by some of
the Ptolemies as a symbol of their power, inherited from Alexander (.see, e. g.,
C. C. Edgar in /. H. 5 ., 1906, p. 281, pL XVIII). The attributes of the goddess
are extremely interesting. She is under the protection, first of all, of the
Egyptian gods ; she is the queen of Egypt : hence the imieits, the symbol of
the Egyptian royal power. Among her other protectors, the chief is l)ioiiysos
(the she-panther), the god of fertility and prosperity. Her prosperity is given
by the gods of light — the Sun and the Moon (cp. pi. XXXV) — and by the great
hero of civilization, the forefather of all Macedonian dynasties, Heracles, The
other symbols emphasize the fiourishing maritime commerce of Alexandria, her
healthy ^nditions, her prosperous industry, and her prominence in art. The
whole spirit of the figure is Hellenistic and iHolemaic, though it may have been
produced by Alexandrian or Campanian silversmiths in the 1 st cent, of our era.
2. FRESCO FROM HERCULANEUM. Found at Herculaneum. Pitt, di
Efcolano, i, pi. L, p. 257 ; W, Helbig, Die Wandgem., &c., No. 1569 ; and my
article in Rom, Mitth., 26 (1911}, p. 56, fig. 31.
The fresco belongs to the class of so-called Egyptian landscapes which are
frequently found throughout the Roman Empire, especially in the 1 st cent, a, d.
Although they were copied by men who probably had never seen Eg3q)t, just
as Japanese and Chinese landscapes are drawn in Europe in our own days,
yet, as the originals were no doubt executed by men familiar with Egypt, the
copies give a trustworthy general picture of the Egyptian land. Our fre.sco
represents three farms on the banks of a canal. One (on the left) consists of
two tower-like building^, and is surrounded by a brick wall. The central one
consists of a pylon, a high tower, and the main buildings — a farm-house and a
tower, with trees behind. To the left are a ^ shaduf * and a well or a silo. The
third farm, on the other bank of the canal, is similar though not identical. The
garden behind the main house is surrounded by palisades. On towers as parts
of andent farms in Egypt, see F. Preisigke in Hermes, 54 (1919), p. 423, and cp.
my article in Anadolian Studies, p. 374, i.
2. AN EGYPTIAN VILLAGE
VII
City and Country in Syria 253
land changed completely. Stone temples, with theatres
adjoining, were built for the native gods in the larger villages ;
the water supply was secured by aqueducts, which replaced
the old wells ; inns and market-places built of solid stone
became centres of a lively traffic ; the tribal organization
was Hellenized and legalized under Greek terms. The ancient
tribe became a the ancient clan a kolvov, the ancient
sheikh a Trpoehpo? or Trpovoi^TT}?, a o-TpaTT^yo? or idvdpx^'s- The
larger villages (Kotpat) became prjTpoK<aplajL, centres of a larger
district, and a few of them (for instance, Philippopolis under
Philip the Arab) were granted the title of cities. Every
village had its land owned by the villagers, members of the
modernized tribe. The mainspring and the mainstay of the
changed conditions were the veteran soldiers, native Arabs
who returned to their native villages from service in distant
places and brought with them new habits and customs of life.
Many foreigners came with them and settled down in the
Arabian villages of the new model.®*
How many of the new villages were attached to the ancient
cities we do not know. Most of them probably never became
parts of a city territory but retained their tribal organization.
One point, however, may be taken for granted. The new
villages were inhabited, like the farms and villages of Germany,
not by tenants and serfs but by small landowners, free
members of a free village-community. An aristocracy grew
up here as elsewhere, but not a single inscription attests the
growth in the borderlands of the desert of a system similar
to the serfdom of Asia Minor.
Thus the period of Roman domination in the Syrian lands
was a period of peace and security and, therefore, of prosperity.
But it was not a period of radical change. The Syrian Orient
remained under Roman rule what it had been before. Urbani-
zation made no striking progress, nor did the land become
Hellenized. A few new half-Greek cities arose, and some
elements of the rural population settled in the cities. But the
mass lived on in the old fashion, devoted to their gods and
to their temples, to their fields and to their flocks, and ready
at the first opportunity to slaughter the men of the cities and
to return to the life of peasants and shepherds under the rule
of native priest-kings and sheikhs.®^
With the social and economic conditions which prevailed
in Egypt in the first and second centuries a.d. it is impossible
DESCRIPTION OF PLATE XLI
1-2, TWO SECTIONS OF THE LOWER PART, OF THE MOSAIC OF
PALESTRINA. Found at Palestrina (Praeneste). Palace Barberiiii at Pales-
trina. S. Reinach, Rip. d. peini., p. 374 (with bibliography), cp, my article in
Rom. Mitth., 26 (1911), pp. 60 and 61 (the same two sections more complete).
The mosaic reproduces the most characteristic features of Ptolemaic and
Roman Egypt. The upper part of it is a sort of zoological atlas of the Egyptian
Sudan, with all the fabulous and real animals of this region and their names in
Greek (cp. Philostr., Vit. Apoll. vi, 24). The lower part (figs. 1-2) gives the general
aspect of Egypt, especially the Delta, in time of flood. In the right-hand corner
(fig. i) a peasant's house is visible, with a dove-cote near it. The owner of the house
runs out of the door after his wife, who stands in the garden looking at a boat
with soldiers in it. In the other (left) corner of the mosaic (not reproduced in
fig. 2) are hippopotami and crocodiles. The centre of the lower part is occupied
by two buildings. One of them (fig. x) is a fine pavilion with a large curtain,
behind which is seen a tower-villa with a large garden in an enclosure. In the
pavilion a group of Roman soldiers is ready to celebrate a festival : a big crater
and a number of drinking horns are set out for the party. At the head of the
group a iaurel-croAvned officer sounds the horn ; he is greeted by a Avoman with
a palm-branch, who offers him a garland or a diadem ; and apparently he gives
a signal to a company of soldiers approaching in a military rowing-boat (liburnica).
Near the military pavilion a party of civilians, including Avomen, gathered under
the shade of a pergola covered with vines (fig. 2), is drinking to the strains
of music : a woman sings a hymn, to the accompaniment of the lyre, seemingly
in honour of the victorious general. Behind these buildings are tAvo more bands
of decoration. In the middle one is seen a small shrine (fig. i), Avith a religious
procession moving through it : in front, two men carrying a stretcher with
a sacred symbol on it, and, behind, standard-bearers and a congregation of
worshippers. Near the temple is a statue of Anubis (the jackal) on a basis.
Behind the pergola (fig. 2) we see a sacred enclosure and an osier-barn — a
fioaxoTpo^piovy where calves were reared for sacrifice (?). Before the entrance to
the latter two men are talking, one of them Avith a big fork in his hand, while
a third man drives two oxen or calves to the water ; round the bam ibises are
flying. The last band is filled with large temples. The largest, behind the small
shrine (fig. i), has two pylons and colossal Egyptian statues near the main
entrance ; in front of it is a man riding a donkey, followed by his servant Avith
his baggage. Behind the pergola and the bam (fig. 2) are three other temples :
the first is a shrine of ibises the next a ty’pical Egyptian shrine with
two towers, and the third a Greco-Egyptian temple. In the water are seen
various animals, flowers, canoes of the natives (one loaded with lotuses) and two
large pleasure and hunting boats Avith cabins (dahabiahs). The whole mosaic
is the best and most realistic of the extant pictures which serve to convey a vivid
idea of the aspect of Egypt in the Ptolemaic and Roman periods. In the light
of the new discoveries in Egypt it would be easy to give a detailed description
of it, although this has never been done.
City and Country in Egypt
^S5
to deal at length. Our evidence is so abundant and so de-
tailed, the number of problems raised by it is so large, and
the problems are so complicated that it would require a
special work, probably of several volumes, to treat adequately
all the aspects of the social and economic evolution of Egypt
even during the brief period of these two centuries. We must
therefore content ourselves with a short summary of the main
features, and refer the reader to the special works which deal
with the various questions that arise in connexion with the
life of Egypt in this age.
Egypt was the last Oriental land to be reached by the
Romans. They found there a peculiar organization of social
and economic life, the result of centuries of development.
They perceived the hopelessness of attempting to remodel
this life : they took its main features for granted, and they
based on them and adjusted to them their own administrative
system, which in truth did not differ very much from that of
their predecessors the Ptolemies. Both systems alike were
based on the immemorial conditions of Egyptian religious,
social, and economic life, conditions which could not be altered
at the will of the new masters. In Egypt the Romans found the
population divided into certain classes to each of which was
assigned a special function in the life of the country.®® On
the natives rested the whole fabric of the state. For the most
part, they were peasants who tilled the soil ; some toiled in
the workshops of the villages, large and small, and manu-
factured various kinds of goods ; others supplied labour for
mines and quarries, fisheries and hunting grounds ; others
again acted as drivers of the draught animals which were
used for transportation and as sailors and oarsmen on the
ships. In short, all the menial work was done by them, for
slavery played a very restricted part in the economic life of
the country. They lived in villages of varying size, some of
which received in the Ptolemaic time the name of metropolis,
just as some villages in Syria were called iJLrjTpoKwfjuCai. In
sober fact these metropoleis remained throughout the Greek
and Roman periods what they had been before, large and
dirty Egyptian villages with a more or less Hellenized and
civilized town-centre, of which we shall speak later.
In all these villages (variously named irroiKia, Ka/xai, /iTfpo-
TToXet?) lived groups of natives following the same profession ;
peasants, artisans, factory workmen, fishermen, sailors.
256 Flavians and iA?itOfiines chap.
drivers, and so forth. The unity of these groups was based
on the special service which they rendered to the state ; and,
not unnaturally, membership of one of them was compulsory
for all, and migration from one group to another was under
the strict control of the government. Under the direction of
their elders, who were appointed by the state, and of a series
of state officials these groups had to perform the task assigned
to them by the state, be it the tilling of the soil, the manu-
facture of oil or clothes, or any other kind of work. In this
way the members of any given group not only earned their
living but also helped to maintain the state machinery. The
notion of governing themselves or of taking any part in the
affairs of the state (apart from their professional work) never
occurred to the natives of Egypt.
For them the state, personified in the king, was an article
of faith, a religious belief. The king was a descendant of the
gods, he was a god himself, and he had to be worshipped and
obeyed. He and the state, like the gods and religion in
general, were above criticism and above control. They were
paramount. The interests of the natives were concentrated
on their domestic life and on the performance of their duties
towards the gods and the state. As a matter of fact, both
the state and the gods gave the natives very little and asked
very much. When the demands became intolerable and
made life a heavy burden for any group of natives, they
resorted to passive resistance, to strikes. A strike was a
resolve to submit the case to the judgement of the god, and
was effected by leaving their usual place of residence and taking
refuge in a temple. Here the strikers remained in idle resigna-
tion until the wrong was redressed or compulsion was used
to make them resume their work. In Greek terminology
these strikes were called ‘ secessions’ (wayfupTjcrt?). The fact
that the state was represented in the Ptolemaic period by
Macedonian foreigners, and later by another set of foreigners,
the Roman emperors, did not mean ver}^ much to the natives,
so long as the rulers showed reverence towards the Egyptian
gods and so long as the gods, through the priests, recognized
them as the legal rulers of Egypt. And the priests were too
clever not to realize that a power which was supported by
a good army of professional soldiers and disposed of large sums
of money was worth recognition, even if they had little to
expect from it, as they had from the Romans.
VII City and Cotmtry in Egypt 257
Some of the natives were rich, others were poor ; some
were-ckver, others were slow and stupid. The better elements
naturally endeavoured to ascend the social ladder and to
improve their condition of life. The only course open to
them was to become either priests or state officials ; but neither
was easy. Though the priests did not form a close caste, they
constituted nevertheless a somewhat select group of families
which would not readily admit foreigners into their ranks.
So it was under the Pharaohs, and so it remained in the
Ptolemaic and in the Roman period. Since, however, under
Roman rule the office of priest was treated as a ‘ liturgy ’
(XetTowpyta) * and SO became less and less attractive and
readily accessible to anybody who had money, a native who
had the necessary resources and education could, if he would,
exchange the position of peasant or workman for that of
priest, though the new position was no more pleasant than
the old.
It was more difficult to become a member of the body
of officials who assisted the king. In the times preceding the
foreign domination it had been comparatively easy : any one
who was well educated, who knew how to read and write, and
was familiar with the language of the official documents and
with the complicated system of state machinery, had the
chance of becoming an official and of advancing to the highest
posts.®® But when the king ceased to be an Egyptian and
the official language became Greek, the situation was much
less simple. The Macedonian kings did not come to Egypt
alone : they were surrounded by a strong foreign army
consisting of Hellenic or Hellenized soldiers, and by a host of
Hellenic or Hellenized fortune-hunters, intelligent and ener-
getic men who regarded Egypt as a splendid field for the
display of their ability and the acquisition of a fortune. To
these Greeks the Ptolemies were bound by indissoluble ties.
For the Egyptians — their mode of life, their religion, and their
ideas — the Greeks had no understanding and no sympathy.
To a Greek an Egyptian was a barbarian in the modern sense
of the word, a man who had no share in civilized life. As late
as the third century a. d. an Egyptian Greek writing to his
‘ brethren ’ says : ‘ You may take me, brethren, for a barbarian
or an inhuman Eg3q)tian.’
The Greeks in Egypt felt themselves masters and rulers,
* See the next chapter.
25B Flavians and fAntonines chap.
and they would never think of sharing with the despised
natives the rights acquired by conquest and maintained by
force. Any attempt by the Mngs to put such an idea into
practice would have been regarded by the Greek population
as a betrayal, as a crime, as an encroachment on their sacred
rights in Egypt. These feelings were, of course, shared both
by the Ptolemies and afterwards by the Roman emperors.
The Ptolemies regarded Egypt as their personal property,
acquired by conquest. For them Egypt was their ‘ house’
(oWs) or personal estate. The natives were a subject
population whose task it was to support the ‘ house ’ of the
kings by work and payments. On the other hand, the Greeks
were the companions of the kings, men of the same stock and
of the same civilization. It was natural therefore that the
kings should assign to them the task of managing their ‘ house ’
and that they should never admit the Egyptians to the higher
posts of administration. In the later period, indeed, after some
revolts of the Egyptian population, caused by the weakness
of the rulers, the Ptolemies tried to find in an Egyptian army
and in the Egyptian priests a counterpoise to the political
aspirations of the Greek army and the Greek population. But
they never went so far as to identify themselves with the
Egyptians and to appear as true Egyptian kings, as successors
of the Pharaohs.
Thus access to the chief posts in the Ptolemaic adminis-
tration was closed to the Egyptians unless they became
completely Hellenized and formed part of the Greek popu-
lation, which, of course, was and continued to be exceptional.
Accordingly the administration of Egypt, apart from the lower
posts of scribes and policemen, was Greek. Greeks sur-
rounded the king and formed his ‘ court ’ ; Greeks governed
the provinces, that is to say, the administrative divisions of
the land, the Greeks were appointed chiefs of the
police force, judges, chief engineers, inspectors of different
kinds, managers of the state factories, supervisors of trade
and industry, and so on. To the Greeks also was given the
privilege of collecting the taxes, whether in the capacity of
officials or of tax-farmers ; and, .supported and aided by the
kings, they concentrated in their hands the growing foreign
trade of Egypt.
The role assigned to the Greeks by the kings was an
important privilege. Egypt was a rich land, and the manage-
VII City and Country in Egypt 259
merit of this land for the king was a profitable and attractive
occupation. We must remember that the economic activity of
Egypt was highly centralized and nationalized, and that all
branches of it were supervised, and some even monopolized,
by the state. From the economic and legal point of view the
king was the owner of the soil, and the tillers of the soil were
his lessees. This involved for the peasants not only very high
taxation but also careful supervision of their work and strict
control over their resources. Without a system of dykes and
canals Egypt could not exist. Her prosperity required
minutely organized irrigation work before and after the Nile
flood, equal distribution of water, drainage of swampy and
marshy places, and so forth. Such work could only be accom-
plished by the joint efforts of the whole population ; and these
efforts, which took the form of compulsory labour {corvee),
had to be regulated and organized. From time immemorial
industry had been concentrated either in the temples or round
the palaces of the rulers : the kings and the priests possessed
the raw materials, and they knew the secrets of technique.
And so it remained. The artisans in the various industries
worked in the first instance, and sometimes exclusively, for
the king. Here again organization and supervision were
required. Trade and transportation were managed in the
same way. All the traders and all the transporters, great
and sniall, in the country (with the possible exception of
Alexandria) were concessionaires of the state, and most of
them were Greeks.
If we realize the vastness of the field thus opened to the
activity of the Greeks in this land of centralization and
nationalization (etatisation) , and the numberless opportunities
of enrichment, quite apart from regular salaries, we shall not
be surprised that a well-to-do Greek bourgeoisie gradually
grew up all over the country, a bourgeoisie of officials and
tax-farmers. The humble occupation of retail-traders or
artisans was, of course, left to the natives. In Alexandria
another rich bourgeoisie was created by the steadily developing
trade and industry of the capital of the Hellenistic world.
Along with the members of the royal court and the king
himself and his family, the merchants and exporters of
Alexandria formed the wealthiest class in Egypt. Without
doubt most of the royal agents who stood nearest to the king
were at the same time engaged in carrying on the foreign trade
: S 2
DESCRIPTION OF PLATE XLII
VII
261
City and Country in £gypt
of Egypt; they owned ships and storehouses and were members
of the powerful Alexandrian associations of mu/cXvjpoi and
iySo)(eh.
No less numerous than the class of officials and business
men, and forming a reservoir for it, was the class of foreign
soldiers, the officers and privates of the Ptolemaic mercenary
army. We cannot here describe the organization of this
force. Suffice it to say that after various experiments the
Ptolemies chose a peculiar system of remunerating their
soldiers during the period when they were not on active service
but in the reserve. They settled them in the country and
gave them parcels of land to work. Some of them received
good arable ground in Upper, Middle, and Lower Egypt, but
most of them were assigned lands in the Fayum and in the
Delta, where the Ptolemies succeeded by skilful engineering
work in reclaiming large tracts which were formerly marsh
or desert. The assignation of these newly reclaimed lands
had a double purpose. It did not encroach on the interests
of the crown nor diminish its revenues, as happened when
cultivated and cultivable land was granted to the soldiers, for
such grants meant that the actual tillers of the soil, the
native peasants, paid part of their rent to the new holders
instead of the state. The plots of newly reclaimed ground
had no cultivators and it rested with the soldiers to find them
or to cultivate the land with their own hands. Besides, the soil
in most cases was not very suitable for corn but was excellent
for vineyards or olive groves. The soldiers, who were Greeks
or natives of Asia Minor, were anyhow inclined to introduce
these new and more profitable forms of cultivation, with which
they were familiar in their old homes. Now the state invited
them to do so, and opened to them the prospect of becoming
not holders but owners of their plots, if they planted them
with vines and trees. Naturally the soldiers seized the
opportunity and created vineyards, orchards, and olive
groves, one after another. The same opportunity was offered
to civilians, whether they were large capitalists of Alexandria,
to whom large tracts of land were assigned as ‘ gifts’ {hapeat),
or well-to-do ex-officials or former tax-farmers, who pur-
chased the land from the state.
In this way the Greek population of Egypt became more
than a mere collection of soldiers, officials, and business men.
Tied to the sod, the Greeks were no longer temporary
262
Flavians and ointonines
CHAP.
residents but permanent settlers in the land. With this change
a new era began in the economic life of the country. The
notion of land-ownership was almost foreign to Egypt in the
pre-Macedonian age. There may have been attempts to
create private property in the Saitic period. But in fact there
had been only two types of landed proprietors in Egypt — the
king aiid the gods. Now a third type came into existence when
Greek foreigners became not tillers of the soil (yeopyo'i), but
landowners (yeoSxoi), like the king and the gods. The
rtolemies, however, did not carry out this reform to its
lo^cal (inclusion. Property in land was confined to house
and garden land, and even so with some restrictions which
mea^nt that the ownership was a temporary privilege which
might be withdrawn by the Government.
The gradual growth of the Greek population produced
new phenomena in the life of Egypt. The Ptolemies certainlv
never intended to Hellenize the country thoroughly The
Greeks were, and were intended to remain, a ruling minority
in an Egyptian land. No Greek would toil and travail for
■ a natives did. This was the reason why the
influx of Greeks did not lead to the natural result of such
a penetration the urbanization of the land. No cities were
built by the Ptolemies for the Greeks, with the exception of
Alexandria and of Ptolemais in Upper Egypt. It is probable
that the original idea of Alexander in creating Alexandria
and in maintaining Naucratis and perhaps Paraetonium, and
the idea of the first Ptolemy in creating Ptolemais, was grad-
ually to urbanize and Hellenize the land, as was done in Asia
Minor and Syria. But the attempt was shortlived : no other
cities were founded by Ptolemy Soter and his successors.
And even Alexandria and Ptolemais were not normal Greek
1, j a Greek residence of Greek kings.
If she had at the very outset a regular city organization, this
was soon done away with and self-government was curtailed to
A no difference between the capital
and tfie other administrative centres of Egypt excent the
eauty and splendour of the place. Ptolemais was better off,
but It never attained any importance in the life of Egypt.
i-f country the Greeks could order their
nrLS chose, proyided that they did not claim a city
desire to be
absorbed by the natives and to be treated like them. They
VII
City and Country in Egypt 263
must have their own organization and maintain the pecu-
liarities of their life. In these efforts they were supported by
the kings, except in the matter of municipal self-government.
The form of organization which they finally achieved was
singular enough. Not cities (7roX.e(,s) but communes {iToXiTev-
/^ara) of fellow countrymen were established throughout the
country, a species of clubs or associations whose function it
was to maintain the Greek nationality of their members and
to secure a Greek education for the younger generation. As
the richest men in Egypt, conscious of their superiority over
the Egyptians, the Greeks maintained their nationality and
their civilization with fair success. In the lai'ger villages and
in the capitals of the provinces they established Greek quarters
with the usual Greek buildings, surrounded by an Egyptian
village— Greek islands in an Egyptian sea.
The endeavours of the first Ptolemies to attract a thrifty
Greek population to Egypt and to attach it to the land by
economic ties were not unsuccessful. Large areas of land were
reclaimed in the Fayum and in the Delta. Thousands of new
Greek households — based on gardening, on the culture of vine
and olive, and on the scientific breeding of cattle and poultry- —
appeared as oases of individualistic capitalism in the desert
of Egyptian nationalization, and some of them prospered and
throve. Greek-speaking people became a common feature of
Egyptian life everywhere. But the results were not so brilliant
as they seemed to be. The new Greek settlers were land-
owners, not tillers of the soil : labour was supplied by the
natives. It soon appeared that such a system was not sound
nor profitable in the long run. Moreover, the internal con-
ditions of Egypt grew steadily worse. The first able kings
were replaced by epigonoi, who had neither energy nor ability.
The international prestige of Egypt sank. Wars swallowed up
large sums of money. The administration became inefficient
and corrupt. The natives were ground down. The position of
the Greeks was no better. Revolts of the Greeks in Alexandria
and of the natives in the country shattered the enfeebled
state. The corporations of priests, speculating on the weak-
ness of the kings and on their own influence over the population,
became more and more arrogant and constantly demanded,
mostly with success, new concessions, such as the right of
asylum or grants of land. In these circumstances land which
had been reclaimed by the first Ptolemies was lost. Wide
264 Flavians and jlntonines chap.
tracts of it passed into the possession of temples or became
waste, ownerless (dSecnrora) and dry (yepcro?)
Such was the situation when Egypt passed under the rule
of the first Roman emperor, after a long agony lasting through
the first century b. c., during which she was exploited by her
own kings, who'in turn were robbed by the Roman politicians
on whom they depended. Augustus found in the land a strong
and rich foreign element— wealthy Alexandrians, an army
of Greek officials, most of whom were men of substance,
thousands of business men scattered all over the country
and sometimes owning land like the Alexandrians and the
officials, and a numerous country gentry, nominally soldiers
but in fact landowners of different kinds (KdrotKot and KXrjpovxoi
and police guards). He found also rich and influential temples
with a numerous clergy and under them an enormous mass of
natives, some of whom were allowed to hold state land in the
same w^ay as the Greek soldiers (paxipoi). The economic
situation was bad. The population groaned under the
exactions of the tax-farmers and ofiicials ; the clergy w^ere
arrogant but unproductive, living as they did on the work
of peasants and enslaved artisans ; the country gentry were
half ruined, and many plots formerly cultivated lay abandoned
and waste. In general the conditions were very similar to
those which prevailed in Egypt before the Greek conquest.
Was it a mere coincidence in the methods of two great
statesmen or conscious policy on the part of Augustus, who
was of course familiar with the history of Egypt and its
organization in the early Ptolemaic times, that the measures
he took to restore the economic prosperity of the land were
almost exactly the same as those taken by Ptolemy Phila-
delphus ? His efforts were not directed towards a thorough
reorganization of Egypt ; his main aim was to restore the
pa5dng capacity of the land, which was, as we know, his chief
source of income as ruler of the Roman state. To secure this
object three fundarnental measures were necessary : the
political and economic influence of the clergy had to be cur-
tailed; the administrative system had to be reformed, and
above all bribes and illicit gains abolished ; and a new start
had to be made in reclaiming cultivable land. The policy of
Augustus in regard to the temples has been set forth by the
present writer in a special article, to which the reader must
be referred. Its main feature was a thorough secularization
VII City and Country in Egypt 265
of the landed property of the priests, a nationalization of the
church such as had been already attempted and almost carried
out by Ptolemy Philadelphus, although dropped by the later
Ptolemies. The result of Augustus’ reorganization was that
the temples and priests, while left unhampered in their
religious activities, were entirely deprived of their economic
grip over the population. Their lands and their revenue in
general became one of the departments of the financial
administration of Egypt, managed and controlled by the
state like other departments. The money necessary for the
maintenance of public worship and of the clergy was now
in the last resort furnished by the state.'*”
In the sphere of administration no radical changes were
introduced. The Ptolemaic system was kept almost intact.
The only change was that the material responsibility of the
agents of the government for the management of their job was
emphasized, and this gradually led (as we shall see in the
next chapter) to the transformation of officials and tax-
farmers into agents of the state, responsible to it but not
remunerated by it (Xeirovpyoi). In fact, however, the de-
cisive steps towards this transformation were taken not by
Augustus but by his successors at the end of the first century
and the beginning of the second. The administration of
Egypt remained Greek. Only the highest officials, the Prefect
who represented the new ruler — the heir of the Ptolemies— his
chief assistants, and the govemors-general of provinces were
drawn from the ranks of Romans. All the other posts, from
that of governor of the nome downwards, were filled by
Greeks who lived in the country. The official language of
Egypt also remained Greek, Latin being used only in dealing
with the Roman elements of the population.** But Augustus
directed his efforts mainly towards the restoration of the
economic strength of the country. Here again he had re-
course to methods which almost coincided with those that
were first introduced by Ptolemy Philadelphus. The system
of taxation and the economic and financial organization re-
mained as they were. The mainstay of the country continued
to be the work done by the natives in agriculture, industry, and
transportation. As before, they had no share in administra-
tion and were regarded simply as organized labour-units —
peasants, artisans, drivers, sailors, and so forth. As before,
they were not landowners but lessees of the state, who culti-
266 Flavians and tAntonines chap.
vated the royal or public land {yrj fiaarCkLK'q or St^/iocria) .
They still worked in their shops for the government, at the
order and under the control of the state officials ; and they
still sold foodstuffs and manufactured goods with a special
licence from the government, as concessionaires of the state.
A strong effort was made on new lines to restore the
economic strength of the foreign elements of the population,
Roman now as well as Greek. A new and decisive step
was taken towards the creation of a prosperous country
gentry, a rural bourgeoisie. The holdings of former soldiers of
the Ptolemaic army were definitely recognized as the private
property of the actual holders, the Kkqpo^oi and koltolkol.
The ranks of these landowners were reinforced by hundreds
of Roman veterans, some of whom received plots of land
immediately after the conquest of the country by Augustus,
while some were given favourable opportunities of acquiring
cultivable land for the nominal price of 20 drachmae for each
aroma. This measure was intended to encourage reclamation
of waste and abandoned land on the largest possible scale,
and it was not confined to the veterans. Everybody was
welcomed who had money and wished to invest it in land.
Good cultivated and cultivable land was not, however, thrown
on the market. It remained state property and was let out
to the peasants. The purchase of a parcel of land from the
state meant, therefore, the purchase of good but neglected
land, for the cultivation of which money and energy were
required. Good opportunities were provided also by the
removal of unnecessary formalities which hampered free
dealing in private land, and by the secularization of large
tracts of temple land. The chances oifered by Augustus were
eagerly seized by those who looked for a profitable investment
for their money, and there were plenty of them, both men and
women. Peace and quiet stimulated business life in Alex-
andria. Rich Alexandrian merchants and industrialists were
glad to invest their money in Egyptian land ; many Roman
capitalists, especially those who were acquainted with Egypt,
were ready to try their luck in this promising country ; and,
above all, thousands of the former officials and tax-farmers
of the Ptolemies were eager to acquire landed property, when
the conditions of life became settled and a vast market was
opened up for Egyptian products.
Thus the development of the landowning class, which
VII City and Country in Egypt 267
had been arrested in the last years of the Ptolemaic regime,
started afresh. The most interesting new feature of this
development was the rapid growth of large estates in the
hands of Roman capitalists, which corresponds closely to the
extension of Sapeai under Ptolemy Philadelphus, and was
encouraged by Augustus with the same purpose of attracting
new capital and fresh energy to Egypt, and of introducing
more modern methods of capitalistic economy into the
stagnant agricultural life of the ancient land. The growth
of new Scopeaf or ovaiaL, as they were now called, is one of
the striking features of Egyptian life in the first century a. d.,
and especially in the time of Augustus and Tiberius. The
first to acquire large estates in Egypt were the members of the
imperial family. It is probable that Drusus, the stepson of
Augustus, was one of the earliest of the great Roman land-
owners there. His estate was inherited by his wife Antonia and
by his sons Germanicus and the Emperor Claudius. Another
estate was owned jointly or successively by Livia, the wife
of Augustus, and her grandson Germanicus, and still another,
and a very large one, by Germanicus alone. The elder
Agrippa, or his youngest son Agrippa Postumus, is also
recorded as a proprietor, and the Emperor Gains and his
uncle Claudius are found as joint owners. Finally, Livia (the
wife of Drusus, son of Tiberius) and her children, the children
of Claudius by his first marriage and Antonia, the offspring
of his second marriage, as well as Messalina and Agrippina (the
first or the second ?) occur in contemporary or later docu-
ments as owners of large estates. It is worthy of note that
none of the reigning emperors appears in this list, except Gains,
who probably inherited his estate from his father. Occa-
sionally we hear also of confiscated ovaiai owned by reigning
emperors (Tiberius, Claudius, and especially Nero). I am
inclined, however, to believe that the emperors before Ves-
pasian did not retain these estates but gave them away to
other holders of the type above described. Another interest-
ing feature is the predominance of women and minors in the
post-Augustan period. In the first case the explanation
may be that Egypt was anyhow the property of the emperor
as the successor of the kings, in the second that the emperors
legitimately feared to permit members of the ruling family to
obtain a hold on the land, the free disposal of which was one
of the arcana imperii of the J ulio-Claudian dynasty. Certainly
268 Flavians and Jlntonines chap.
both the appropriation of Egyptian lands by members of the
imperial family and the spasmodic confiscations of their
properties are clear proofs of the purely personal character
of the rule of the Julii and Claudii.
Next to the emperors came the landed proprietors of the
senatorial and equestrian classes. Some of their estates (for
example, that of Falcidius) may have been formed in the time
of Antony’s rule, but the majority of them were certainly
of Augustan origin. The most prominent owners were C.
Maecenas and C. Petronius, the two friends of Augustus, both
of the equestrian class. Along with them we meet many
prominent senatorial families — the Aponii, the Atinii, the
Gallii, the Lurii, the Norbani. To the same class belong
a certain Severus and a lucundus Grypianus. It is again to
be noted that some of the owners were women (Gallia Polla
and Norbana Clara), probably because it was difficult for
men of the senatorial class to buy land in Egypt. The last
of the series is the famous L. Annaeus Seneca, the philosopher
and educator of the Emperor Nero.
Senators and knights were rivalled by the freedman
favourites of the reigning emperors, of whom Narcissus, the
well-known freedman of Claudius, and Doryphorus, the
powerful secretary of petitions in Nero’s reign, are recorded
as landowners. To the class of imperial favourites belong
also the members of the J ewish royal family C. Julius Alexander
and Julia Berenice. And, finally, a group of rich members
of the outstanding Alexandrian families — C. Julius Theon,
Theon son of Theon, M. Julius Asclepiades, Asclepiades son
of Ptolemaeus — may be identified with prominent Alexan-
drians who figure in our literary tradition. I am convinced
that noble Alexandrians are to be recognized in Lycarion and
his daughter Thermutharion, in C. Julius Athenodorus, Ti.
Calpumius Tryphon, Euander son of Ptolemaeus, Onesimus,
Apion, Dionysodorus, Theoninus, Philodamus, and Anthus,
who are all mentioned in documents, mostly of the first
century, as owners of Egyptian ouortat.^®
Most of these estates were created by purchases of land
which had formerly belonged to military settlers of the Ptole-
maic period. Legally, therefore, they belonged to the category
of yrj Khqpovxi^Kij or KaTObKLKH]. Some of them may have
enjoyed freedom from taxation or a reduced rate of taxes
(aTekaa or Kov^oreXeia). The majority, however, were
VII City and Country in Egypt 269
subject to the taxes usually paid by the category of land
created by Augustus which bore the name of ‘ purchased ’
land, 777 icovrjfjiivr). As far as the evidence goes, a large part
of this land was cultivated as vineyards, gardens, and olive-
groves ; there is abundant evidence showing that many new
plantations were laid out by the new proprietors. The
Alexandrians invested heavily in this ‘purchased’ land: it
is sufficient to read the passages of the edict of Ti. Julius
Alexander referring to it, and addressed to the Alexandrians,
to realize how anxious they were, to keep these properties
when an attack on them was launched by the imperial
administration, an attack which ended in their almost total
disappearance.^
The efforts of Augustus and of his immediate successors
met with fair success. Much land was reclaimed, and many
new estates gave safe and good returns to their owners. But
this is only the first chapter of the story. Under the reign of
Nero, and still more in the time of the Flavians, the policy
of the emperors abruptly changed. It was not that the
emperors ceased to favour the formation of new private
estates : as before, they gave every facility to the purchasers
of abandoned or waste lands.*® What they desired was that
the buyers should be residents in the country, not influential
men from Rome, not members of the imperial house nor of
the senatorial or equestrian aristocracy, nor imperial favourites
of the freedman class, nor even wealthy Alexandrians. They
desired the purchasers to be the local Greek and Roman
bourgeoisie, men whose whole life was connected with the
land. The explanation of this change of policy is simple.
It was not an easy task for the local administration of Eg5q)t,
or even for the prefects, to exact from the noble landowners
and their agents a strict obedience to the laws in respect of
the payment of taxes and the fulfilment of the obligations
owed to the state by the workmen and lessees of the
estates. For the state and for the administration the ova-iai
were, therefore, a nuisance. Besides, the Roman nobles and
Alexandrians who owned them lived their own life and had
their own interests. It was impossible to force them to take
part in the local ‘ liturgies’ which from this time onwards
became the pivot of the financial administration of Egypt.
Furthermore, the whole policy of the Flavians and the
Antonines was based on the provincial bourgeoisie and not
2/0 Flavians and tAntonines chap.
as before on the Italian aristocracy, on the municipia and not
on the capitals. And, what was not of least importance,
the new djmasty was afraid of pretenders, and it was the
firm belief of the Flavian house, whose founder Vespasian
owed his throne to the possession of Egypt, that the valley
of the Nile was the most favourable base of operations for
a rival claimant to supreme power. Thus the large estates
were liquidated in one way or another, and no fresh ones were
formed. Some rare exceptions only confirm the rule. The
last of the emperors to own land personally in Egypt was
Titus. A few descendants of ancient owners, who were
harmless to the emperor and the administration, retained
their inherited properties. Such was M. Antonius Pallas, a
descendant of the famous Pallas. A very few new estates
were formed. Such perhaps were the estate of Julia Berenice,
the mistress of Titus, and those of Claudia Athenais — a member
of the distinguished family of the Attici of Athens, the friends
of the emperors of the second century — and of Julia Polla.
But these were exceptions.*®
Yet the class of landowners did not cease to grow. Land
was still bought and improved, new vineyards and olive-
groves were planted. The purchasers were the local hour -
geoisie, which consisted of the veterans of the Roman army,
the officials of the imperial administration, the farmers of
taxes, the owners of ships and of draught animals, and others.
The dominant type of Egyptian landowners in the second
century was the local squire, either a veteran or a Greek or
half-Greek, who resided in one of the metropoleis. A striking
picture of this type of proprietor is furnished by the corre-
spondence of the veteran L. Bellenus Gemellus, a resident in
the village of Euhemeria in the Fayum, an old man, but an
excellent manager of his model estate. Another example is
Apollonius, a strategus of the Heptakomia in the time of
Hadrian, who devoted his life to the imperial service but
whose interests were in his native city of Hermupolis Magna.
Some very large fortunes were made by this Egyptian bour-
geoisie. A very characteristic description of one of them
may be quoted. It is given indeed by a bitter enemy, but it
is probably trustworthy as regards the extent, if not as regards
the source, of the fortune : ‘You will find that he and his
whole house owned originally no more than seven arourae.
Now he owns himself 7,000, and 200 arourae of vines, and he
VII
271
City and Country in Egypt
has given a loan to Claudius Eutychides of 72 talents. All
this has been made by thefts from the public storehouses
and by cheating the treasury through the non-payment of
taxes.’
Another source of enrichment for the local gentry of the
second century, at least for a short time, was the exploitation
of the confiscated ova-Lai of the first century, which now
became state property and formed a special ratio, the depart-
ment of the oucrta/oj, under the supervision of the high
official who dealt with confiscated goods and fines in general,
the tStos X070?. This land was usually leased to rich capital-
ists in large plots — the same system which we shall find at
the same date elsewhere in Africa.^®
Thus in Egypt, as in the other provinces of the Roman
Empire, the second century a. d. was a prosperous time for the
class which corresponded to that of the municipal bourgeoisie
in the other provinces. It was indeed, in Egypt also, a
municipal bourgeoisie in all but name. The second century
witnessed a brilliant development of cities all over the land.
They were not cities as regards constitution, for the emperors
of that century adhered to the ancient practice of the Ptole-
mies and of Augustus and refrained from granting municipal
rights to Egyptian towns. Even Alexandria, despite renewed
efforts, did not succeed in obtaining a ^ovXtj from the em-
perors. The ‘ cities ’ of Egypt remained legally metropoleis,
administrative chefs-lieux, but they were cities from the social
and economic point of view. The new landed gentry did not
live as a rule in the villages to which their properties were
attached. In fact their estates, like the ovcriai of the first
century, were scattered over one nome or even over many.
Most of them took up residence in a metropolis, whence it
was easier for them to supervise their scattered parcels of
land. Thus the population of a district town came to be more
than a mere collection of officials and tax-farmers, shop-
keepers, artisans, and retail-traders. The majority of its
residents were landowners, yeov^ot. They were Greeks, some
of them being Roman citizens ; a certain number were
Hellenized Romans, many were Hellenized Egyptians, the
most thrifty and energetic of the natives, who succeeded in
accumulating a fortune and in entering the ranks of the
Egyptian Greeks by the purchase of land, by intermarriage,
and so forth. The second century was the climax of the
DESCRIPTION OF PLATE XLIII
1. FLOOR MOSAIC, Found in the ruins of the atrium of a villa on the
sea-shore between Sonsse (Hadrumetum) and Sfax {Taparura) in Tunisia (Africa
Proconsularis). Bardo Museum, Tunis. P. Gauckler* des mosa^ues
de la Gaule et de VAfrique, ii. i, Tunisie, No. 86 (and coloured plate) ; S. Reinach,
p. 36, 2 (both with bibliography).
An elegant mosaic in an exquisite geometric frame. The central medallion
shows Neptune, the god of water, riding over the sea in his triumphal chariot
drawn by four hippocampi. In his right hand he holds a dolphin, in his left
the trident ; his head is encircled by a halo. On left and right are a Triton
and a Nereid. In the four corners are depicted the Geniuses of the four seasons.
Winter (an oldish woman), in a warm dark-blue dress and with a reed-crown
on her head, carries two wild ducks suspended on a reed ; she is set in a frame
formed by two sprays of olive. On her right are reeds and her animal the boar,
on her left a man planting beans (or gathering olives ?). Spring, a naked young
girl with a crown of flowers on her head, a gold necklace round her neck, and a pink
pallium on her arms, holding in her right hand a rose and in her left a basket
of roses, is enclosed within two sprays of roses. On her right is a dog, between
roses, tied to a rose spray, on her left a blooming rose-garden and a boy carrying
a basket full of roses. Summer, a completely naked woman with a crown of
corn-ears on her head and a necklace round her neck, holding in her right hand
a sickle, in her left a basket full of corn-ears and her violet pallium, is framed
in stalks with ears of corn. On her right is a lion in a cornfield, on her left
a man cutting corn-ears and placing them in a basket. Autumn is depicted as
a half-naked woman, her legs covered by a greenish pallium, wearing the usual
necklace and a wreath of vines, and holding in her right hand a kantharos from
which she pours wine, in her left the thyrsos ; she is surrounded by vines with
grapes. On her right are vines and a panther, on her left a bearded man carrying
two baskets with grapes. The idea of the mosaic is to glorify the creative forces
of Nature — ^the beneficent water, so important for the dry land of Africa, and the
various aspects of her productive powers exhibited in the four seasons, which
correspond to the four ages of human life (cp. F. Boll, Die Lebensalter, 1913).
This motif was very popular in Africa (see the indices to the three African
volumes of the Inventaire), Scores of mosaics reproduce the four seasons ; some
connect them with the symbolical figures of the twelve months (see especially
Inv., ii. I, Nos. 594, 666, and 752, to be compared with our pi. XXVIII), some
^ with the signs of the Zodiac. The four seasons are often represented by the
four winds. It is important to note that it is precisely in the agricultural
provinces of the Roman Empire — Africa, Gaul, Spain, Britain — that such
mosaics frequently occur and that they are closely connected with rural life
and with the illustrations in the rustic calendars. There is no more eloquent
testimony to the essentially rustic character of ancient life in general.
2. VOTIVE (?) STELE. Found in Tunisia, now in the Museum of Sousse
(Hadrumetum). Unpublished.
The sacred cone (baetylos) of the great Semitic and Berber goddess of Africa
surrounded by ripe corn-ears, a striking symbol of the agricultural life of Africa.
3. CLAY LAMP. Found in the south of Tunisia. Museum of Sousse.
Ch. Gouvet in Bull. arch, du Com. des trav. hist., 1905, p. 115 f.
A typical African villa with a long arched entrance-portico in front, a massive
atrium behind it, and a pair of two-storeyed projecting wings, which give the
plan of the villa the form of the Greek letter n. On the road in front of the
villa is a two-wheeled cart [cisium), with a man seated in it, drawn by two
mules, and preceded by a slave with his master's luggage. Behind the cart is
an old tree. Compare similar lamps showing a harbour-city, H. B. Walters,
Catalogue of the Greek and Roman Lamps in the Brit. Mus., 1914, No. 527,
pi. XVI, and No. 758, pi. XXV, and my article in Rom. Mitth., 26 (1911),
pp. 153 if., fig. 66.
XLIII. AFRICA
VII
City and Country in Egypt 273
process of Hellenization in Eg3/pt. We shall soon meet with
its decline. No doubt these rich Greeks desired to live, not
the miserable life of the Eg5rptian natives, but the comfortable
life of their fellow countr5nnen in Asia Minor, Syria, and
Greece. They needed a city life and they created it. The
government did not interfere; on the contrary, it promoted the
movement from the time of Augustus onwards, for reasons
which will presently appear. Thus the metropoleis assumed,
so far at least as their Greek quarters were concerned, the
aspect of real Hellenistic cities, and some of the larger villages
did the same. Improvements of the type common all over
the Greco-Roman world were introduced : existing gymnasia
were enlarged, baths were built, streets were lighted at nighG
Hand in hand with this material advance went the steady
development of a sort of self-government with magistrates
half-elected, half-appointed, who formed Koivd and held
meetings, and even with some imitations of a popular as-
sembly. It is well known that even what was supposed to be
the new Greek city of Antinoupolis was a creation of Hadrian
and received a population of Egyptian Greeks.^®
Such was the manner in which Egypt gradually emerged
from her isolation and remodelled her life on the pattern of
the other provinces. The change was, of course, one which
touched the surface only, and it was of short duration. In
Egypt more than in any other land the cities were a super-
structure. Their growth and development were based on the
toil and travail of the Egyptian masses. The life of these
masses had not changed. In the next chapter we shall speak
of the attempts of the Emperor Hadrian to stimulate the
conversion of the peasants into a landed bourgeoisie and to
amalgamate the Egyptians and the Greeks. The attempts
proved futile and shortlived. In truth, the mass of the
Egyptian peasants and artisans continued to live the very
same life as had been their lot from the dawn of Eg5q)tian
history, and no one sought to bring changes into that life. For
them the creation of a city bourgeoisie meant little, and it
affected them not at all. As of old, they toiled and groaned
over their primitive ploughs and developed looms, and, as
before, their toil and pain were not for themselves but for what
they were told was the Roman Empire, personified in the sacred
and remote image of the Roman emperor. They lost even
the consolation of refuge in a temple, for the right of asylum
274 Flavians and jtntomnes chap,
was gradually curtailed by the emperors. Attempts at revolt
would have been madness in the presence of the Roman
troops, with the whole Empire at their back, and there were
few who would lead them in such attempts. The only resource
left them was to flee and live the life of wild beasts and robbers
in the swamps of the Delta, and that was not an alluring
prospect.®'*
We turn next to the province of Cyrene and Crete in
the imperial period. We hear very little of its life. The fusion
of these two lands into one province may be explained by the
fact that both were for a long time subject to the Ptolemies.
But the scanty evidence which we possess about them does
not show that the principles of Ptolemaic administration,
which were retained almost without change in Egypt, were
applied to these two countries with their developed system
of Greek city-states. On the contrary, they were organized
as typical senatorial provinces, like Greece and the province of
Asia. The only episode in the economic life of Crete and
Cyrene which is known to us is the endeavour of the Emperors
Claudius, Nero, and Vespasian to put an end to the chaos in
the conditions of land-tenure which prevailed there. Large
tracts of land in both countries which legally belonged either
to the emperors, as heirs of the Ptolemies, or to the cities,
were occupied by private possessors. Tacitus and Hyginus,
whose statements are supported by epigraphical evidence,
record the long story of the efforts of Claudius and his suc-
cessors to put an end to such encroachments and to restore
the public land to the state and to the communities. It seems
as if a large part of the territory of Cyrene had been the private
estate of the later kings, the last of whom bequeathed it to
Rome; and the same is probably true of Crete. We do not
know what the emperors did with this land when it was
recovered for the
The evolution of the African lands forming the four
provinces established by Rome on the Northern shores of the
continent — ^Africa proconsularis, Numidia, and the two Maure-
tanias— shows peculiar features which do not recur in any
other portion of the Roman world except Sardinia, Corsica,
and certain parts of Sicily. We are comparatively well
informed as to the social and economic development of these
lands, which represented the former Carthaginian territory
and the Numidian and Mauretanian kingdoms, and we owe
VII City and Country in Jtfr tea 275
our knowledge to their political fortunes. When, after the
passing of Roman, Vandal, and Byzantine rule, Africa fell
under the sway of the Arabs, it reverted, like the Syrian lands,
to very primitive conditions of life similar to those that had
prevailed before its colonization by the Carthaginians. Most
of the cities, except a few on the coast, decayed and dis-
appeared, leaving heaps of ruins behind. The population
became once more nomadic and pastoral, and did very little
harm to the ruins. When the French appeared on the scene,
they found a vast field both for agricultural colonization and
for archaeological work, and after some years of chaotic
policy during which the ruins suffered partial destruction,
they organized the preservation and the scientific excavation
of them in a model way. Africa now ranks with the Rhine
lands as the best explored of the Roman provinces. Scores
of sites, especially of Roman cities, have been thoroughly
excavated and the well-preserved ruins are open to the study
of all scholars ; numerous museums have been established
and almost everything that the spade has unearthed is stored
in them ; and the discoveries, whether written documents or
the remains of artistic and industrial production, have been
promptly and accurately published.®^
Before the Romans set foot in Africa, an extensive and
intensive work of colonization had been carried out by the
Phoenicians under the leadership of the great city of Carthage.
Carthage, Utica, Hadrumetum, and other towns were not
only large centres of commerce, but each of them exploited
in an efficient manner the large and fertile territory which
they gradually occupied. Special attention was paid to the
agricultural exploitation of such lands, particularly after the
second Punic war, when the Phoenicians, unable to maintain
their extensive and flourishing foreign commerce on the same
scale as before, concentrated their efforts on the development
of the natural resources of their ovm territory. This activity
on the part of Carthage and the other Phoenician cities has
been described in the first chapter, where we have emphasized
the jealousy of the Roman landowners and suggested that
the agricultural development of Africa was the chief reason
why Cato and his partisans determined to destroy its flourish-
ing communities. Olive-oil, fruit, and to a certain extent
wine were the main products of the cities. The African coast
in Phoenician times was a vast and beautiful garden. The
DESCRIPTION OF PLATE XLIV
1, MOSAIC* Found in the ruins of an ancient villa on the sea-shore at
Bar Buk Ammera (near ZMten in Tripoli). Museum of Tripoli. L. Mariani in
Rend. Acc. Lincei, 1915, pp. 410 S. ; P. Bartoccini in Aegyptus, $ (1922), p. idi,
fig. 8 ; idem, Guida del Museo di Tripoli, p. 20, No. 19. A detailed publication
by Professor S. Aurigemma of all the mosaics of the villa of Zliten is in prepara-
tion. Our figures are reproduced from photographs kindly supplied by him.
The villa of Zliten was richly adorned with mosaics, some of which rank
among the finest specimens of the 1 st cent. a. d. They were partly floor-mosaics,
partly wall-decorations. This example represents the threshing-floor (^Xos-)
situated at some distance from the villa, which is seen in the background. It
is covered writh corn. One man (the vilicus) is supervising the work. Another
drives with his stick a pair of oxen, which move slowly and reluctantly over
the threshing-floor. At the other end two men are holding two kicking and
prancing horses and driving them over the floor; the contrast between the
phle^natic oxen and the spirited horses is finely rendered. A fifth man is
shaking the corn with a fork. Near the floor is a beautiful old olive-tree, under
the shade of which a woman, probably the lady of the villa, gives orders to the
men who are dealing with the horses.
2. AS NO. I. R. Bartoccini, Guida, See., No. 20.
The dairy of the villa. Before the entrance to the pen, against which is
a lean-to, with amphorae for milk on the roof, a shepherd sits milking a goat.
In the middle distance goats and sheep are grazing, and in the background is
the main dairy-building. Behind the milking shepherd stands a table on which
are seen cylindrical baskets for making cheese. Compare the similar scene on
the lanx quadrata, found in Derbyshire (England) in 1729, but of Gallic origin
(Bayeux, Normandy), A. de Longpdrier in Gaz. arch., 1883, pp. 78 fi. ; A. Odo-
he^co, Leirisor de Petr ossa, i,^. log, fig. ^1.
■3, AS NO. I. R. Bartoccini, Guida, &c.. No. 21.
In the background is the villa, in the right-hand corner the enclosure wall
of a house and garden, with an entrance-gate — ^perhaps the dwelling of one of
the tenants {coloni) of the villa.* In the foreground children are playing on the
grass. Behind them women are hoeing patches of ground under the supervision
of an older woman (the vMca ?).
The mosaics of Zliten are the earliest examples of a class peculiar to Africa,
which are spoken of on p. 293 and in notes 83 and 87 to this chapter. They
depict the various types of farms and villas which were scattered all over Africa,
and seek to indicate the nature of the agricultural work which was done around
the villa. The villa of Zliten was apparently the centre of a large estate devoted
to corn-growing and dairy-farming on an extensive scale, which were carried
on by the help of slaves and tenants. The other types will be described later
in the present and the following chapters. We do not find a single picture of
the same kind in other parts of the Roman Empire. The frescoes of the Pom-
peian houses and their Egyptianizing paintings and mosaics are different in
purpose. They do not aim at giving the characteristic traits of a particular
villa, that belonging to the man who ordered the picture. Cp. my article
' Die hellenistisch-romische Architekturlandschaft ' in Rom. Mitth., 26 (1911).
2. DAIRY 3. AGRICULTURAL WORK
XTTV„ AFRICA ! TR TPOI ,T
VII City and Country in itAfrica 277
fact is proved not only by many direct testimonies, but also
by indirect evidence. We know that one of the most famous
treatises on agriculture was that of the Carthaginian Mago.
It is highly probable that his book was an adaptation to
African conditions of the scientific Greek or Greco-Griental
treatises of the fourth and third centuries b. c. We know also
that the Roman treatises on agriculture were partly derived
from the work of Mago, partly from his Hellenistic sources.
We may assume, therefore, that the main features of Mago’s
work were identical with those of the Greek and Roman
treatises. In other words, Mago’s theme was capitalistic
and scientific agriculture concentrated mostly, not on corn-
growing, but on vine and garden culture and still more on
olive-growing. It is very probable that the labour employed
by the Phoenician landowners on their farms was mainly
supplied by slaves.
It is usually held that the plantation system prevailed in
the territory of Carthage, that large tracts of land were
cultivated by gangs of slaves and serfs, and produced chiefly
corn. I find no evidence in favour of this view. It derives
no support from the fact that the territory of the Punic state
included, besides the Phoenician cities of the coast, some
hundreds of Berbero-Phoenician cities (our sources speak of
300). It is much more likely that these Berbero-Phoenician
cities, like the later Roman cities, were residences of land-
owners and merchants, partly Phoenicians and partly assimi-
lated Berbers, who formed a well-to-do city aristocracy,
chiefly of landed proprietors, as in the Phoenician motherland.
It may be assumed that, while their estates produced mostly
corn, the labour employed on them was furnished by the
natives, who were in the position of small tenants or serfs.
Under Punic influence, especially after the second Punic
war, Numidia also, under the rule of her kings and petty
princes, began to develop a flourishing agriculture and
probably a thriving city life. This is attested by her appear-
ance in the second century b, c. as a seller of com on the
international market of Rhodes and Delos, as well as in Athens,
and by the fact that the Numidian capital Cirta and other
cities, particularly those on the coast (Hippo Regius, Rusicade,
Chullu), gradually became centres of flourishing life. The
same development took place later in the Mauretanian
kingdom with its capital lol, the Roman Caesarea.®®
278 Flavians and iAntonines chap.
After the third Punic war, which ended with the conquest
of Carthage, the Romans inherited the conditions created by
centuries of Phoenician domination. Their first act was to
destroy everything that had been done by Carthage. Carthage
herself and many other prosperous cities were reduced to
ruins, and it is a probable supposition that in the same ruth-
less way the conquerors annihilated the flourishing vineyards,
olive-groves, and gardens of the Phoenician landowners
except in the territories of a few cities of the coast, which had
been their allies during the third Punic war (Utica, Hadrume-
tum, Leptis Minor, Thapsus, Achulla, Uzalis, and the inland
city of Theudalis). That is the reason (it may be mentioned
in passing) why the earlier Roman remains and the best
funeral monuments of the late Republican period are those
of the maritime cities just mentioned, especially Hadrumetum,
and why the land around Carthage is described by eye-wit-
nesses as waste and desolate.®^
Her new province, or her new estate, Rome organized in
the following way. The land was now owned by the Roman
state, the Senatus Populusque Romanus. With the sole
exception of the territories of the seven cities enumerated
above and of some land given to the perfugae or deserters
from the Carthaginian army, the African land became ager
publicus p. R. Part of it was assigned to the former Punic
and half-Punic cities, which lost their municipal rights and
were regarded as agglomerations of tributaries (stipendiani).
Such were, for instance, the stipendiani of the pagi or rural
communities of the Muxsi, Gususi, and Zeugei, who erected
a statue in honour of the quaestor Q. Numerius Rufus,
a contemporary of Cicero, or again the civitates of the pagus
Gurzensis. The tributaries, of course, retained their land
precario, that is, without any guarantee to the holders and the
tillers of the soil that it would not be taken away by the
Roman state and given, sold, or leased to somebody else.
The rest of the public land became ager censorius, that is, it
was managed by the Roman censors to the greatest advantage
of the ruling city. Most of it was leased to Roman citizens
or to natives, according to circumstances.
A new epoch began for Africa with the brief government
of Gains Gracchus in Rome. As is well known, he intended
to rebuild the city of Carthage and to settle the new city and
her territory with Roman colonists. F or this purpose a general
VII City and Country in \Africa 279
‘ centuriation ’ , or delimitation, of her former territory was
carried out. Out of this centuriated land lots ranging from
100 to 200 iugera were assigned to 6,000 Roman colonists.
Gracchus’ plan for the restoration of. the city was not carried
out, but the colonists (or at least part of them) went and
settled down on the plots which they received from the state.
The liquidation of the Gracchan reforms by the senate pro-
duced a general agrarian law of in b. c., by which the changed
conditions of land-tenure both in Italy and in some of the
provinces, particularly Africa, were legalized. Fragments of
this law are still extant and give us valuable information
on Roman agrarian policy in Africa. The most interesting
chapters are those which deal with the ager frivatus vectiga-
lisque. This was land sold to big Roman capitalists under
condition of paying regularly to the state a certain tax or
rent (vectigal). It was probably thus that large areas passed
into the hands of Roman capitalists, and that the foundation
of the future latifundia of Africa was laid.®®
Meanwhile Africa became a land of Roman colonization,
carried out not by the state but by the Italians on their own
account. Italians went to settle both among the stipendiarii
of Africa and in the Punic cities, chiefly as merchants and
money-lenders. Cirta, the capital of the Numidian kings,
became one of the favourite centres of Roman business men.
They established themselves in hundreds and thousands in
this flourishing city, just as they did in Gaul, in Dalmatia,
and in the East, and in smaller numbers in various cities
of Numidia and Africa Proconsularis. They either invested
their money in the fertile African land or acquired landed
property in other ways, mostly in the new Roman province.
Colonization proceeded apace during the civil wars. We hear
incidentally that Marius settled his veterans in at least two
African cities, and it is well known that both Caesar and the
Pompeians were supported in Africa by large numbers of
Roman citizens. The Caesarians were led by a shrewd and
energetic adventurer P. Sittius, who ‘ since the days of
Catilina had been pursuing the career of a soldier of fortune
in Africa at the head of a band of free-lances whom he had
raised in Spain ’ . How he seized Cirta and handed it over to
Caesar is a familiar story.®®
With Caesar a new chapter opened in the history of Africa.
After his campaign there the leading part was played by the
2So Flavians and iAntonines chap.
two cities of Carthage and Cirta. The former was restored
by Caesar and became a Roman colony ; in the latter the
partisans of Sittius were granted large plots of land and the
rights of a Roman colony. Both received very large and fertile
territories. Former African and Numidian cities and villages
were attached to the two cities and were ruled by magistrates
delegated by the Roman colonists. Each subdivision of their
extensive territories had its fortified head-quarters, since life
was not yet safe in these parts. Some of them were called
castella and appear to have been fortified refuges for the rural
population ; others resumed their old Punic quasi-municipal
organization and took on again the aspect of regular cities,
which they had borne under the rule of Carthage and in some
cases, such as that of Thugga, during the period when they
were ruled by the Numidian kings. How many of these
municipal centres, if any, received from Caesar the rights of
colonies, while remaining attached to Carthage or Cirta, it is
very difficult to say. I suspect that, at any rate in the case
of Carthage, these attached ‘ colonies ’ are an invention of
modern scholars. Yet Carthage certainly played a very
important part in the life of the renascent cities, as is attested
by the fact that the cult of the city of Carthage persisted in
many of the cities of the proconsular province even in much
later times. It is probable also that, besides the colonists of
Carthage and Cirta, many veterans of the Caesarian army
received individual grants of land in Africa, and that many
emigrants settled in the country on their own account
But it was under Augustus that the real urbanization of
Afnca began. At the beginning of his rule Africa, including
iripolis and Numidia, consisted according to Pliny of 516
popuh oi which 51 were cities (six colonies, fifteen municipia,
and thirty oppida, lihefa) and 463 townless regions, mostly
occupied by half-nomadic tribes {gentes or nationes). Pliny’s
statement is based for the proconsular province on the well-
known statistics of Agrippa, which he revised for Mauretania
and Nuinidia (but not for Proconsularis) with the aid of new
information dating from the Claudian and Flavian periods.
His statement, at any rate for Africa and Numidia, is not
ully supported by the epigraphical evidence. Inscriptions
speak of at least ten colonies besides Carthage and Cirta. We
must therefore assume, if we do not accept the existence of
nominal colonies of Julius Caesar attached to Carthage, that
yii City and Country in \Africa 281
the work of urbanization proceeded after the completion of
Agrippa’ s statistics and that new colonies and other centres of
city life were established by Augustus. His chief motives were
partly of a military character, as in the case of the foundation
of at least eleven colonies in Mauretania which were real
military fortresses, partly the desire to accommodate not only
veterans of his army but also many residents in Italy who had
lost their land through his own confiscations and purchases.®
In this way arose the peculiar political creations of Augustus
in Africa. They were of three kinds, (i) Some were colonies
where, along with the Roman settlers, there lived large
numbers of natives organized as a civitas with their own
magistrates. To this class belonged, for example, Carthage,
Thuburbo Majus, and probably Hadrumetum and Hippo
Diarrhytus.® (2) There were mixed communes where, along
with the native civitas, the Roman settlers had their own
territory and their own organization as a pagus. Such were
Uchi Majus and Thibaris, where the settlers of the Caesarian
and Augustan times met the former colonists of the times of
Marius. Such also were Thugga, Numlulis, Civitas Aven-
sensis, Masculula, Sua, Thignica, Tipasa, Sutunurca, Medeli,
&c. In one place at least we know that the pagus diA not
consist exclusively of veterans. These pagi h&A sometimes
very characteristic names like pagus Fortunalis and pagus
Mercurialis : the new settlers had, of course, in mind the
great goddess Fortuna Redux and the beneficent god Mercury
who had come down from heaven in the person of Augustus.
{3) Lastly, there were such large colonies as Sicca or ‘ the new
Cirta’, which received as large a territory, studded with
villages and castella, as Carthage and the old Cirta.® In some
places, as might be expected, we have no records of Romans :
there the former Punic cities developed their own life, often
on old Punic models, with magistrates who still bore the
ancient Punic names. Such cities were numerous, and it
would be useless to name them all : a very good example
is the city of Gales in the proconsular province {CIL, viii,
23833,23834).
The demand for land seems to have been considerable
in the reigns of Augustus and Tiberius. To meet it, both
emperors undertook the difficult task of extending Roman
rule to the South, which led to a long war with the native
tribes and their chief Tacfarinas. In the train of the advancing
202 Flavians and <LAntomnes chap.
Roman troops came land-measurers, agrimensores, to divide
the newly acquired territories into Roman centuriae. The
efforts of Augustus and Tiberius seem inexplicable except
on the supposition that they were driven by the desire of
accommodating many of those who took part in the ‘ great
agricultural emigration’ from Italy.
Apart from the colonists from Italy who either received
their land as a gift from Augustus or bought or rented it from
the state in parcels of moderate size, there was undoubtedly
a mass of great capitalists who were eager to invest their
money in the rich virgin soil of Africa. The state was willing
to meet their demand, because the investment of money in
African land promised an increase of production which would
keep the corn prices low, guarantee an abundant supply of
grain for Italy, and increase the public revenue. To the large
estates of the Republican aristocracy which had not been
confiscated by Augustus there were thus added new latifundia
belonging to the Roman plutocracy. Petronius’ Trimalchio
was true to type in dreaming of adding to his possessions in
Italy and Sicily large tracts of land in Africa.
These considerations enable us to understand the annexa-
tion first of Numidia and then of Mauretania, which both
required a considerable military effort and were not at all
necessary from the political and military points of view. The
African lands had to be opened to Roman colonization, and
the first task of the government was .to make them safe for
this purpose. Under the successors of Augustus the work of
colonization proceeded on the same lines. The lead seems
to have been taken by capitalists. Large estates were created
throughout the country. To Pliny the latifundia appear to
be the outstanding feature of agricultural life in Africa. His
statement that six landowners possessed half its area is, of
course, a generalization which simplified the facts, but in
essence it was probably true.®^
The progress and the mode of colonization in Africa may
best be understood by following the lines of development
under Trajan and Hadrian, especially in Numidia and in the
adjacent parts of Proconsularis. Trajan’s chief problem was
how to deal with the conquered tribes, which were not pure
barbarians and some of which were accustomed to agricultural
work and to life in fortified cities. Three typical examples will
serve to illustrate the method adopted. We take first the
Yii City and Country in Jtfrica 283
numerous and strong tribe of the Musulamii, one of a group
of tribes of which Pliny says ; ‘ most of them may justly be
called not civitates but nations.’ * Before their complete
pacification the Musulamii, like other tribes, were governed
by military officers called ^vaefecti gentium. Their organiza-
tion dates from Trajan. In the district occupied by them two
miltary colonies, Ammaedara and Madaurus, were established
with extensive territories ; a large tract of their land was taken
by the emperor, some portions were held by private land-
owners, the rest was given to the members of the tribe and
was regarded as their domain. The land was measured out
and boundary stones were set up. Probably at the same time
part of the tribe was transferred to the district of Byzacena
and furnished labour for many large estates.®®
Near Madaurus and Ammaedara lived another large tribe,
the Numidae. The tribe appears also in three other far distant
places: in Cellae (Ain Zouarine), in Masculula (near Kef), and
in Mauretania Caesariensis, in which province we find a dis-
trict being assigned to the Numidae by the Emperor Hadrian.
It is fairly clear that we have here a case of a powerful and
numerous tribe being split up into several parts. Some of the
Numidae were transferred to places where an agricultural
population was urgently needed, while some remained in
their old home. The head-quarters of the tribe, Thubursicu
Numidarum, an old native town, became first a civitas and
afterwards a municipium; the land assigned to the tribe
formed the territory of the new city, but tribal representa-
tives, native sheikhs styled principes, shared with the city
magistrates in its local government.®^
Our third example is the tribe of the Nybgenii in the
southern part of Africa Proconsularis. One part of the
territory of this tribe was assigned by Trajan to two Romano-
Punic civitates, Capsa and Tacape, which subsequently became
municipia and later coloniae ; the rest was left to the tribe,
whose town centre afterwards received the status of a munici-
pium. It seems as if the part of the tribe which was attached
to Capsa retained its own principes, like the Numidae of
Thubursicu. The same development may be traced in the
case of many other tribes both in the Proconsular province and
in Numidia and Mauretania, for instance, the Musunii Regiani
(between Cillium and Thelepte), the Suburbures (near Cirta),
DESCRIPTION OF PLATE XLV
THE FUNERAL MONUMENT OF GHIRZA AND ITS
SCULPTURAL DECORATIONS. The monument was dis-
covered and photographed by H. Mehier de Mathuisieulx,
and described by him in Nouv, arch. d. miss, scient., 11-12
(1903-5), pp. 24 if., pL VI, 2 ; pi. VIII ; pL IX, 2 ; pis. X
and XI, I. Our illustrations are taken from this publication ,
The greater part of the rich sculptural adornment of the
funeral temple lies scattered round the ruins of the building
and is in a bad state of preservation. Most of the bas-reliefs
depict scenes from the daily life of the landowning family to
which the monument belonged. A long epitaph, giving
many names (ail native), is also preserved. The four frag-
ments reproduced on this plate portray life on the fields of
the estate. The reliefs show how unsafe life was on the
borders of the desert ; compare our pi. XXXVI, illustrating
life in the steppes of the Crimea. The first fragment repre-
sents the ploughing of the fields by means of camels and
oxen ; the second a combat with natives ; the third a
battle with wild beasts ; the fourth the reaping of corn and
the carrying of the grain in baskets. The monument cannot
be earlier than the IVth cent, of our era.
AGRICULTURAL WORK AND RURAL LIFE ON THE VERGE OF THE DESERT
YT V ART? TO A
VII City and Country in ,J[frica 285
the Nattabutes, the Nicivibus (the modem Ngaous), and the
Zimizenses in Mauretania (between Chullu and Igilgili). Some
tribes were, and continued to be, attached to larger cities,
like the Saboides to Cirta and the Chinithi to Gigthis.®
There is no doubt, too, that the early history of such
colonies of Roman veterans as Thamugadi (Timgad) and of
the cities which grew up near the successive camps of the
African legion (Theveste and Lambaesis) was closely bound
up with the fortunes of the African tribes, which lost their
lands to the new settlers and were forced to work for them as
hired labourers or tenants. If we had sufficient evidence
about the history of scores of other African cities which de-
veloped into flourishing Romanized communities, more par-
ticularly in the second century a. d., we should certainly be
able to trace similar relations between them and the native
tribes. The process was ever3Avhere the same. The tribes
were not exterminated nor driven out of the country. Like
the Arabs in Syria and in Arabia, they were first of all fixed
in their original homes or transferred to other parts. A
certain amount of land was assigned to them, and the rest
was either given to a city inhabited by Roman immigrants
(veterans and civilians) and by the native aristocracy, or
transformed into estates, which were sold to wealthy members
of the imperial aristocracy or reserved (under the title of
definitio or defensio) for the emperor and members of the
imperial family. As the amount of land assigned to the
tribes was not large enough to support the growing population,
numbers of the tribesmen were forced either to rent land from
the foreign or native landowners or to work on their estates
as hired labourers.®®
A similar process of urbanization and differentiation
developed in the wide territories of the three largest colonies
of Augustus — Carthage, Cirta, and Sicca. In many cases the
documents enable us to follow the development of castella
into real cities. It will be sufficient to mention Thibfiis
(Announa) and Cuicul (Djemila), which have been recently
excavated. Thibilis was a flourishing agricultural village of
some size, attached to the territory of Cirta. This dependence
continued even after Thibilis became a large and prosperous
city.®’ Cuicul was also a dependency of Cirta. Nerva trans-
formed it into a colony of veterans. Nevertheless the city
maintained her close relations with her ancient metropolis.®®
286 Flavians and fAntonines chap.
Not very different was the position of the three original
colonies attached to Cirta — Rusicade, Chullu, and Mileu. These
three coloniae confribufae were detached from the mother
colony and became mde|>endent cities after the time of
Alexander Severus.®® Similar conditions existed in the terri-
tory of Sicca with its various castella, which were largely
inhabited by Roman citizens. The general aspect of the terri-
tories of the large Augustan colonies presented much variety.
There were the ruling city with a population of great land-
owners, merchants, government agents of different sorts,
artisans, menial workmen, and so forth; many large and
prosperous attached cities, living their own life and possessing
their own territory ; smaller castella, again, with their own
territories and their population of landowners, in part Roman
citizens ; and, finally, tribes living all over the city territory,
some of them having their own territories and their own tribal
organization.
Another type of urbanization gradually carried out in
some rural districts is furnished by the development of
large estates, both imperial and private. The residents on
the estate, smaller and larger tenants, lived in villages {vici).
With the aid of the owners they formed a self-governing body,
a sort of religious association with elected presidents {magisiri).
In the villages seasonal fairs (nundinae) were organized by
the owners with the permission of the local authorities,
sometimes even of the Roman senate. The villages grew in
importance. Some of the tenants became landowners, and
the vicus assumed the appearance, and sometimes received
the constitution, of a city. Many of the vici, even before
their transformation into cities, possessed the legal rights of
a juristic person and received gifts, bequests, &c. It is worthy
of note that many of the residents in a vicus were Roman
citizens, for instance, the vicani of a vicus Annaeus near
Semta, the centre of a private estate, some of the inhabitants
of the vicus Haterianus in the district of Byzacena near the
modem Kairouan, of a vicus near Lambiridi, and of the
vicus Verecundensis in the territory of Lambaesis. Like the
cities, the vici had two classes of residents, the regular vicani
and the incolae.'’°
The development of city life and the diffusion of Roman
civilization in Africa made striking progress after the time
of Augustus. All the emperors promoted it — Claudius and
VII City and Country in ^Africa 287
the Flavians in the first century, and above all Trajan and
Hadrian in the second. The later emperors mostly legalized
an already accomplished process by conferring the titular
rights of munici-pia and coloniae on already existing and
flourishing cities. To a large extent the development of
towns was due to natural causes. The start was given by the
large immigration from Italy during the civil wars and under
the first emperors. The Italians naturally endeavoured to
organize their life on Italian patterns. Later, the growing
class of well-to-do bourgeois did its best to improve the
conditions of its life and introduce all the comforts associated
with a city. The emperors sympathized with this movement
and patronized it. They were interested in having new centres
of civilized life, more nuclei of Romanized residents. When
Italy ceased to be able to furnish soldiers and officers for the
army, the Empire urgently required more and more Roman-
ized communities to provide a constant supply of soldiers
and officers, who should civilize and drill masses of native
troops for the legions and the auxiliary regiments. In Africa
we meet with the same phenomenon which we have observed
in all the provinces of the Empire, the same encouragement
of urbanization, especially in the period when Rome needed
ever fresh supplies of recruits for her external wars. It is
noteworthy that here, as on the Danube and the Rhine, this
aim of the emperors was emphasized by the organization of
the young citizens of the Romanized cities in associations
under the command of special prefects, the praefecti iuven-
tutis. In many cities the organization was based on the
general division of the citizen body into curiae. The curiae
iuniorum were nurseries of future soldiers for the imperial
army.’^
And yet, in spite of the widespread extension of city hfe
which impresses every one who visits the ruins of Northern
Africa, the cities were only a superstructure based on a
developed rural and agricultural life, and the city residents
formed but a minority in comparison with the large numbers
of actual tillers of the soil, the peasants, who were mostly
natives, rarely descendants of immigrants. This statement is
borne out by the following considerations. We find in Africa
in the second century five forms of land-tenure : (i) land
which was owned by the emperors and did not belong to the
territory of any city, the imperial saltus, representing estates
description of plate xlvi
eye, round their necks. On on _ 3 ^ words which are quite commonly
on the other ZH2H2 ^nf oTThe jars ii adorned with
inscribed on drinking-cups ^ frimi^ntlv occur on the buildings and on
charms against the evil Africa though they have never been collected
K tod =, free. br»ch,
and investigated. water-bottle Behind the former is a slave boy
that to tlie right a sma ler water “^^^ther boy with a green bough
"FsIS
MOSAIC OF A THRESHOLD. Found at Sousse (Hadrumetum) in
a funeSIvSaS^i So Museum, Tunis. P- Gauckler. Inv^ d. mas., n. i
frSS |o.% “d i I- “»b&ly Sif i. . sb^diow
of navigation in the shallow Syrtes. 4. x ■„ +i,„
o -PRACtMENT of a mosaic. Found at Sousse (Hadrumetui^ in the
ruin's o^^ h?S 5 M?seum of Sousse. P. Gauckler, Inn. d. mos.. 11. i (Tumsie),
^"^Two fast ships with a cabin at the stem, an elaborate system of sails, and
ninJpairs of oars each. They were probably messenger and police boats of th
African fleet [naves fesseyaviae).
XLVI. AFRICA
VII City and Country in ^Africa 289
that had belonged to men of the senatorial class in the Re-
publican period, and portions of tribal land reserved by and
for the emperors; (2) land which was owned by senatorial
families and was not attached to the territory of a city (the
saUus pHvati) — ^large tracts of this land had been confiscated
by the emperors in the time of Nero and the Flavians, but
many such estates remained and some were formed later;
(3) land which constituted the territory of a city, whether
a colony, a municipium, or a plain civitas with quasi-municipal
rights ; (4) land which formed the territory of a tribe {gens)
and was either measured out and organized by the imperial
government, or still remained unmeasured and used mostly
as |3asture land by half-nomadic natives (especially in Maure-
tania) ; (5) some mining and forest districts, partly owned
by the emperors and partly leased to companies of business
men, like the socii Talenses, the ' company' of Tala, which
was an important forest and mining district in the neigh-
bourhood of Lambaesis.’’^
We are well informed concerning the manner in which
certain of these lands, namely, the large estates in imperial
and private possession , were farmed . ’ ® In our second-century
sources there is no indication that they were cultivated by
means of slave labour. We may suppose that this mode of
exploitation existed in the Republican and in the early
imperial period. But in the second century the prevailing
method of cultivation was by means of tenants (colow), who
paid the owner part of the produce of the land and were also
obliged to give him some days of their own and their cattle’s
labour. Some of these tenants were Roman citizens, but the
majority were natives of the country. They lived in villages
which lay within the estate near the big central farm or in
the vicinity of the estate, but outside it. The rent which they
paid was collected by the ‘ farmers-general ’ {conductor es) of
the estate, who at the same time leased from the owners
such lands as were not let out to the coloni. For their cultiva-
tion they made use probably of slaves, certainly of hired
labour and of the obligatory services {operae) of the tenants
of the estate. The conductores were big men. They formed
an influential class of the population of the cities which were
situated near the large imperial estates, and they were pro-
bably at the same time landowners in the territory of their
own and other cities. With a view to the promotion of their
2354-2 U'
. DESCRIPTION OF^ PLATE XLVII
^ I. MOSAIC. Found in the ruins of a large villa in the neighbourhood of
Uthina (Oudna) in Tunisia (Africa Proconsularis) . It adorned the floor of one
of the atria of this luxurious house, which belonged probably to the family of
the Laberii. P. Gauckler in Mon. et Mim. Piot, 3 (1897)* PP- ^185 If. The
mosaic is described on p. 200, No. 21, and reproduced on pi. XXII of this
article*,' compare 'the plan of the building, pi. XX ; idem, Im. d. mos., ii. i
,{Tunisie),''No. 362 and plate (with bibliography) ; S. Heinach, R^p. d, peint.,
p. 390, IV It belongs to the early Ilnd cent, of our era.
In the centre of the picture we see a peasant's house or a bam, in the door-
way of which stands a man, probably a shepherd, leaning on a long staff and
looking at an approaching herd. In the side-wall of the house are three windows
and a low door ; against it rests a plough. Towards the building moves a flock
of goats, sheep, and cows, while two dogs run in the opposite direction across
the fields. Above the flock, a man ploughs a field with a team of oxen. Near
the house are a tent (* gourbi ') and a primitive well, from which a man has
just filled up a semicircular trough to water a horse. Another horse is tethered
to a stake between the well and the house. Towards the right a man dressed
in a heavy cloak drives a donkey. This central portion of the mosaic certainly
represents part of a large estate — ^in all probability the cattle-shed and barn
of the villa, hardly the house of one. of the coloni. The central picture is sur-
rounded on three sides by scenes portraying the various occupations of the
owners of the estate and their workmen. On the left three men elegantly dressed
and mounted on beautiful horses attack and kill a lioness. ^ At the foot are
depicted other hunting scenes. In a rocky country a man, disguised as a goat,
is moving slowly on hands and knees, driving four partridges before him into
a net. Another man, naked except for a cloak which flutters from his shoulders,
attacks a wild boar among rocks in a marshy country, while his companion
tries to hold in a big mastiff which leaps at the boar. On the right of the
central picture we have scenes of rustic life. A shepherd in the fields playing
his pipe under an olive tree ; near him his flock of goats, one of which is milked
by another shepherd ; while on the right a negro slave gathers olives from
a tall tree.
2. MOSAICS. Found in the ruins of a trifolhmi (probably a large dining-
room), which formed part of a large and luxurious villa near Tabarka (Thabraca),
P, Gauckler, l 7 iv. d. mos,, ii. 1 (Tunisie), No. 940 and two plates, one coloured
(with bibliography) ; my article in Jahrb. d. d. arch. Inst., 19 (1904), p. 125,
fig. ; S. Reinach, Rip. d. pdnt., p. 392, 3, 4. Illrd or IVth cent. a. d.
Of the four mosaics which formed the decoration of the trifolmm two are
reproduced here. The central one (of wliich only fragments are preserved)
represented hunting scenes in the African prairies. The mosaic of the central
* leaf ' portrays the residential part of the villa surrounded by a luxurious park
and flower-garden (TrapaS^tcros) full of various birds, wild and domestic (S. Rei-
nach, 1 . L, p. 391, 5 ; my article, 1 . L, p. 125). The lateral mosaics, here repro-
duced, give pictures of the farm buildings. That on the left represents a large
and stately stable set amid olive trees and vines ; in the background are hills
with partridges, in the foreground a shepherdess seated under a poplar, spinning
and guarding sheep whieh graze among trees ; near the stable prances a fine
horse. The mosaic on the right represents a large barn and storehouses, with
rooms probably for the olive and wine presses, surrounded by olive trees and
vines ; in front of it is a poultry-yard with some trees and two buildings,
probably the poultry-houses, near a pond for fish, ducks, geese, See. The mosaics
of Thabraca give an instructive picture of a large estate devoted to the pro-
duction of wine and olive-oil, to horse and cattle breeding, and to poultry-
farming — an important agricultural concern run on scientific lines. Cp. the
mosaic of Julius, pi. LV, and Ch. XII. These late monuments are reproduced
here as in all probability the type of the African villa did not change very
much in the interval between the Ilnd and the Illrd-IVth cent, of our era.
VII City and Country in ^Africa 291
common interests they formed associations of the same type
as the associations of merchants and shipowners, though these
do not seem to have been recognized by the state.''* Above
them stood the imperial administration, numerous officials,
high and low, of the patrimonial department — ^knights, freed-
men, and slaves.'®
In the city territories the land belonged mostly to the
wealthier citizens, who were descendants of the original
coloni sent out by the emperors, or of the original Roman
settlers, or even of the group of more influential men who
formed the aristocracy of the Berbero-Punic communities.
The military and civil colonists of the earlier times received
as a rule large plots of land, larger than could be cultivated
by a single colonist and his family. The early and the later
immigrants from Italy, who formed the ruling class in the
African cities, were, of course, not peasants (who were people
in a small way, living in the country as tenants of the large
estates),, but landowners on a more or less extensive scale.
The natives, too, who lived in the cities certainly did not belong
to the class of dwellers in the mapalia, but to the well-to-do
Berber and Punic aristocracy. The owners of estates within
the municipal territories, therefore, were members of the
municipal bourgeoisie and resided in the cities. They managed
their estates either personally or through special agents, but
they never worked the land with their own hands. The labour
was furnished by the natives, either as hired workmen or as
tenants. Small landowners of the peasant type may have
existed on the municipal territories, in the native civitates,
and in the territories of the tribe, but the general tendency
was towards a concentration of the land in the hands of a few
rich proprietors.
In many cases we can trace the growth of municipal
families from very modest beginnings to a dominating position
in the city. Many members of these families entered the
state service and reached equestrian rank or a seat in the
Roman senate. We meet with such families in almost every
city of the African provinces which has been thoroughly
excavated. A few examples may be given. The family of the
Antistii from Thibilis became finally connected with the
imperial house.'® The family of the Attii of Thuburbo Majus
and Uchi Majus furnished two praefecti praetorio to the
Empire.'” The city of Gigthis had at least five senatorial
u 2
292
Fluviufis cifid ijifitofiifiBS
CHAP.
families in her citizen body.’® A notable instance is L. Mem-
mins L f. Qnir. Pacatus. No one, probably, would doubt
K this rich man, who was knighted by Hadrian was a
*Ro 4^ of Italian origin, and yet the tribe ^ «ie “
nroudlv says of him ; ' L. Memmio L. f. Quir. Facato tiam(ini)
perpetuo divi Traiani, Chinithio, in qmnque decunas a div
Hadriano adlecto, Ghinithi ob merita eius et singularem
piLtem qua nationi suae praestat sua pecunia posuerunt.
Other examples might be quoted.
It is a striking fact that, in every case where we can tiace
the origin of the large fortunes of wealthy mumetal noble.,
w flnd^them to have been derived from the o^ership of land
In their funeral inscriptions many of them jiy
arouired their fortune by careful management of their estates.
We have already quoted the case of L. Aelius Timmmus from
Madaurus.«° Another notable instance is Q. Vetidius Juvena-
lis from Thubursicu Numidarum, who says of himself m his
funeral inscription : ‘ omnibus honorib(us) functus, pater III
equitum Romanorum, in foro iuris peritus, agricola bonus.
Another such ‘ agricola bonus’ was the famous landowner
of Mactar. He was born in a poor home of humble pai ents.
From his childhood he lived on the land and for the land
granting no rest either to it or to himself. In harvest time
he served as foreman of gangs of corn-reapers w^s-
somm). In this way he acquired a large fortune and was
honoured with a seat in the local senate ; elected by the
senators’, he says with pride ‘ I sat m the ^shrine of ^e
senate, and from a peasant I became a censor. The same
conclusion may be drawn from the numerous mosaics which
adorned the city and country houses of the African aris-
tocracy. From the first century onwards the owners of these
houses liked to have their life depicted in minutest detail on
the floors of their dining and sitting rooms. Unlike the tombs
of the Rhine, none of these floor mosaics reprpents the owner
as a merchant or a factory owner. All display before us
scenes of rural life: threshing of com in Oea, gathering ot
olives, ploughing and so forth in Uthina, sheep and poultry
breeding, vine-growing, &c., in Thabraca, horse-breeding neai
Hadrumetum, cornfields, poultry, sheep, vines and olives m
Cartha°'e Everywhere the master is shown, not particularly
busy in managing his estate but mostly hunting hares, deer
and cranes in his forests and prairies. The land is cultivated
VII City and Country in ^Africa 293
either by tenants, who lived in houses like that represented
on an African sarcophagus and some of whom were certainly
natives (like the threshers on the mosaic of Oea), or by negro
slaves (as on a mosaic of Uthina). The modest peasants
appear also on the mosaic of Carthage.®®
There can be no doubt, . therefore, that the leading type
of husbandry in Africa was cultivation of the land by peasants
who were either owners of small plots, or tenants and hired
workmen on the big estates of the emperors and of the im-
perial and municipal aristocracy. The peasants, who were
mostly natives, formed the vast majority of the population,
and were the economic backbone of the country. The cities
were inhabited by landowners who formed the ruling aris-
tocracy. The landowners, whether they were veterans or
other immigrants or natives, were the only legally recognized
citizens of the cities. The rest — -the petty merchants, artisans,
and workmen — were incolae, not citizens. To the same
category belonged the peasants of the city territory, and it
is to be noted that they were incolae of an inferior rank, even
as compared with incolae intramurani, who lived in the
city. It is not open to doubt that this mass of peasants was
very slightly Romanized, and that no great improvement took
place in the conditions of their life. The civilization of the
city did not reach them : they still worshipped their native
gods, still lived in their mapalia, and still spoke their native
tongues.®*
The survey of the provinces which we have given in the
preceding pages would not be complete without a sketch of
the conditions prevailing in the extensive areas occupied
by mines and quarries, forests and fisheries, which have
already been mentioned incidentally. These districts were
clearly of enormous importance for the Roman Empire. The
imperial government certainly did not neglect this side of
public economy. It is not an exaggeration to say that most,
if not all, of the mines and quarries which are worked nowa-
days in those parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa which were
included in the Empire — ^with the exception of the coal
mines and workings for certain other minerals unknown to
the ancient world — ^were exploited by the Romans, who
inherited them from their previous owners. How many new
mineral sources were discovered in the imperial age we do
not know. It seems as if in this matter the Romans relied
'Flavians and tAntonines
CHAP.
294
upon the work of past generations and did not add to it
Our information on the exploitation of the natural re-
sources of the Empire, apart from agriculture, is very scanty
indeed. What we do know relates chiefly to mines and
quarries. The organization of fisheries, of the exploitation of
forests and the industries connected with it, and of the
extraction of salt remains almost a blank in onr knowledge.
A few remarks of Pliny and some scattered inscriptions do
not allow us even to attempt a general characterization ot
those departments of public economy. As regards mines and
quarries, we know that most of the workings were situated
in the provinces. Italy w'as rather poor in mineral resources,
and no efforts were made by the state to exploit in an in-
tensive way such as did exist . A striking example is the marble
industry of Luna. The rich quarries producing the beautiiul
white marble of Carrara were never worked on a very l^ge
scale, and not before the end of the Republican period. Ihe
Romans preferred to import different kinds of marble from
far distant places, Greece, Asia Minor, Egypt, Numidia. The
explanation of this curious fact probably lies in the peculiaT
conditions of the economic and social life of Italy in genera .
In the later days of the Republic the state endeavoured to
stop the development of mining in Italy by reducing the
number of workmen allowed by law in mines. The reason
appears to have been the fear that large numbers of slaves
concentrated in the mines might become dangerous hotbeds
of revolt while the employment of free men would dimmish
the sum total of peasants and agricultural workmen so urgently
needed on the estates both of the Roman anstocracy and of
the city bourgeoisie, especially after the servile wars in Sicily
and Italy. Besides, there was no need to work the mines
and quarries of Italy intensively, since the state possessed the
rich mines of Spain, Macedonia, and Asia Minor, and gradually
added to them those of Dalmatia, Noricum, and Gaul.»® There
was no state monopoly of mines either under the Republic or
under the Empire. The state was, indeed, the largest owner
of mines, being heir of the former proprietors alike in the
Hellenistic kingdoms and in the Western provinces, where
they had been state property. But in Gaul Rome apparently
did not concentrate all mines in her own hands, nor did she
object to the discovery and exploitation of new ones on the
VII ^ines and Quarries 295
large estates of the Gallic nobility. In Republican times
most of the mines owned by the state were leased to private
capitalists, who formed powerful associations or companies.
Such was the case at least in Spain and Sardinia, and we may
suppose that the same system was applied to the mines in
the East, both in Asia Minor and in Macedonia. The labour
employed by such companies in Spain and Sardinia was
mostly, if not wholly, that of slaves, who were brought in
masses to work in the mines and in the quarries. In Macedonia,
on the contrary, the work was done mostly by free men who
rented single pits either directly from the state or from the
mining companies.
When large mining districts in the new provinces (Gaul,
Britain, Noricum, Dalmatia, Pannonia, and Dacia in the West,
and the new Asiatic provinces and Egypt in the East) passed
into the possession of the state and the emperors, the system
of exploitation became more ‘diversified through adaptation
to the special conditions of each district. We cannot enter
into details here, but in general it may be said that our scanty
evidence attests all the possible types of exploitation in the
various mines of the Empire : leasing to large capitalists (as
in Noricum, Dalmatia, Gaul) ; leasing of single pits to small
entrepreneurs, whose rent was collected either by tax-farmers
or by state officials ; exploitation of quarries by contractors
{redemptores), who received fees proportionate to the amount
of material extracted, the work being done under the super-
vision of civil or military officers ; extraction of minerals
and stone by convicts {damnati in metallum) or slaves under
the supervision of soldiers ; the use of compulsory labour,
especially in Egypt. Side by side with these different systems
employed in the public and imperial mines and quarries, there
existed all over the Empire mines and quarries owned by
private people who paid a certain amount of the produce to
the state. How large this amount was, and how the collection
of the payments was organized, we cannot say.
The general trend of imperial policy in regard to mines
and quarries was gradually to eliminate the great capitalists
and to concentrate the exploitation of them in the hands of
state officials. Preference was given to the letting of single
pits to small contractors, especially in the time of Hadrian
and his successors. Such was the system used, for instance,
in Spain in the mining district of Vipasca, as attested by the
296 Flavians and jlnmitnes chap.
two laws {l&gcs cefisofiac, vofioi rikuiviKoi) disco vexed there.
The employment of intermediaries was practically confined
to the collection of the rent and other taxes payable by these
small contractors. Later, this system seems to have given
place to the direct exploitation of the mines by means of
convicts and by the use of compxfisory labour .s®
The survey which we have given will enable the reader
to grasp and appreciate many salient features of the economic
and social life of the provinces of the Roman Empire. One
of the most striking is the capital importance of the part
played by agriculture. It is no exaggeration to say that most
of the provinces were almost exclusively agricultural coun-
tries. In some of them we have, of course, extensive mming
activity, as in Spain, Britain, Gaul, Dalmatia, Noricum,
Dacia, and Asia Minor. Some were famous for their quarries,
especially of difierent kinds of marble— Asia Minor, Egypt,
Africa, and the mainland and islands of Greece. But the
mines and quarries formed merely small islands in a sea of
fields and meadows. Though statistics are lacking, we may
safely affirm that the largest part of the population of the
Empire was engaged in agriculture, either actually tilling
the soil or living on an income drawn from the land.
A second important feature is the extension of agriculture,
viticulture, and gardening over countries which previously
either lived exclusively on grazing and hunting or followed
a very primitive method of tilling the land. Where agriculture
was introduced for the first time, it was introduced in its
highly developed forms, chiefly in the form of a capitalistic
and more or less scientific tillage of the soil. Notable examples
are the Decumates Agri in South Germany, the fields of Britain
and Belgium, the valleys of Noricum and Dalmatia, the dry
steppes of the Dobrudja, and in the East such regions as the
Syrian half-desert and the plateau of Trachonitis. No less
important was the development of Africa, where steppes and
plateaus were converted by scientific irrigation into rich corn-
fields and later into olive-groves, extending for mile after mile
over regions where in our own days a few sheep and camels
live a half-starved life in a dry prairie. The victorious advance
of the culture of vine and olive in almost all Roman provinces
has already been described.®’
The third point which emerges from our survey is the
general tendency throughout the Empire towards the con-
vii Conclusions 297
centration of land in the hands of a few proprietors who lived
in the cities or belonged to the highest ranks of the imperial
aristocracy, with the emperor himself at the head. What
had formerly been a characteristic feature of Italy and Greece
only, is now found in every province; the land was owned by
men who were not themselves experts in agriculture but were
townsmen for whom land was a form of investment. On the
other hand, by the force of circumstances, land became more
and more the property of the state, withdrawn from the
market and concentrated in the hands of the emperors,
a development which gradually brought about a reversion
to the forms of landownership which had prevailed in some
monarchical states of the Hellenistic period and in the Oriental
monarchies.
Parallel to this concentration of land in the hands of the
city bourgeoisie, the imperial aristocracy, and the state, we
observe the gradual disappearance aU over the Roman
Empire of small independent landowners living a free life
in their tribal, rural, or city communities. In Italy and
Greece former proprietors were degraded to tenants and
formed a socially inferior class. In Italy they were Roman
citizens, but economically and socially they occupied a very
modest position. In Gaul those who had been clients of the
wealthy aristocracy were regarded and treated as a lower class,
which had no right to take any part in the public life of the
community ; in the cities as in the villages this right was
reserved for the wealthier landowners. The same is true
of the Danube lands, though here we have considerable
groups of flourishing village communities, where the peasants
tilled land owned by themselves and not rented from a rich
landowner of the city. In Asia Minor the vast majority of
the tillers of the soil were either second-class citizens of the
Greek cities, who mostly held tenancies from proprietors
resident in the cities or from the cities themselves (which
had their public land), or they were half-serfs of the imperial
estates and temple domains. Some mountain tribes, as well as
the inhabitants of most of the Syrian and Palestinian villages,
were in a better position. In Egypt, despite a notable develop-
ment of private property in land, which was, however, confined
almost exclusively to the Greek and Roman section of the
population, the fellahin remained, what they had been under
the Ptolemies, half-serfs and half-tenants, the latter status
Fldvittfis Hfid tA-'ntoninss
CHAP.
T>revailing Finally, in Africa the majority of the population
Sot iL on their own lands, but tilled and toiled for the
emperor and his farmers-general or for the members of the
increase in the number of absentee landlords and the
transformation of small landowners into tenants did not m any
way improve agricultural technique or even mamtain it on
the^igh level which it had reached on the capit^istic estates
of the Hellenistic and early Romp period, which were culti-
vated by slave labour. In Italy scientific agriculture gradually
decayed as soon as the land slipped from the hands of the
local city bourgeoisie, and was incorporated m the Mifundia
of the imperial aristocracy. In the provinces however^in
Egypt Africa, Syria, and the Celtic and Thraco-Illynan
lands-^the type of the thrifty agricultunst, the agricola
bonus ’ , still prevailed, or rather came into existence, prticu-
larly in the Danube lands, in Egypt, and in Africa. There the
leading type of proprietor was for a time that represented
bv the owners of the Pompeian villae rusUcae of the first
c^tury A. D., of whom many examples have been cited.
But the growth of imperial estates and the formation all
over the Empire of a wealthy city hourgeo^su, of Ipded
magnates who had higher ambitions than to be agncolae
boni’, caused an extension to the provinces of that decay ot
scientific agriculture which was characteristic of imly.
Lastly our survey reveals the enormous importance
which the rural population had for the Empire m general
The tenants and farmers formed its backbone. Togetheyvith
the slaves and artisans .of the cities, they constitiited the
working class of the Roman Empire, the dps which, undp
the direction of the city bourgeoisie, produced the goods
required by the cities and by the imperial army which were
the chief consumers. Numerically they certainly fai exceeded
the numbers of the city population, including both bourgeo^su
and workmen. We have no statistics, but a glance the npp
of the Roman Empire and a simple calculafron of the number
of hands which were necessary to feed both the conntry
population and the cities, and even to export some foodstuffs
to foreign lands, will convince every one that the country
people who tilled the soil formed an enormop niajonty of
the population of the Empire. The Romp Ernpire was, it
is true, urbanized to a very high degree.. Indeed, if we take
Conclusions
299
VII
into consideration the forms of its economic We and the ^r-
Srrer:lsf«SsTh\M^
view W dife on 01 mei Uved in very
Sn nalaestrae no libraries of their own, and those of the
chies away. All they had was one or mOTe
modest shrines of local gods, and sometimes a bath or an
nmnhitheatre They learned, of course, to speak and perhaps
r?eaS write a litti^ Latin or Greek. What sort of Latin
or Greek, we may judge by reading a few ^e ruraUns«g-
tions of the Danube provinces ^le “tate plid no
nrncrrpso was slow, exceedingly slow, i he state paia a
attlntton to the needs of the villages ; the cities were occupied
?n‘SaSng their own life as comfortable as possible and had
M ™ne| to spare for the villages ; the viUagers
were too poor to improve their ““W^ns of hfe
them were very badly org^ize . ruvrian Thracian
+hp country still spoke the Iberian, Celtic, Illyrian,
'iS* -fe; SVW"™““ -SS
rerCfcSu^^^^^ tley were Roman colonies,
munici&a or civitates stipendmnae. The last-named cate-
rrv h should be noted, gradually disappeared froin view
fn ^all the civitates stipendianae the ruling aristocracy
least had either the Latin or the Roman franchise The
cmintrv people in the provinces belonged to the class ^
^eregnnL^with the rare exceptions of soine
who^hapUned to live in the villages and formed the yiUage
reni?f “w: s^w%^ ur ortrgiSaS!
ftos clLs It loote as if it included several categories.
This is a notorious fact in the case of Egypt, where the Alexam
drians formed the highest class of peregnm, the Greeks in the
Sirtrv tte secmid, Jnd the fellahln, the native peasants, tte
lowest^ Was this distinction peculiar to Egypt, or did it also
SS in the other parts of the Roman Empire, especiaUy m
Flavians and lAntonines
CHAP.
ISfi
imA
the East > In any case the rustic population of_ was
probably what was meant by the defitim who in the reign
of Caracalla were probably excluded from the grant of Roman
citizenship to the feregfini of Egypt. While it is clear that
in Effvot the status of deiiticii was reserved for the native
peasints and workmen, there is no evidence to show to whom
the term was applied in the other provinces, ihe fact that
in Italv the ‘ attached’ tribes were gradually put on a level
with t4 inhabitants of the cities, and that this policy was
pursued, for instance, in Noricum, shows that m the
such attached tribes were treated m the sanie way as the
Alexandrians and the Greeks in Egypt and probably received
the franchise from Caracalla. In the Ea^ the question is
more complicated. I suspect that there the quondam serfs
who lived partly in the cities, partly in the territories exempted
from city administration, were ranked with the of
Egypt, and formed a lower class of peregnm, which had to
receive the city franchise before attaining the Latin or Roman
citizenship. However that may have been there is no doubt
that in the first and second centuries the difierent classes of
'beregrini far outnumbered the Latin and Roman citizens,
that the majority of them lived not in the cities but in the
country, and that they constituted, at any rate in the East,
the lowest class of aliens, the dediticii.^^
The last question that arises about the country population
concerns the material welfare of the villagers. To this ques-
tion we can hardly give an adequate general answer. Ihe
only province for which we have considerable details relaung
to the daily life of the rustic population is Egypt, ihe
impression conveyed by the study of the rums of some of
the Egyptian villages, and of the thousands of documents
found in them, is that we can scarcely speak of any improve-
ment in the economic condition of the Egyptian fellahin
during the Roman domination; There was a brief revival
of prosperity in Egypt in the first decades of Roman rule,
but it was short-lived. For the new Egyptian landed bour-
geoisie this revival lasted longer than for the peasants ot the
crown-estates and the tenants of the landowners. The situation
of the latter grew steadily worse. The conations under which
the masses of the Egyptian population lived were far from
normal. Taxation was oppressive, the mode of collection was
il and unfair, compulsory work bore heavily upon the
'■.m
yii Conclusions 301
peasants, the honesty of the state officers was a pious hope,
very seldom a fact. It is not surprising that discontent grew
and that the prosperity of the land declined. As early as
the beginning of the second century, and even in the first, we
hear repeatedly of villagers refusing to pay taxes or to perform
compulsory work and resorting to the ancient Egyptian
practice of striking, that is to say, leaving the villages and
taking refuge in the swamps of the Delta. Little wonder that,
when an opportunity offered, the fugitives were ready to
raise the banner of revolt, and that they found many sympa-
thizers among the population which remained in the villages.
We know very little of the revolt of the Jews in Egypt and
in the Cyrenaica in the reign of Trajan. The official version
was that the Egyptians fought the rebels on the side of the
government. I rather suspect that the government was aided
by the bourgeoisie, the Greeks and Hellenized natives, while
the Jews were supported by the robbers of the marshes and
some of the fellahin. This view is confirmed by the fact that,
very soon after the J ewish revolt, both Hadrian and Antoninus
Pius had to face new rebellions in Egypt, and this time not
of Jews. These were small affairs for a powerful Empire, but
they were very typical of the mood of the Eg3Aptian fellahin.
A more serious revolt, as is well known, broke out in the time
of M. Aurelius, and this rising of the cowboys (^ov/cdXot) was
not so easy to quell.®*
Was Egypt an exception ? Was the situation of the
working classes in the other rural parts of the Roman Empire
better than it was in Eg5q)t ? It is impossible to give an
adequate answer to this question. The speeches of Dio Chry-
sostom, and the evidence quoted above on the antagonism
of the rural TrdpoiKoi of some cities of Asia Minor towards
the landowners of the cities ; the pictures given in the Gospels
and other contemporary sources of the life of the peasants in
Palestine, which are far from rosy and show the prevalence of
bitter poverty and oppression ; the revolt of peasants under
Mariccus in Gaul in the first century ; a similar revolt of native
peasants in Dacia and Dalmatia at the time of the campaigns of
M. Aurelius — all these show that, alike in the countries where
the peasant population lived in a condition of half -serfdom and
in those where free peasants predominated, the situation was
not much better than in Egypt.®® Such indications, however,
are exceptional. The impression given by the few inscriptions
Fiaviiins citid
CHAP.
302
of the villages testifies rather to a growing prosperity or at any
rate to a quiet mood on the part of the peasants. As a rule
Se villie remains silent in the first and second centuries
TfitISs it speaks to glorify the Empire. But we must not
forgetttat'tho^ who spoke were the village aristocracy, not
the mass of the peasants. .
After this survey of the Roman provinces we may return
to the much vexed question of the relative weakness of
Roman industry as compared with commerce and agriculture.
riid ancient industry not reach the heights of develop-
ment attained in the modem world ? Why did
tion of the ancient world stop, and why did the Roinan
Empire fail to evolve the capitalistic forms of industry
Deculicir to our own times ? . .. 11* j
The answer given to this question
economists like K. Bucher, G. Salvioh, and M. Weber is
that industry could not develop because the ancient world
never emerged from the forms of primitive house-economy
mZnlirtsIhaft ) ; it never reached the higher stages o
economic development achieved in modern times the stages
of chy-econom/ and state-economy. . Assuming he cor-
rectness of Bucher’s phases of economic
house-economy, city-economy, state-economy, ancE wo
economy), though it is more than questionable, I maintain
that the economists’ diagnosis as applied to the ancient woi Id
is wrong It is true that that world, and particularly the
Lman Empire, shows more survivals olhouse-economy than
some modem states of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries,
both in the management of the large estates of Absentee
landlords and in the husbandry of the peasants. But it is
evident that these features of house-economy were mere
survivals. Home production alike in Italy and in the pro-
vinces was limited to a certain amount of spinning and
weaving. For everything else recourse was had to the market ,
agricultural and domestic implements, pottery, lamps, toilet
articles, jewellery, clothes, and the like, were not produced at
home even in the villages. The excavations of poor rura
cemeteries prove this up to the hilt. Thus there was no such
thine as the prevalence of house-economy throughout the
anciint world in all the stages of its evolution. Pure house-
economy did not exist even in the earlier times of the (>iental
monarchies.and with the advance of Oriental and Greco-Roman
VII Conclusions 303
civilization it gradually disappeared from large areas of Europe,
Asia, and Africa. The question is why the survivals of house-
economy still persisted even after the powerful economic
development which took place under the Roman Empire, and
why capitalistic industry did not hold the field which it began to
conquer, first in the East, later in Greece, and finally in the
Roman Empire, the gradual extension of the field keeping pace
with the advance of Greco-Oriental civilization ? Why had not
industry the power to eliminate these survivals, and why did
they gradually become the prominent economic feature of the
ancient world ? Some modern scholars have found the cause
of the weakness of ancient industry in the existence of slave
labour.®^ They explain that the cheapness of slave labour,
the docile character of the slaves, and the unlimited supply,
which permitted a constant increase of the numbers of work-
men, prevented the invention of labour-saving machinery and
thus made it impossible to build up factories. Against this
theory I would point out that ancient industry reached its
highest level in the Hellenistic period when it was based
wholly on slave labour. It began to decay under the Roman
Empire when slaves were gradually replaced, even in the
field of industry, by ever-increasing numbers of free workmen.
On the other hand, the arguments about an unlimited supply
of labour and about its character are grossly exaggerated.
Slave labour was notoriously not at all cheap, the slaves were
by no means docile (as the slave revolts showed), and the
prices paid for them were generally very high. If strikes
were infrequent, that was due to the low standard of industry
and not to the docile mood of the workmen and to the employ-
ment of slaves. Why then should the employment of slaves
prevent an energetic shop-owner from using new technical
devices, which would have been a good way of making his
products cheaper and better ? It is a striking fact that
industry began to decay just at the moment when technique
ceased to advance, simultaneously with an arrest in the
advance of pure scientific research, and this fact cannot be
explained by the emplo5nnent of slaves. We have therefore
to seek for other explanations of the decay of industry in
the Roman Empire. ' — —
To my mind the explanation should be sought in the
general social and political conditions of the Empire. The
weak point in the development of industry in the imperial
2 04 Flavians and <u4ntonines chap.
period seems to have been the lack of real competition, and
this lack depended entirely on the character, number, and
buying capacity of the customers. The advance made in
the Greek and Hellenistic periods in the sphere of industry,
both in the matter of technique and division of labour and
in mass production for an indefinite market, was due to
a constant increase in the demand for manufactured goods.
Besides the requirements of the Greek cities themselves, the
few centres of industrial production in Greece during the fifth
and fourth centuries b. c. met the demands of a steadily
expanding Greek and non-Greek market in Italy, Gaui,
Spain, on the shores of the Black Sea, and in other regions.
The buyers, apart from the Greek colonies, were the countless
half-barbarian inhabitants of these countries, who gradually
became more and more Hellenized in their tastes and habits :
the graves of the natives of Italy and South Russia are full
of the products of Athenian and Hellenistic industry. In the
Hellenistic period the number both of industrial centres and
of consumers rapidly increased. The East was opened to
Greek industry and commerce, and through Carthage Greek
industrial centres came into contact with Africa, Spain,
Britain, and the Northern lands in general. The Greek manu-
facturers knew how to adapt themselves to the requirements
of their new customers and how to attract buyers. A keen
competition arose between the different centres of industry.
The number of customers of good purchasing power was
growing apace when Rome came into contact with the Hellen-
istic world. The destructive work done by the Romans in
the East was not of serious moment, though temporarily it
had very injurious effects by steadily reducing the buying
capacity of large numbers of the prosperous population. Much
more important was the fact that Rome succeeded in trans-
forming the whole of the ancient world into one Empire,
incorporating in a single state almost all the flourishing and
more or less advanced peoples of the Mediterranean basin.
After the transitory period of conquest and civil wars, which
was more destructive than constructive, the victory of Augustus
restored peace and normal conditions. An economic revival
followed. The industrial centres awoke to new life, and the
number of consumers increased. But the question is, To what
extent and for how long ?
The market for Greco-Roman industry was now confined
VII
(conclusions
almost entirely to the population of the Empire. In the fifth
chapter emphasis was laid on the fact that the volume of
Rome’s foreign commerce must not be underestimated.
But the character of this commerce must be taken into
consideration. The barbarians and the poor population of
Northern Europe could not absorb large amounts of industrial
products, and the political conditions were such that trade
could never become regular but remained more or less specu-
lative. The Far East was, of course, safer, but it had a highly
developed industry of its own, and its demand for the indus-
trial products of the Roman Empire continued to be limited
to certain articles, and was maintained only so long as it did
not learn to produce imitations of them. The only clientele
left was the population of the Empire. While the expansion
of Roman civilization was in progress, industry throve and
developed. We have spoken of the gradual industrialization
of the provinces. But with Hadrian the expansion ceased.
No new lands were acquired. The Romanization, or partial
urbanization, of the provinces reached its climax in Hadrian’s
time. The market for industry was now limited to the cities
and the country districts of the Empire. The future of
ancient industry depended on their purchasing power, and
while the buying capacity of the city bourgeoisie was large,
their numbers were limited, and the city proletariate grew
steadily poorer. We have seen that the material welfare of
the country population improved very slowly, if at all. The
fabric of Roman industry rested therefore on very weak
foundations, and on such foundations no capitalistic industry
could be built up.
2,354-2
X
THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL POLICY OF THE
FLAVIANS AND ANTONINES
After Augustus had concluded his great wars on the Rhine
and the Danube and completed the pacification of Spain and
Africa, the Roman Empire was not disturbed by foreign wars
of importance for about a century. Claudius’ annexations of
Britain, Mauretania, and Thrace, the ambitious projects
of Nero in the East, and the Jewish war in the time of Ves-
pasian were local ‘ colonial ’ wars which did not affect the
Empire as a whole. Her dangerous neighbours and rivals,
the Germans and the Sarmatians in the North and North-east
and the Parthians in the South-east, remained more or less
quiet. The only serious shock was the civil war of a.d. 6g,
in Italy, followed by some complications on the Rhine frontier.
Little wonder that under such circumstances the fabric of
the Roman Empire appeared solid and everlasting, and that
economic life steadily progressed despite the personal extrava-
gances and the follies of some of the emperors. We must
bear in mind that the colonial wars just mentioned, resulting
as they did in the annexation of comparatively rich and
civilized lands, added to the prosperity of the Empire by
opening fresh markets for Roman commerce and industry
and providing new and excellent recruiting areas.
Meanwhile, however, the conditions gradually changed.
The Germans who lived in close contact with the Empire
learnt to improve their military equipment and technique,
they discovered that the Roman limes was not an insurmount-
able barrier, and they grasped the need of a better organization
of their internal life. Besides, those who were Rome’s nearest
neighbours saw before them the wealth and prosperity of
the provincial cities and were eager to participate in the
civilized life of the Empire. The constantly increasing
numbers of the German tribes provided another stimulus to
push forward and endeavour to acquire new lands. Some
VIII
Economic and Social ^Policy 307
of the German tribes were, indeed, diverted by the Roman
barrier towards the South-east, into the region of the Dnieper ;
but this outlet was not large enough nor safe enough to satisfy
them, in view of the strength of the Sarmatian peoples who
were masters of the Russian steppes. A similar migratory
movement westwards was also a marked tendency of the
Sarmatian tribes. Well armed and well organized, living at
constant feud with their neighbours who pressed on them
from behind — Germans on the North and other Sarmatian
tribes on the East — the Sarmatians of the West, the lazyges
and the Roxalani, were eager to settle down on the Danube
in the immediate vicinity of the Roman limes. The Parthians,
finally, never gave up their claims to the S5n'ian lands and to
Armenia, and had never suffered a blow crushing enough to
have reduced them to lasting impotence. On the contrary,
they were well aware that the Syrian legions of Rome were
not an obstacle which could prevent them from attempting
again the invasion of the ancient dominions of the Persian
Empire.
It would be out of place to deal here with the foreign
policy of the Roman Empire. It must suffice to say that in
the time of Domitian and Trajan the far-seeing politicians
and generals of Rome, who were acquainted with the con-
ditions on the frontiers, felt the necessity of renewing the
policy of Augustus, of starting another victorious advance
into the lands of their enemies, unless Rome were to be
confronted with the task of defending her Empire from
serious attacks in the North, the East, and the South. The
necessity was fully realized by Domitian, though his expe-
ditions were not very successful and led to some grave dis-
asters. His efforts were renewed by Trajan with more con-
sistency and with better success. It is well known that in
two expeditions Trajan annexed the last half-civilized and
well-organized state on the Danube, a buffer state between
the Roman Empire and the German and Iranian tribes —
the Dacian, that is, the Thracian kingdom of Decebalus.
The Roman Empire now faced directly the two waves
of invaders, the Germans coming from the North and the
Iranians coming from the East. Our knowledge of the
conditions which existed on the lower Danube and of the
relations between the Dacian state and Rome is too slight
to permit us to judge whether the attack of Trajan was
X;2''
DESCRIPTION OF PLATE XLVIII
1. ONE OF THE BAS-RELIEFS OF THE ARCH OF TRAJAN AT
BENEVENTUM. Benevento. The bibliography of the arch is qnoted in full
in note 6 to this chapter ; here reference need be made only to S. Reinach,
Rep. d. rel., i (Our relief is on p. 65, i). In note 6 I have given the general
explanation of the bas-reliefs of the arch.
Two veterans are introduced to the emperor and his staff (all in civil dress)
by a group of deities. The chief of these is Virtus, who holds in her hand
a vexillum with five aquilae, symbols of five legions. Virtus is accompanied by
Diana and Silvanus Domesticus/ deities of the forests and fields and protectors
of settled domestic life in the country. It is easy to interpret the bas-relief as
celebrating a grant of land by Trajan to soldiers of five legions, probably not
in the provinces but in Italy, as is shown by the place occupied by the relief,
on the Roman side of the arch, and by the evidence of the Libef Coioniarum.
Cp. note 6 to this chapter.
2. AS NO. I. S, Reinach, 1. 1., p. 65, 2.
The emperor in civil dress greets, and is greeted by, three Roman citizens
in civil dress. These three men represent a place which is under the protection
of three gods : one is Apollo (on the left) , the second is Hercules, and the third
has been recognized as Portunus ; the city which the three gods protect is,
therefore, a harbour city. As the divine protectors of the navale of the city
of Rome were precisely Portunus, Hercules, and Apollo, we may accept the
explanation of v. Domaszewski, who suggests that the emperor is greeted by
the business men of Rome — the merchants of the Forum Boarium, the most
important business centre of the capital.
3. AS NO. I. S. Reinach, 1. h, p. 66, 4.
Solemn reception of the emperor by a group of four women and two men.
The women are symbolical figures ; they are wearing turreted crowns and
personify, no doubt, four cities of Italy ; one of them holds a baby in her
arms. The two men are Roman citizens ; each carries a young boy on his
shoulders, and has another older boy by his side. In the right-hand corner are
trees. As the bas-relief adorns the inner archway, and as the other bas-relief
of this archway refers to the city of Beneventum, it is natural to explain our
scene as symbolizing the gratitude of four cities of South Italy, of which Bene-
ventum was one, to Trajan for the institution of the alimenta. Italy is producing
more men, and she is doing it with the help of the alimenta. This is the leading
idea of the relief.
4. AS NO. I. S. Reinach, 1. 1., p. 61, 2.
A majestic woman wearing a turreted crown and leaning on a plough (the
attribute in the right hand is missing) faces the Emperor Trajan, who introduces
to her two children — a little boy and an older girl — who worship her. The
woman is protected by the god Mars. Behind the emperor stand two stately
women wearing diadems, one with th.e cornucopiae. The scene was explained
by Petersen as Italia agricola (agricultural Italy), worshipped by the children
educated by Trajan. It symbolizes, he thinks, the agricultural renascence of
Italy under the protection of Trajan’s victorious arms (Mars), the prosperity
of Italy, and her repopulation as the result of the institution of the alimenta.
As the bas-relief faces, not Italy and Rome, but the provinces, and as the
institution of the alimenta has been already glorified in No. 3, v. Domaszewski
explains the scene as symbolizing the spread of Roman citizens over the pro-
vinces by means of new Roman colonies organized by Trajan. I prefer to
recognize in it a symbol of the Roman Empire growing rich and populous again
as the result of a reasonable military policy. Mars, the god of war, m protecting
the Roman Empire, restores its fertility, stops depopulation, and creates
Abundance everywhere. The second diademed figure standing beside Abundance
may be Justitia or dementia, symbolizing the fair, just, and clement administra-
tion of the provinces by Trajan and Hadrian, or rather by Hadrian as Trajan’s
heir.
VIII
JEjConomic and Social Policy 309
justified by the policy of Decebalus, and whether it was
really easier to deal with the Germans and the Sarmatians
direct. But it is clear that the annexation of Dacia required
a more intensive military occupation of the Danube lands,
the Roman frontier being now much more complicated.
Furthermore, the Empire had to furnish the conquered
land with a new population, whose special task was to carry
out the work of urbanizing Dacia. The same policy of
annexation was adopted by Trajan in the South and the
South-east, in Parthia, Arabia, and Africa. Africa and
Syria gained enormously. A fresh start was given to the
colonization of fertile lands and to the establishment of city
life in vast areas that were formerly waste. How far the
annexation of Mesopotamia, which provoked a strong and
dangerous outburst of national feeling among the peoples
of the East, was a real gain from the military and political
point of view is still a matter of discussion.^
The successes of Trajan were won at the cost of a severe
strain on the whole Empire, The military operations re-
quired levy after levy and the burden of them fell almost
wholly on the Roman and Romanized areas, including the
cities of Italy, which furnished the praetorian guard and the
officers. The men who went to the new lands in the East
and South rarely returned to their homes : many were killed,
and large numbers were utilized to colonize and urbanize
the newly acquired provinces. We have already mentioned
Trajan’s strenuous effort to develop town-life in the Danube
lands and so to create another Gaul in the rear of the Danube
limes. We know, too, that he founded many colonies in Africa
and that under his rule the urbanization of some districts in
Syria was rapid and effective. All this was done at the
expense of the older and more Romanized (or Hellenized)
Roman provinces — Spain, Gaul, Dalmatia, and Asia Minor.
It is not surprising that the cities of Spain became alarmed
and protested against the ever-recurring levies.^
The time was past when Roman wars paid for themselves
and when victories enriched the conquerors. The war booty
of Dacia and of the Mesopotamian lands was not enough to
cover the heavy expense of military operations systematically
carried on year after year by huge armies in far ^stant fields.
The constant movement of troops towards the theatres of war,
which are so artistically depicted on the column of Trajan,
310 Flavians and tAntonines chap.
required the repair of old and the construction of new
roads, the building of new ships, the mobilization of masses
of draught animals and drivers, quarters in the cities for
soldiers on the march, the concentration of vast quantities
of foodstuffs at special points (which also called for good roads
and abundant means of transport), the provision of a regular
supply of countless arms and weapons, of clothing and shoes.
Only those who know from experience the difficulties presented
by these problems in modern times, despite the existence of
railroads, motor-cars, and large factories, can realize what it
meant for the Roman Empire to carry on, not a ‘ colonial ’ ,
but a real war for years on end.
We have very little evidence how the needs of the army
were met. But there is enough to indicate that the method
used was, as in modern times, that of requisitions, implying
compulsory work both in Italy and in the provinces. Even the
scanty information we have shows how heavily the construc-
tion and repair of roads and the feeding and quartering of
the troops bore on the Danubian provinces and on Thrace,
Macedonia, and Bithynia, through which passed the main
roads leading from Italy to the Danube and from the Danube
to the Parthian theatre of war. Some striking facts are
revealed by inscriptions. We find Trajan insisting upon the
repair of a road in the territory of Heraclea Lynkestis, for
which the city and the attached tribes were responsible ;
rich citizens of Beroea in Macedonia come to the rescue of
their town and help it to carry its heavy burden ; the payment
of taxes and the provision of sufficient com to feed the popula-
tion has become a difficult task for the Macedonian cities,
and this in a province which was one of the richest corn-lands.
It is no wonder that the position became specially acute at
the beginning of the reign of Hadrian, when the resources of
the province were already exhausted.® We meet with the
same situation in Bithynia. It was no accident that in A. d.
Ill, a few years before the Parthian war, Trajan sent thither
one of his best men, Pliny the younger, to put in order the
financial affairs of the Bith5mian cities and to supervise the
general administration of the province and its relations with
the vassal kingdom of Bosporus, one of the most important
sources of supply for the armies of the East. Nor was it
an accident that the cities on the main road to the East (By-
zantium' and Juliopolis) complained bitterly of the constant
VIII Economic and Social dPolicy 311
strain put on their resources by the movement of troops,^
As in Macedonia, wealthy men came to the aid of their
provinces : members of the former royal house of Galatia and
the Lycian millionaire Opramoas both mention the part
which they took in providing for Trajan and Hadrian and
their troops just before Trajan’s death and after it.® One
need only read Pliny’s well-known description of what an
imperial journey meant for the provinces, in order to realize
how heavy the burden was even under the enlightened rule
of Trajan, particularly in time of war when urgent needs
forced the emperor to have recourse, oftener than he would
have liked, to emergency measures. On this point our infor-
mation is more detailed for the later period, which will be
dealt with in the following chapter, but there is no doubt that
the devices then adopted were not new.
It is, however, somewhat surprising to find how thoroughly
disastrous Trajan’s wars were for the Roman Empire in
general. Trajan himself was too busy and too much occupied
with his military enterprises to realize fully that his expedi-
tions were bringing the Empire to the verge of ruin. He per-
ceived, indeed, the rapid decay of Italy and sought to remedy
it, following the lines which had already been traced by the
Flavians and Nerva. The dread symptom of this decay was
the depopulation of the peninsula and the concurrent decline
of Italian agriculture. We have seen how Domitian tried to
save Italy by prohibiting the planting of vines in the provinces.
Nerva endeavoured to repopulate the country by reviving
the plan of distributing land to poorer citizens . T raj an forbade
emigration from Italy and settled Roman veterans in the
immediate vicinity of Rome ; he forced senators to acquire
land in the mother country ; and he helped Italian landowners
in general, both large and small, to improve their situation
by supplying them with cheap credit. It is evident that the
last measure was closely connected with the first three and
was another method of achieving the same object as Nerva
had in view. It was not enough to stop emigration from
Italy and so to create artificially a large mass of workless
proletarians. Work and homes had to be provided for them.
Nerva’ s endeavour to give them land as their private property
was too expensive and could not be carried out on a large
scale. Trajan tried another plan. He attracted capital to
Italy, both by compelling senators to invest their money
DESCRIPTION OF PLATE XLIX
1. ONE OF THE BAS-RELIEFS OF THE COLUMN OF TRAJAN.
Rome, Fonim Trajani. C. Cichorius, Die Reliefs der Tmianssdule, iii, p. 203,
pi. LXXXI. :
la the background is the Roman camp, separated from the scene on the
first plane by a range of mountains (the left part of the picture belongs to
the preceding scene, where the soldiers are shown entering a recently built
camp). The first plane is occupied by a rich cornfield ; the wheat is ripe and
the crop excellent ; the Roman soldiers have crossed the mountains to reap
the enemy’s fields and transport the corn on mule-back to the camp. Without
a doubt they would treat their own provinces in the same way, if necessary,
especially in time of civil war.
2. ONE OF THE BAS-RELIEFS OF THE COLUMN OF M. AURELIUS.
Rome, Piazza Colonna. E. Petersen, A. v. Domaszewski, G. Calderini,
Mmcus-Sdiile, pis. Cl and CII, No. xciii ; S. Reinach, Rip. d. rel., i, p. 323,
No. 115.
The train of M. Aurelius’ army. Heavy carts drawn by oxen and horses,
and loaded with the impedimenta of the army, are moving slowly under an
escort of soldiers. The enormous number of draught animals required for the
transport of the soldiers’ baggage, war material, and foodstufis may be easily
imagined. Most of these animals were certainly requisitioned in the Roman
provinces, the enemy’s land contributing only a small proportion.
3. AS NO. 2. E. Petersen, &c., 1. 1., pi. LXXXII, No. Ixxiii ; S. Reinach,
1. L, p. 317, No. 91.
Roman soldiers convoying the war booty, consisting of herds of cows and
goats and of women captives. The scene is typical and is frequently repeated
on the column; compare, e. g. pL XXXIII, Nos. xxv and xxvi; pi. CXIXa,
Nos. cx-cxi, <&c. Men do not appear among the captives ; the booty consists
wholly of cattle, wbmen, and children.
The reliefs of the columns of Trajan and M. Aurelius form a contrast to those
of the arch of Beneventum, which express the programme of the Antonines ;
they give a realistic picture of life and effectively illustrate the heavy burden
imposed on the Roman Empire by the difficult wars which it had to wage in
order to guarantee the safety of Italy and the provinces.
I. TRAJAN'S ARMY FORAGING IN THE ENEMY'S LAND
3, THE BOOTY AND THE CAPTIVES OF WAR
XLIX. THE BURDEN OF WAR
VIII Economic and Social Eolicy 313
in Italian land and by giving cheap loans to existing land-
owners. In this way land which was gradually running to
waste was reclaimed. Since the slave economy of the first
century was no longer profitable (as has been shown in the
sixth chapter) and the system of husbandry now prevailing
was the cultivation of the land by tenants, the reclaiming of
land meant a permanent increase in the demand for free
tenants and increased opportimities for the landless prole-
tarians to acquire a home, farming implements, cattle, and
a small holding on the estates of landowners. By investing
his money in Italian land and letting this land to -tenants,
Pliny was acting in accordance with Trajan’s ideas and
helping him to carry out the task of repopulating Italy.
Another aspect of the same policy was the manumissions in
mass of this period, which were facilitated by imperial legis-
lation. Still another was the employment, for the educa-
tion of the children of the Italian proletariate, of the interest
on the money which was lent by the state to Italian land-
owners— the institution of the alimmta, which, again, was
imitated by wealthy proprietors of the type of Pliny and
gradually extended to the provinces.
Thus in his economic and social policy Trajan’s aim, like
the aim of his predecessors on the throne, was to save Italy’s
leading position and restore her to her former economic
supremacy in the Empire. To assist him in this work he
created special officials of the senatorial class, whose function
it was to direct the efforts of the Italian cities towards
the common goal. His endeavours were not crowned with
complete success. The decay of Italy was perhaps arrested
for a brief space, but it could not be stopped. Pliny’s experi-
ence with his tenants was typical of the conditions of the
country. Italy was not, and could not be, any longer the
economic centre of the Empire.®
Meanwhile the condition of the provinces grew steadily
worse. It is not fair to say that Trajan paid no attention
to their needs. Reference has been repeatedly made to his
systematic activity, as far-reaching as that of Vespasian,
in promoting the development of city life in some of the
provinces. He endeavoured to stop the too prevalent mis-
government by dishonest governors ; witness the many prose-
cutions in which Pliny took such an active part. He tried
to set in order the financial affairs of the provincial cities
DESCRIPTION OF PLATE L
1. BAS-RELIEF OF ONE OF THE TWO BALUSTRADES
OF THE FORUM. Found in the Forum at Rome, and now
standing there* Mrs. A, Strong, Roman Sculpture, pp. 150 ff.,
pi. XLV ; S. Reinach, Rip. d. rel., i, p. 278 (both with bibliography).
Often reproduced elsewhere.
The emperor, probably Trajan, standing on the Rostra of the
Roman Forum (the buildings of which are shown in the background,
with the symbol of Rome — the statue of Marsyas and the sacred
fig-tree— -in the right-hand corner), announces some good news
to the Roman citizens. The announcement is received with
applause and satisfaction. Its nature is explained by the next
scene. The emperor is seated on a tribunal, suiTOunded by
Roman citizens. A symbolical figure, probably Italy, presents a
child to him. In Petersen's view the figures of the emperor
and of Italy represent a statuary group. It is evident that the
relief was intended to glorify the institution of the alimenia,
which was expected to arrest the depopulation of Italy.
2. BAS-RELIEF OF THE SECOND BALUSTRADE OF
THE FORUM. Found in the Forum at Rome, and now standing
there. Mrs. A. Strong, 1. 1. ; S. Reinach, 1. 1., p. 279.
The emperor (Trajan or Hadrian ?), seated on the Rostra, gives
an order to a higher magistrate, probably the prefect of the city
or of the praetorians, which is instantly carried out. Praetorians
in half-military dress (tunic and sword-belt) bring documents and
pile them up before the emperor. Behind the figures are seen the
buildings of the Forum and, at the other end, the statue of Marsyas
and the sacred fig-tree. The scene is usually explained as repre-
senting the burning by Trajan of the records of the arrears of
taxes owing by the provincials. It may also represent Hadrian's
cancellation of debts due to the from individuals in Rome and
Italy. Cp. Ch. V, note 48. Like so many monuments on which
Trajan appears (e.g. the arch of Beneventum), the balustrades may
have been executed by Hadrian to glorify both his predecessor's and
his own achievements. These two reliefs illustrate once more the
main preoccupations of the Antonines — the depopulation of Italy
and the heavy burden of payments to the state which ruined the
Empire.
TRAJAN AND HADRIAN
VIII Economic and Social Eolicy 315
by appointing special curators to help them to manage
their property more efficiently and to reduce the expense
of making city life easier and more comfortable. The ruin
of the cities meant the ruin of the state, as they were respon-
sible for the payment of the taxes due from their residents
and from the inhabitants of the territories attached to them.’
Such half-measures, however, did not save the situation.
When Trajan died on his way back from Mesopotamia tb
Rome, the position of the Empire was extremely critical. His
victories had failed to stop the attacks of her most dangerous
neighbours. Both the lazyges on the Theiss and the Roxa-
lani on the lower Danube resumed their threatening move-
ments against the provinces, which had been arrested for
a time by the conquest of Dacia. Another war broke out
in Britain, still another in Mauretania. The Jews in Mesopo-
tamia, Palestine, Egypt, and Gyrenaica started dangerous and
bloody revolts, the last of which almost entirely depopulated
Gyrenaica. The cities of Italy and the provinces were unable
to bear the cost of the fresh series of wars which seemed
inevitable.®
The perilous situation of the Empire explains the policy
of Trajan’s successor, Hadrian. It is idle to say that Hadrian
displayed a lack of understanding and of energy in abandoning
his predecessor’s conquests in Mesopotamia and in making,
after some successful military operations, certain concessions
to the Sarmatians. Hadrian was a man of great energy and
great intellect. His acts showed both. There was no emperor
so popular with the soldiers as he, though he maintained the
strictest military discipline. No emperor, as we shall see,
had such a thorough appreciation of the needs of the Empire.
If he desisted from the aggressive policy of Trajan, it was
because he realized that such a policy could not be carried
out, that the resources of the Roman Empire were not ample
enough to support a policy of further conquests. The first
task of a prudent ruler of the Empire was to establish strong
and true foundations before proceeding to embark on far-
reaching military conquests, and that was Hadrian’s policy.
He did not shrink from reducing the Sarmatians to submission,
which was a plain necessity, but he abstained from annexing
new territory and he was satisfied with their willingness to
protect the frontiers of the Roman Empire in return for an
annual subsidy, therein following the policy which Trajan
DESCRIPTION OF PLATE LI
BUST OF HADRIAN with the head half turned towards the
left shoulder. British Museum. A. H. Smith, of
Sculpture, &c., iii (1904), p. 158, No. 1897.
a, AUREUS OF TRAJAN. Obv. imp. traiaho avg. ger. dac.
p. M. TR. p. Bust of Trajan to r. with laurel crown. Rev. ALiM(enta)
iTAL(iae). cos. v. p. p. s, p. q. r. optimo PRiNcm. Trajan standing
to 1. in civil dress distributing money to two children. Ua. A. d. 107.
Cp, Cohen, ii, p. 19, No. 15.
b/ DENARIUS OF HADRIAN. Obv. imp. caes. traianvs
HADR iANVS AVG. Bust of Hadrian to r. with laurel crown. Rev.
LiB(ertas) pvB(lica). p. m. tr. p. cos. hi. The goddess Libertas
seated to 1. Ca. a. d. 120. Cp. Cohen, ii, p. 184, No. 948.
c. AUREUS OF HADRIAN. Obv. imp. caesar traian.
HADRIANVS AVG. Bust of Hadrian to r. with laurel crown. Rev.
SAEc(ulum) AVR(eum) p. m. tr. p. cos. iii. Personification of the
Golden Age in an oval mandorla (aureola) holding in her right hand
a globe, on which is perched the Phoenix. Ca. A. D. 120. Cohen, ii,
p, 216, No. 1321.
d. DENARIUS OF HADRIAN. Obv. hadrianvs avgvstvs.
Head of Hadrian to r. with laurel crown. Rev. cos. iii. Abundance,
with cornucopiae and patera, seated to L before a modius ; at her side,
a globe. Ca. a. d. 127. Cohen, ii, p. 138, No. 379.
e: DITTO. Obv. hadrianvs avgvstvs. Bust of Hadrian to r.
with laurel crown. Rev. clementia avg. p. p. cos. hi. The goddess
standing to L, with patera and sceptre, Ca. a . d. 133. Cohen, ii,
p. 122, No. 233.
/. DITTO. Obv. hadrianvs avgvstvs. Head of Hadrian to 1.
Rev indvlgentia avg. p. p. cos. iii. The goddess seated to L, with
sceptre. Ca. a. d. 133. Cohen, ii, p. 177, No. 857.
g. DITTO (reverse only), ivstitia avg. p. p. cos. in. Justice
seated to 1 ., vnth patera and sceptre. Ca. a. d. 133. Cp. Cohen, ii,
p. 180, No. 884 if.
h. DITTO (reverse only). SECVR(itas) pvB(lica) cos. iii. p. p. The
goddess seated to 1 . Ca. a. d. 133. Cohen, ii, p. 222, No. 1399 f.
i. DITTO. Obv. hadrianvs avgvstvs. Bust of Hadrian to r.
Rev. TRANQViLLiTAS AVG. COS. III. p. p. The goddess standing to 1.
Ca. A. d. 133. Cp. Cohen, ii, p. 225, No. 1440.
j. DITTO. Obv. hadrianvs avg. cos. hi. p. p. Head of
Hadrian to r. with laurel crown. Rev. annona avg. Modius with
four ears of com and two poppies. Ca. a. d. 135. Cohen, ii, p. 118,
No. 170.
k. DITTO. Obv. HADRIANVS AVG. COS. III. Head of Hadrian
to 1. Rev. FiDES pvBLiCA. The goddess standing to L, liead to r.,
with com-ears and fruit basket. Ca. a. d. 136. Cohen, ii, p. 168,
No. 218.
l . A UREUS OF HADRIAN. Obv. hadrianvs avg. cos. iii. p. p.
Head of Hadrian to r. Rev. secvritas avg. The goddess seated
to r. Ca. A. D. 136. Cohen, ii, p. 222, No. 1402.
m. DENARIUS OF HADRIAN. Obv. hadrianvs avg. cos. iii.
p. p. Head of Hadrian to r. Rev. tellvs STABiL(ita). The goddess
standing to 1., with a plough ; to the right, two corn-ears. Ca.
A. D. 135. Cohen, ii, p. 224, No. 1425.
All these coins are in the British Museum. The selection of them,
the casts, and the dates I owe to the courtesy of Mr. H. Mattingly.
LI. HADRIAN
,s almost entirely concentrated in the hands
1 class, partly as direct agents of the state,
ncessionaires {conductor es), closely watched
y imperial officials. The institution of dty
aintained and developed. The emperor’s
showed him that there was no other means
CHAP.
318 Flavians and \Antonines
of keeping the finances of the cities in equilibrium. All these
reforms, it is true, increased the burden of the taxpayers.
But Hadrian believed, and was perfectly right in believing,
that it was a lesser evil than never-ending war.^®
Yet Hadrian was the first to realize that all such measures
were palliatives which could not by themselves save the
Empire. Its weakest feature was not bad administration
nor the squandering of money by the cities ; it was not even
the necessity of defending the frontiers by aggressive wars ;
it was the frailty of the foundations, especially the economic
foundation, on which the whole fabric of the Empire rested.
The Empire was not civilized enough, that is to say, its
economic life was not progressive enough, to bear the heavy
burden of maintaining itself as a single political unit. That
was the reason why Hadrian, while helping and protecting
Italy, finally gave up the idea of restoring her supremacy over
the rest of the Empire and devoted his life to the provinces.
It was not mere curiosity that prompted him to pay repeated
visits to the remotest corners of the Empire. His intellectual
interests helped him to endure and even to enjoy the life of
a constant traveller, but it was not his passion for sight-
seeing that guided him in his travels. He desired to know the
Empire which he governed and to know it personally in
complete detail. He fully realized, too, that he was the ruler
of a Greco-Roman Empire and that it was idle to try to give
a preference to one part over another. That accounts for
his phil-Hellenic policy, which was in turn promoted by his
intellectual and artistic interests.
There was one way and only one, at least from the stand-
point of ancient thinkers, to improve provincial life and
raise it to a higher standard, and that was by further urbani-
zation, by the constant creation of fresh nuclei of civilized
and progressive life. This belief and the desire to base the
army on those civilized elements induced Hadrian to pursue
a consistent policy of fostering town-life in all the provinces
of the Empire. How many cities he created during his travels
it is impossible to say. Our evidence is very meagre. But it
is safe to assert that after Augustus, Claudius, Vespasian,
and Trajan he was the emperor who did most to urbanize
the Empire. His activity was devoted chiefly to the lands
which by their position were destined to be the bases on
which the most important military frontiers rested. The
VIII
E,conomic and Social Trolley 319
Rhine frontier, of course, was secure, based as it was on- Gaul
and Spain. But there was no Gaul and no Spain to cover the
rear of the Danube, Euphrates, and African Umites. Despite
the efforts of Claudius, the Flavians, and Trajan, urban life
was still in its infancy in most of the Danube provinces, and
particularly in the Thracian regions ; large districts of Asia
Minor and Sjoria still lived their ancient primitive rustic life ;
and the same was true of large areas in Africa. In the last
two chapters we have described Hadrian’s activities in these
provinces. Municifia Aelia are common in the Danube lands,
and cities with the name of Hadrianopolis or similar designa-
tions are frequent in the Greek-speaking parts of the Balkan
peninsula and in Asia Minor. Besides the well-known founda-
tion of Antinoupolis in Egypt, notable instances of Hadrian’s
efforts are Hadrianuthera and Stratonicea in Asia Minor,
both previously villages ; and many places in Africa were first
converted by him into cities. To village communities which
were not yet ripe for town life, Hadrian granted valuable
privileges which made life in them very similar to life in real
cities.^^
There were, however, large areas which were not affected
by city life. Such were the fields of Egypt and the great
imperial domains in Africa and Asia. Hadrian knew
thoroughly the conditions of life on these estates. He knew
that the Empire depended to a large extent on the income
derived from them, and that it was dangerous to transform
them into city territories and so divert a good deal of their
produce to the maintenance of a city. Nor is there any doubt
that he was well aware that the economic conditions which
prevailed on these imperial estates were far from _ normal.
The peasants in Egypt, especially after the Jewish war,
complained bitterly of high taxation ; in the African domains
the farmers-general [conductores) preferred pasture lands to
fields and gardens, and allowed cornfields and vineyards to
decay and run to waste, thus diminishing the territory which
might support families of agriculturists. Hadrian’s ideal,
as far as we may judge from some remains of his legislation,
was to have on his estates a robust stqck of thriving land-
owners, who would introduce higher forms of cultivation,
contribute sturdy soldiers to the army, and pay their taxes
to the state regularly. He did not desire to have humble
tenants lazily working on their plots and complaining about
320 Flavians and tAntonines chap.
the misdeeds of the farmers-general and the imperial officials
and about the heavy burden of their rent and their compulsory
work. He wanted good gardeners and vine-dressers, holders
{‘possessof'es) of land in place of tenants, and he acted in accor-
dance with his ideal.
Certain documents found in Egypt show that Hadrian
transfomied some of the royal land into holdings similar to
those which were held as private property. The name for
this new class of land was ^acriXtfoj IBlcotlk^ Sikuiw
CTt/cparov/ieVTj or yr} iu rd^ei lBlokt'^tov duaypaAoaeid.
The change, which was effected as early as a. d. 117, was
prompted by the serious decay of agriculture in some parts of
Egypt, due in part to the J ewish war ; and the intention was, by
lowering^ the rent and by guaranteeing to the holders a long
tenure similar to that of private property, to stimulate the
energy of the royal tenants and induce them to bring greater
skill to bear on their agricultural work. There is no evidence
as to the scale on which Hadrian’s reform was carried out.
The fact that petitions for a reduction of taxation, which
probably meant the transformation of some parcels of depre-
ciated royal land into the new category of royal private land,
are confined to his reign, and that the new class of land rarely
appears in the land-surveys of the later period indicates that in
this country of ancient traditions Hadrian’s reform was short-
lived and had no lasting effects.^" It is worth while mention-
mg in this connexion another document which shows Hadrian’s
mterest in the needs of Egyptian landholders and illustrates
his relief methods in Egypt. In two recently found papyri,
both containing copies of the same document, we have an
edict of a much later date than his first attempt to better the
agricultural situation of Egypt (a.d. i 35 ~^)' He had grown
old and probably more conservative. He went to Egypt in
130 and became thoroughly acquainted with the peculfarities
of Egyptian life. ^ He was no longer ready to embark on radical
reforms. A series of bad years had induced the Egyptian
peasants (yewpyoi) to ask for a reduction of their payments.
Encouraged by a good year which followed the bad ones
Hadrian answers the petition in his peculiar pious and
sarcastic way. He flatly declines a general reduction: the
ffivme Nile and the laws of nature shall help the tillers.
However, he makes a concession and allows the arrears of
the money payments to be distributed over five or four or
vin Fjconomic and Social T^olicy 321
three years according to the situation of the land. The mention
of money payments and the unusual expression Trpoo-oStya,
employed to describe the payments in general, lead me to think
that the tillers of the soil who asked for reduction were not
peasants but landowners, perhaps the group of half-tenants,
half-owners created by Hadrian’s early measure.^®
Still more characteristic of the policy of Hadrian are some
African documents which refer to the management of imperial
lands. In reorganizing the imperial callus after the great con-
fiscations of Nero, the Flavians and Trajan had endeavoured
to secure reliable long-term tenants bound to the soil by
strong ties of economic interest in it. For this purpose one
Mancia, probably a special envoy of one of the Flavians,
published a regulation, called later L&x Manciana, by which
a free hand was given to those who wished to sow or to plant
virgin soil in the imperial and public domains. So long as
the occupants tilled the soil, they remained holders of it : they
had the ius colendi, without any special contract, on the
conditions defined by the law. If they had planted the land
with fruit trees (or olive trees), they had even the right to
mortgage it and to bequeath it to their heirs. If they ceased
to cultivate it for a certain period of time, the land reverted
to the owner and was supposed to be cultivated by the
farmer-general, or contractor, of the estate. They were
obliged also to take up their domicile on the estate and so
to become permanent settlers on it, differing in this respect
both from the inhabitants of the native villages who rented
a portion of the estate and from the tenants who lived in
the houses built for them by the owner and cultivated the land,
probably on a short-time contract.
While maintaining the main provisions of the Lex Man-
ciana, Hadrian went farther in the one or two laws which
dealt with the virgin soil and the waste land of the imperial
estates in Africa. He wanted more permanent tenants to
settle on the imperial lands, and he wanted them to introduce
higher forms of cultivation and by planting olive and fig trees
to become real farmers closely connected with the holdings
which their own efforts had transformed into gardens and
olive groves. Thus he permits the occupants to sow and
plant not only the virgin soil but also land which had not
been cultivated by the contractors for ten years, and he allows
them also to plant the waste land with olive and fruit trees.
2354-2 Y
322 Flavians and ^ntonines chap.
Moreover, he grants to the occupants the right of possessores,
that is, of quasi-owners of the land. They now receive not only
the iMS colendi but also the usus proprim of both the arable
and the garden land, with the right to transmit it to their
heirs, provided that they cultivate it and fulfil their obliga-
tions towards the owner and the contractor of the estate.
There is no doubt that Hadrian’s leading idea was to create
a class of free landowners on the imperial estates and thus
to improve the cultivation of the soil and also to prepare
the way for the further development of town life in Africa.
A group of possessor es on an estate was likely to form
a village, like the many villages which have been described
in the seventh chapter, and the village might grow and finally
become a centre of town life. In all probability the efforts
of Hadrian and the other emperors of the second century
were crowned with fair success. I feel convinced that the
rapid spread of olive-growing all over Africa was due to
a large extent to the privileges granted by Hadrian to the
prospective olive planters.
The same policy was pursued by the emperor in the other
provinces, especially in Greece and Asia Minor. In the sixth
chapter mention has been made of the great work of delimita-
tion which he carried out in the province of Macedonia. It
is highly probable that in this way Hadrian endeavoured to
( organize on stable foundations the primitive agricultural
life of the province.^® In Attica the land which formerly
belonged to the well-known Hipparchus, a victim of Domitian,
was sold to small tenants. In Asia Minor Hadrian furthered
the interests of small landholders on the former estate of the
temple of Zeus at Aezani. And a recently discovered in-
scription testifies to his work in reclaiming the land near
Lake Kopais in Boeotia.^® Moreover, as has been pointed
out in the last chapter, it was Hadrian who promoted in the
imperial and public mines the system of letting single pits
to small employers or occupants instead of working them by
slaves or convicts. Here again he pursued the policy of
creating a strong group of hard-working men who might form
the nucleus of a future community first a villasfe and. later
VIII
Economic and Social Eolicy 323
cated in the most eloquent way by Dio Chrysostom in his
Ev;Sot/f05. But no one will deny the strenuousness of the
effort made by Hadrian and the liberality of mind which he
displayed in pursuing the same policy throughout the Empire
without giving any special preference to Italy d®
In other spheres of economic life Hadrian acted with
equal consistency. He was the real foster-father of the policy
which was inaugurated by Nerva and Trajan and adopted by
all the emperors of the second century and even, or perhaps
especially, of the third — the policy of defending the weak
against the strong, the poor against the rich, the humiliores
against the honestiores. This policy is reflected in many
legislative measures of the second and third centuries,
measures affecting freedmen and slaves, _ protecting the
collegia introducing innovations in the courts, to
support the tenuiores against the potentiores, and modifications
in the sphere of obligations which show, the same tendency.^®
The active part taken by Hadrian in this movement is illus-
trated by documents found in the Eastern part of the Empire,
which deal with details of a petty character but are none the
less symptomatic of the general trend of his economic ideas.
Like Solon, Hadrian himself regulated the question of the
oil trade in the city of Athens, forbidding by a strict ordinance
the unlimited export of oil and insisting on its being sold in
Athens. Another rescript of the same kind, influenced again
by reminiscences of old times, fulminates against the retail-
traders who make the prices of fish prohibitive for poor
people : ‘ The whole amount of the fish must be sold either by
the fishermen themselves or by those who first buy the fish
from them. The purchase of the same wares by third parties
for re-sale increases the price.’ In the same spirit he or his
governor intervenes in the contest between the bankers and
retail- traders of Pergamon, protecting the interests of the
weaker party.®®
We cannot here deal at length with the rule of Hadrian
and its importance for the history of the' Roman Empire.
The subject is worth treating in a separate volume. It is
clear that Hadrian did his best to enlarge and consolidate the
foundations of the Empire. He grasped the main problems
and worked hard to solve them in a satisfactory way. To him
the Empire was indebted for the brief period of quiet and
prosperity which followed the difficult years of Trajan. It
Y2
DESCRIPTION OF PLATE LII
a. SESTERTIUS OF NERO. H. Mattingly, Coins of the Roman Empire,
i, p. 220, Nos. 127-130, pi. XLI, 6 (ce?. A. D. 65).
ANNONA AVGVSTi CERES s. c. Annona standing to r., holding a cornu-
copiae in her left hand ; facing her, Ceres seated to L, holding corn-ears in
her right hand and a torch in her left; between them, an altar on which
stands a modius with corn-ears ; in the backgronnd, the stern of a ship.
b. SESTERTIUS OF li^ERYA. Cohen, ii, p. 13, No. 143 (a. 0, 97).
VEHicvLATioNE iTALiAE REMissA s. c. Two horses unyoked, grazing.
The type emphasizes the heaviness of the burden of furnishing horses for the
post-service.
c. SESTERTIUS OF HADRIAN. Cohen, ii, p. 185, No. 950 (oa. A. p, 120).
LOCVPLETATORI ORB IS TERRARVM s. c. The Emperor seated on a tribune ;
near him. Abundance with cornucopiae, and two citizens receiving the Emperor’s
gifts.
d. DITTO. Cohen, ii, p. 209, No. 1213 {ca, A. D. 120).
RELI0VA VETERA HS NOViES MILL. ABOLITA s. c.^ Lictor burning the records
of arrears in the presence of a group of Roman citizens. Cp. pL L.
e. DITTO. Cohen, ii, p. 213 f.. No. 1285 (ca. A. d. 120).
RESTiTVTORi ORBis TERRARVM s. c. The Emperor raising a kneeling figure
symbolizing the Orbis Terrariim. A similar type was used for various
provinces (h) and cities of the Roman Empire.
/. DITTO. Cohen, ii, p.®i62. No. 657 (ca. a. d. 133).
FELiciTATi AVG. COS. Ill p. p. s. c. The happiness of the times is illus-
trated by the figure of a galley carrying the Emperor across the sea to the
provinces.
g. DITTO. Cohen, ii, p. 175, No. 823 (ca. A. d. 135).^
HispANiA s. c. Personification of the province of Spain leaning on a rock,
with an olive-branch in her hand and a rabbit beside her. Similar coins men-
tioning other provinces of the Empire commemorate the visits paid them by the
Emperor.
h. DITTO. Cohen, ii, p. 209, No. 1216 (ca. A. d. 135).
RESTITVTORI ACHAiAE s. c. The province of Achaia raised from the ground
by the Emperor. Before her, a jug with a palm-branch (symbol of the famous
{Agones of Greece) . Cp. e and g.
i. DITTO. Cohen, ii, p. 217, No. 1340 (ca. A. d. 138).
SALVS AVG. s. c. The personification of the welfare of the Roman Empire
sacrificing at an altar, round which winds a snake, and supporting with her
left hand a rudder which rests on a globe.
j. DITTO. Cohen, ii, p. 225, No. 1433 (ca. A. d. 135).
TELL vs sTABiL(ita) s. c. Mother Earth reclining on the ground, her right
hand resting on a globe, a vine in her left, her arm leaning on a basket
full of fruit. The prosperity of the earth firmly established by the efforts of
the Emperor.
k. DITTO. (Posthumous.) Cohen, ii, p. 175, No. 817 (ca. A. D, 138-9).
HiLARiTAS p. R. COS. Ill s. c. HilavUas with the cornucopiae and ajjalm-
branch which she receives from a naked boy ; behind her stands a girl. Cheer-
fulness is the result of the repopulation of the Empire.
All these coins are in the British Museum.
The coins reproduced on this plate and on pi. LI represent a small selection
of the types by which the Roman emperors sought to emphasize the reforms
which they planned and achieved. The series of Hadrian is the most explicit
of all. The various types speak for themselves. Cp. note 6 to this chapter
and pis. XLVIII and L. For the selection of coins, the casts, and the dates I
am indebted to the courtesy of Mr. H. Mattingly of the British Museum.
¥III
Kconomic and Social Policy 325
must, however, be borne* in mind that peace was secured not
only by his diplomatic successes but, first and foremost,
by the splendid victories of Trajan, which made the
diplomatic activity of his successor possible and enabled
him to rely on the fidelity and the discipline of the Roman
army. , . , , i j . t.
The quiet reign of Antoninus Pius, which developed the
seeds sown by Hadrian, shows some interesting features. It
seems as if Hadrian’s endeavours to restore the prosperity of
the Empire had not been altogether successful. The provinces
recovered slowly : their recovery was retarded by the many
journeys of the emperor, by his further development of
bureaucracy, and by his building activity throughout the
Empire, all of which required large sums of money . Antoninus
endeavoured to reduce even such expenditure as much- as
possible. Hadrian had been a great builder in Rome as well
as in the provinces. Antoninus showed the greatest economy
in this respect. He deliberately refrained from imposing on
the budget of the provincial cities the heavy burden which
imperial visits to the provinces involved. He did not increase
the number of government officials : in accordance with the
wish of the senate he rather reduced them by restoring Italy
to the care of that body. He also went so far as to sell super-
fluous property belonging to the imperial household, and
some of its estates. All this proves that we must not
gerate the wealth of the Empire: there were factors which
undermined it even in times of complete peace.^^
With the reign of Marcus Aurelius began another crmcal
period for the Empire. The facts need not be repeated here.
The tension between the Parthians and Rome b^ame so
acute that, despite the peaceful disposition of the great
emperor, the interests of the Empire required an expedition
against the eastern power on the scale of Trajan’s As soon
as it was over, plague began to rage among the soldiers of the
Eastern army, and it spread to Italy and to some other parts
of the Empire. The Germans and the Sarmatians took
advantage of the absence of the best troops from the Danube
frontier to invade the Danubian provinces and advanced as tar
as Aquileia. The war which ensued was interrupted by the
abortive attempt of the great hero of the Parthian war,
Avidius Cassius, to seize the imperial power, but it was re-
sumed as soon as the revolt was crushed . It became clear both
326 Flavians and ointonines chap.
to Marcus himself and to all the leading men of his time that
another strenuous military effort was needed to secure a fresh
period of peace for the Empire, an effort which would show
to Rome’s neighbours that she was still the same power that
had celebrated so many triumphs over rivals and enemies.
The Empire bore very well the military test of the dangerous
and bloody wars of this reign. The soldiers displayed the same
splendid training and discipline as under Trajan and Hadrian ;
there was no lack of good generals and, in spite of the pest
and the revolt, Marcus would have ended the war by the
annexation of a large part of Germany but for his premature
death.^^
But if the army stood the test, not so the finances of the
Empire. The treasury was empty. Marcus objected to
the introduction of any new taxes : he preferred to dispose of
his valuables by a public sale, which lasted for two months.
And yet he could not avoid the imposition of new taxes. We
hear casually that, under the strain of a maritime invasion
by some German and Celtic tribes, he was forced to collect
a special tax in Asia Minor modelled on the precedents of
the Hellenistic period, and that he exacted from the richest
maritime cities of the Empire compulsory loans which some
of them were unable to pay without selling their landed
property.®® The Empire which he had inherited from his
adoptive father was evidently not in such a flourishing state
as one would have expected. Otherwise Marcus would not
at the very outset of his rule have renewed Hadrian’s
measure by abolishing debts (including probably arrears) to the
fis,cm and to the aerarium, and he would not have been faced
all through his reign with ever-renewed requests from the
cities for gifts or remission of taxes.®* When the soldiers
applied to him for an increase of pay after the great suc-
cesses in the Marcomanic war, he gave them the bitter but
resolute reply ; ‘ Anything that you receive over and above
your regular pay must be exacted from the blood of your
parents and relatives. Concerning the imperial power God
alone can decide.’ It seems as if the refusal might even have
imperilled the position of the courageous emperor, a ruler
supremely devoted to his duties and to the welfare of the
Empire which was entrusted to him by God. Such an answer
could not have been given by a man who did not fully realize
the critical position of the taxpayers all over the Empire.^®
VIII
Economic and Social Policy 327
Hand in hand with the steadily increasing demands of
the state for men and for money, discontent was growing and
assuming very dangerous forms throughout the provinces.
Spain again refused to send soldiers to the army, and the
emperor had to yield.^® Gaul and Spain were full of deserters,
who pillaged and robbed and became so numerous that
under Commodus a certain Maternus was able to start a regular
war against the government.^’ The numbers of those who
fled from the villages of Egypt to the swamps of the Delta
to escape the burden of levies, compulsory work, and taxes
became so large that the fugitives (who were called ^ovkoKol),
under the leadership of a priest, could challenge the imperial
government.^® We need not be surprised that under the
pressure of these circumstances Commodus, the son of M.
Aurelius, who inherited his father’s power but not his energy,
resolution, sense of duty, and influence over the soldiers,
decided in spite of the silent protest and the hot indignation
of the senate, which realized the fatal results of the step, to
abandon the military operations against the Germans and
end the war by a treaty which was branded by the senatorial
opposition with the epithet ‘ ignominious ’ . The answer of
Commodus was a new Terror, and the developments of
Domitian’s reign were repeated. Of these we shall speak in
the next chapter.
Despite the pressure of war, plague, poverty, and rebellion,
the rule of M. Aurelius showed the same features which had
characterized the government of his predecessors. He was
forced to resort to hard measures in times of emergency, and
these measures aroused an ever-growing discontent, but he
did his best to mitigate their effects and to come to the rescue
of the oppressed. One of the most interesting features of his
rule is the attention he paid to the position of slaves and
freedmen and the measures he took to make their life easier
and more human. For these the reader must be referred to
the special treatises on the subject.^
The survey we have given of the economic and social
policy of the emperors and of the economic situation of the
Empire in the second century shows how weak and unstable
were the foundations on which the apparent prosperity of the
state rested ; and the fact that every serious war brought the
whole fabric of the Empire to the verge of ruin proves that the
measures taken by the emperors to strengthen its foundations
328 Flavians and ^ntonines chap.
were fruitless or were at any rate powerless to neutralize
other factors which continuously undermined it. Certain
modern scholars have suggested that there was one funda-
mental cause of the gradual economic decay of the Empire
which was stronger than any efforts of man. Otto Seeck
considered it to be the gradual depopulation of the Empire,
J. Liebig and his followers the gradual exhaustion of the soil.®®
I see no reason whatever to accept these explanations.
As regards the first view, Seeck adduced some strong
arguments to prove that depopulation gradually increased
both in Greece and in Italy. It is true that the population of
both countries gradually dwindled; but are we justified in
generalizing and affirming that the same was true of the
other parts of the Empire ? We have of course no direct
evidence on the point, no statistics showing that the popu-
lation of the provinces was not in fact decreasing. But there
are some facts which make the theory highly improbable.
The case of Greece was exceptional. Greece was one of the
poorest parts of the whole ancient world, and as soon as she
ceased to be the purveyor of oil, wine, and manufactured
goods for the rest of the world she was bound to decay. In
Italy conditions were more or less similar. As every Roman
citizen had much better opportunities of earning a living in the
provinces, Italy was constantly being drained of her best men,
and the gaps were filled by slaves. When an abundant supply
of slaves ceased to be available, Italy began to decay in her
turn, for the process of emigration never stopped, as one land
after another was opened up for settlement.
In the other parts of the Empire the situation was different.
All through the first and the second century new lands in
East and West were won for Greco-Roman civilization ; lands
which formerly had been prairies and woods, swamps and
pastures, were transformed into fields and gardens ; and one
new city after another arose and enjoyed prosperity for
a while. In view of these facts we cannot seriously believe
in the theory of depopulation so far as concerns Egypt, Asia
Minor, and Syria in the South and South-east, Africa, Spain,
Britain, Germany, and Gaul in the South and West, and the
Danube lands in the North-east. The growth of a city like
Thamugadi (Timgad) in Africa which, as we can infer from the
study of its ruins, rapidly developed from a small military
colony, consisting of a few blocks and of no more than 2,000
yiii
Bjconomic and Social T^olicy 329
inhabitants; into a comparatively large city with a population
at least three times that size, was clearly due to a general
increase of the population of the district. Without this
assumption it is impossible to explain who were served by
the shops and bazaars of the town, and for whom the numerous
baths and the large theatre were built. Recent excavations
have uncovered the industrial quarters, all of them of a com-
paratively late date. They contain large shops, some of which
are real factories on a small scale. They lay around the
original city and belong to a time when the population both of
the city and of the adjacent country was steadily growing. As
Thamugadi was founded by Trajan, this increase was going
on all through the second and the third century and even later.
Many other cities in Africa and the other provinces had a
similar history. Not one of them was stationary : they all
grew continuously up to the fourth century at least.
Equally unconvincing is the theory of the exhaustion of
the soil. Here again the statement may be true for some parts
of Greece and Italy. The impoverishment of some districts
in Italy was due to foolish deforestation and to the neglect
of the drainage work which had been carried out in many parts
of the country at a time when they had a dense population
confined to a very restricted area. Those districts were
Latium, parts of Etruria, and some of the territories of the
Greek cities in South Italy. In all these areas the land is
not fertile and requires intensive labour and attention to yield
good harvests. It was natural that they should be the first
to be deserted when new and better lands were opened up :
little wonder if the Roman Campagna was soon abandoned to
pasture and viUas and became infested with malaria. Yet
in the better parts of Etruria the land was still rich and
attractive enough to be purchased at a high price by the
landlords of Rome. It is striking that, while Pliny often
complains of bad crops, he never speaks of the exhaustion of
the soil as a general condition. When Nerva proposed to give
land to landless proletarians, he was obliged to buy it, a fact
which shows — ^and the inference is confirmed by the alimentary
tables — that at the beginning of the second century there was
no waste, and therefore no exhausted, land in Italy apart from
some areas in the regions mentioned above. There can be no
question at all in regard to such lands as Campania or the
valley of the Po. One has only to read Herodian’s description
330 Flavians and fuintonims chap.
of the territory of Aquileia and to compare it with the actual
conditions to realize that ‘ the exhaustion of the soil ’ in Italy
in the second and third centuries is a generalization that
cannot be accepted.
Still less possible is it to speak of exhaustion of the soil in
the provinces. The only proof (apart from some evidence
of a later date) which is adduced in support of the theory
as applied to Africa, is the fact that in Hadrian’s laws some
parts of the imperial estates are mentioned as being left
uncultivated by the contracting farmers. It must be remem-
bered, however, that the prime object of the emperors in
Africa was to break up new lands, to reduce the area of
pasturage, and to increase that of fields and gardens. The
land which was not cultivated by the contractors was of
subsidiary importance. It is probable that they preferred
to have it as pasture land and hunting-grounds and that
this preference met with imperial disapproval. In any case
there is not the slightest indication here of a general ex-
haustion of the soil. We find no complaint of such exhaustion
in Africa ; what troubles the emperors is the existence of
too much virgin land and the shortage of labour and of rain,
which last necessitated large irrigation works. As late as the
fourth century the cultivated area of Africa Proconsularis was
exceedingly large, as is shown by official statistics.®^
If we exclude depopulation and exhaustion of the soil,
what were the causes of the economic instability of this huge
and civilized Empire, which possessed so many and so varied
natural resources and so large a population ? I think that
the gradual decay of the vital forces of the Empire may be
explained by two sets of phenomena, both of them connected
with one prominent feature in the life of the ancient state
in general — the supremacy of the interests of the state over
those of the population, an age-old idea and practice, which
had to a large extent undermined the prosperity of the Oriental
monarchies and of the Greek city-states and which was the
chief cause of the weakness of the Hellenistic monarchies,
the immediate predecessors of the Roman Empire. As soon
as this supremacy became decided and succeeded in sub-
ordinating the interests of individuals and of social groups,
it was bound to act as a depressing influence on the masses
and to cause them to lose all interest in their work. But the
pressure of the state on the people was never so heavily felt
VIII
Economic and Social Eolicy 33 ^
as under the Roman Empire. The acute consciousness of it
had become the most marked feature of social and economic
life as early as the second century a. d., and it steadily
increased thereafter.®^ In the Oriental monarchies the
supremacy of the state was based on religion, and was taken
for granted and regarded as sacred. In the Greek city-states
it was never fully developed and always met with strong
opposition from the most influential groups of the population.
In the Hellenistic monarchies it was less felt because it bore
mainly on the lower classes, which were used to it from time
immemorial and regarded it as a matter of necessity, as one
of the fundamental conditions of their life. Under the Roman
Empire fateful developments took place. Let us trace them
in outline.
As has been said, two sets of phenomena resulted from
and reflected the growth of the supremacy of the state. The
first is closely connected with the gradual urbanization of the
Empire. In the first chapter, and again in dealing with the
provinces of the East, we have shown how in Syria and in
Asia Minor during the Hellenistic period the Greek city-state
assumed the shape of a superstructure resting on a basis formed
by the masses who tilled the soil in the country and toiled as
workmen, both bond and free, in the towns. The Greek cities,
or rather the upper class in them, which consisted of Greeks
and Hellenized Orientals, became by degrees the rulers and
masters of a half-enslaved population of natives. The same
phenomenon mutatis mutandis recurred in Egypt. The Greek
and Hellenized residents in the land, though not organized
in city-states, nevertheless became masters of the rest of the
population. The natural development of this process was
arrested for a time by the Roman conquest. In the earlier
period of their domination the Romans did not promote the
further urbanization of Asia Minor and Syria, but acquiesced
in conditions as they were. When, however, during the period
of the civil wars and under Augustus and his successors, the
Roman league of Italian cities, owning certain domains outside
Italy, coalesced in course of time into a single state, both
the leaders in the civil wars and the Roman emperors involun-
tarily reverted to the Hellenistic practice of urbanization,
creating all over the Empire two types of men — those who
were civilized and therefore rulers, and those who were
barbarians and therefore subjects. For a time the ruling class
332 Flavians and ^ntonines chap.
was the Roman citizens; the rest were subjects, peregrini.
But in fact this distinction remained always purely theoretical,
especially in the East. The inhabitants of the Greek cities
may legally have been Greek and Hellenized peregrini, but
these peregrini remained socially and economically the ruling
class in the Eastern provinces.
As time went on, it was realized that the basis formed by
the Roman citizens of Italy and of the few Roman and Latin
colonies in the provinces was too weak to support the political
fabric of the Empire, and in particular the imperial power;
and the emperors embarked on a policy of developing city
life, which they pursued in both East and West with ever-
increasing energy. From the social and economic point of
view, this policy meant the gradual creation of new centres
of privileged residents, consisting of the richest and the most
civilized men — of those who were landowners and shopowners
and for whom the rest of the population had to work. The
new class was not only a source of fresh support for the
imperial power, but provided a supply of good administrative
officials for the Empire. Every new citizen of a new city was
an unpaid official of the state.
The process of urbanization has been described in the
preceding chapters, where we have shown that it produced
a division of the population of the Empire into two great
classes— the rulers and the ruled, the privileged bourgeoisie
and the working classes, the landowners and the peasants,
the shopowners and the slaves. The larger the number of
cities created, the deeper became the gulf between the two
classes. Every increase in the numbers of the privileged
class meant heavier work for the unprivileged. One section
of the city residents, the business men, was certainly not idle ;
by its energy and skill it contributed to the prosperity of the
Empire. But the main type of city resident came more and
more to be the man who lived on his income, which was
derived from landed property or from shops. The driving
force in economic life was now the middlemen, mostly slaves
and freedmen, who stood between the owners and the
labourers.
This division of the population into two classes, which
in time crystallized into something very like two castes,
was not felt as a serious evil so long as the Empire was under-
going expansion and there were constant accessions of
VIII Economic and Social Eolicy 333
territory in which urban life could be developed and the position
of rulers granted to the most energetic elements of the popula-
tion. In course of time, however, the process of expansion
came to an end : Hadrian was the last who profited by the
strenuous military activity of his predecessor. Cities con-
tinued to be founded, but after Hadrian very slowly. The
result was that those who were privileged remained privi-
leged, and those who were not had very little hope of mounting
higher on the social ladder. The existence of two castes, one
ever more oppressed, the other ever more idle and indulging
in the easy life of men of means, lay like an incubus on the
Empire and arrested economic progress. All the efforts of
the emperors to raise the lower classes into a working and
active middle class were futile. The imperial power rested on
the privileged classes, and the privileged classes were bound
in a very short time to sink into sloth. The creation of new
cities meant in truth the creation of new hives of drones.®*
Yet the vital problems of the life of a huge Empire had to be
faced. As soon as the Roman state refrained from aggression
and ceased to expand, it was attacked and obliged either to
resume an aggressive policy or to concentrate its efforts on
efficient defence. The administration of the vast Empire
required more and more attention, and the only method of
countering the selfish policy of the ruling classes was by the con-
stant development of imperial bureaucracy, which swallowed
up a large part of the state’s resources over and above
those which were absorbed by the ruling classes in the cities.
In times of emergency, when the regular taxation did not
cover the necessary expenditure, the state had no alternative
but to resort to the theory of its supremacy over the individual
and to translate that theory into practical forms. These had
been already worked out in the previous history of the ancient
state. Every member of an ancient community, whether
a monarchy or a city-state, was expected to sacrifice his
private interests to the interests of the community : hence
arose the system of ‘ liturgies’ or public burdens (XecrovpyCai),
which involved compulsory work and threw on the privileged
and wealthier classes responsibility for the poor.
The liturgical system of the ancient world was as old as
the state. The obligation of every subject to assist the state
with his labour and his means, and the responsibility of the
agents of the government for the proper fulfilment of their
334 Flavians and ^ntonines chap.
duties were the fundamental principles of the Oriental
monarchical system, and as such they were inherited by the
Hellenistic states. The responsibility of government agents was
not only personal, the official being subject to punishment, but
also material, the official paying from his pocket for losses caused
to the state by dishonesty or inefficiency . The Romans took
over these principles not only in Egypt, where they existed
in their purest form, but also in the other Oriental provinces.
In Egj'-pt they did not abolish a single obligation customarily
lying on the people. Compulsory work remained the chief
moving force of the economic system, and the government
never renounced its right to demand from the population in
cases of emergency, especially in war time, foodstuffs and
fodder for its soldiers and officers, in addition to normal taxes.
A very good and well-attested example is the so-called
angareiae. The term is of Persian or Aramaean origin, and
means the compulsory supply, by the population, of animals and
drivers as well as of ships for the transport of men and goods
which were being moved on behalf of the state. This institu-
tion was never abolished by the Romans. They tried to
regulate and to systematize it, but without success, for so
long as the practice existed, it was bound to produce evil
effects. Edict after edict was issued by the prefects, who
honestly endeavoured to stop the arbitrariness and the
oppression inherent in the system, and it is noteworthy that
one of the first measures of Germanicus in Egypt was the
publication of an ordinance dealing with the matter. But
the institution remained oppressive. The same must be said of
the supplementary deliveries of foodstuffs and other things
needed by the state, which were simple requisitions. They
might take the form of compulsory purchase, they might be
controlled by the higher officers, yet their nature made them
an intolerable burden.®*
Nor did the principle of the material responsibility of
officials disappear in Egypt under Roman rule. The officials
of the Ptolemies were mostly their personal, salaried agents.
In case of dishonesty they might be prosecuted and their
fortune confiscated, but their service was in principle a per-
sonal service for pay. Yet the idea of the obligation of
every one to serve the state, if required, even without re-
muneration never died out in Egypt, and it is possible that
the minor officials taken from the ranks of the natives never
VIII Economic and Social Eolicy 335
received a salary even in the Ptolemaic period. However
that may have been, the Romans, who at first maintained the
practice of the Ptolemies, gradually found it cheaper and more
convenient to reduce the number of salaried officials and to
increase the number of those who were required to give their
services to the state without remuneration, thus introducing
a sort of compulsory work for the higher and richer classes,
who were free from the menial forced labour of the lower classes.
How rapidly this system developed, concurrently with the
growth of the middle class in Egypt (of which we have spoken
in the preceding chapter), is shown by Oertel’s careful investi-
gation. In the first half of the second century A. d. the system
was already fully developed, and almost all official posts in
Egypt were ‘ liturgies ’ , that is to say, their holders were not
only not remunerated but were responsible for the efficiency
of their service. In the financial administration this meant
responsibility for loss suffered by the state. If a tax was not
paid and the payment could not be exacted from the taxpayer,
the official was forced to pay. If he was unable to do so, his
property was confiscated and sold. It is probable that this
system was connected with the development of tax-farming,
the tax-farmers having been gradually replaced by state
officials, who inherited their liability for the full amount of
the taxes payable by the people.®®
Such was the evolution of the liturgical system in Egypt.
Compulsory work and liability for loss suffered by the state
were its main principles. At a very early date we find both
principles applied to the other Hellenized provinces. As
regards compulsory work, the Romans took over the practice
from their predecessors all over the East and never dreamt
of abolishing it. On the contrary, they even transferred the
system to Greek lands and to the West. The Oriental practice
is illustrated, for instance, by the well-known Gospel story of
how Simon the Cyrenaean was pressed into service to carry
the cross of Christ on his way to Golgotha. The word used by
the Gospels for the act of coercion is angafeiiein : Simon was
subjected to an angareia. When we find the word angareia
used in juridical sources throughout the later Roman Empire
to denote the compulsory provision of cattle and drivers for
the transportation of state goods, it is perfectly clear that
not only the word but the institution it describes was an
inheritance and not an invention of the Romans.®®
336 Flavians and tAntonines chap.
Thus there is no doubt that throughout Asia Minor and Syria
the institution of compulsory work for the state was in vogue
long before the Romans. In the early period of their rule,
apart from the time of the civil wars, we do not hear very
much of its application. It is quite certain, however, that the
system persisted, especially in the matter of transport, and
was resorted to every time the Roman government had to
move large masses of men and goods over Italy and the pro-
vinces. It is no accident that one of the edicts of Claudius*
deals with the heavy burden of transportation imposed on
Italy and the provinces, and endeavours, in the same way
as the similar edicts of Egyptian governors, to regulate it and
to mitigate its evil influence on the prosperity of the Empire.
The edict shows that the Oriental institution was trans-
planted, probably as early as the times of the civil wars, both
to Greece and to the Western parts of the Empire, including
Italy. Pliny’s description of the travels of Domitian affords
a good illustration of what the system meant for the peaceful
population of the Empire ; and the scattered notices which
have been quoted in this chapter in connexion with the wars
and travels of Trajan and Hadrian show that even these
emperors had recourse to the same system in cases of emer-
gency. Other occasional allusions testify to the use of com-
pulsion and requisition for feeding the army and for providing
soldiers and officers with quarters and supplies.
In Asia Minor and Syria as well as in Greece and the West,
when most of these lands had been urbanized by the emperors,
the burden of compulsory work and of requisitions was
imposed not, as in Egypt, on individuals or groups of indi-
viduals like the professional guilds, but on the administrative
units of the Empire, the cities. The municipal magistrates
and the city councils were the responsible authorities and
had to distribute the burdens among the population of the
city territory. That meant that the actual bearers of them
were not the ruling classes but the tillers of the soil in the
country parts and the workmen in the cities, particularly
the former : the sordida munera were never performed by
the landowners and the shopowners. As in Russia under the
old regime, which presents the best modem parallel to
this side of ancient life, the privileged classes knew how to
escape such burdens and shift them on to the shoulders of
* Quoted in Chap III, note 2.
VIII Economic and Social ‘Policy 337
the peasants, even when, as in the case of road construction,
they fell not on individuals as such but on their landed
property. Generous people, of course, would sometimes
undertake the expense themselves, but such cases were
exceptional and, being rare, are occasionally mentioned in
inscriptions. What these additional burdens meant for the
population is easy to understand. The taxes, heavy as they
might be, were regular demands which could be anticipated
and reckoned with. But people never knew when a Roman
magistrate or a city official would come and demand men
and animals from the villages or take up his quarters in
their houses ; and the movements of large armies, or the
journeys of the emperors with their big staffs, were real
calamities. The cattle which were the main resource of the
peasants and in which were invested almost all their savings,
the fruit of long years of labour, were taken away, mal-
treated, underfed, and returned with their drivers, if returned
at all, at a time when they might be needed no more by the
owner.
The evil of this system was felt by the emperors : the
edict of Claudius and the corresponding documents of Egypt
have already been quoted. Transport was, of course, a
most vital matter and, so long as it was based on the system
of requisitions, it was bound to become a cancer in the
economic organization of the Empire. The emperors, how-
ever, never thought seriously of breaking with the Oriental
practice. For sea transport they had recourse to the existing
commercial fleet, and they treated the matter in business-like
fashion. The associations of merchants and shipowners,
or the individual members of these associations, worked for
the state on the same basis as they would have worked for
any other customer, according to special contracts. But, when
the services of the shipowners were required in larger measure,
as in time of war, the system of requisition and of compulsory
service was applied with the same ruthlessness as in the
matter of land transport. The fact that the emperors from
the time of Hadrian repeatedly granted important privileges
to the associations of merchants and shipowners shows that
such privileges were intended as a compensation for the
compulsory work which the associations were forced to
perform for the state.®’ No associations of the same kind
existed, however, for land transport. In Egypt, it is true,
23S4-2 Z
338 Flavians and ^aintonines chap.
special guilds of owners of draught animals were supposed
to work on behalf both of the state and of other customers.
Organizations of the same kind existed in some cities of the
Roman Empire. But these institutions never developed into
anything comparable even to the associations of sea merchants
and shipowners, not to speak of modem transport companies.
Thus, in Egypt as well as in the other provinces, land trans-
port was always based on compulsory service. One part
of the problem — the forwarding of state messages and the
conveyance of state officials, the cufsus puhlicus — was tackled
by Nerva and Hadrian and later by Antoninus Pius and
Septimius Severus. The idea was to take over the institution
and to organize it as a state service. Something may have
been achieved in the way of a further development of this
branch of administration on bureaucratic lines. But it seems
very doubtful whether a real state service, with masses of
men and animals solely and entirely employed for the purpose,
was ever organized. The basis of the system remained, as
it did for centuries in Russia, the compulsory service of
the population which lived near the roads ; and, even if
the cursus fublicus was managed by the state, the transmission
of goods and the provision of means of transport for the
armies were certainly based wholly on compulsory work.®®
This, however, is only one part of the picture. The idea
of liturgy was not alien to the organization of the city-state.
Its citizens, as is well known, were expected to assist the
state in critical times both with their material resources and
with their labour. Yet compulsory labour always remained
exceptional in the life of a city community, being resorted
to only in cases of emergency. More firmly established was the
custom of requiring from the richer citizens supplementary
contributions, under the name of liturgies, to meet vital needs
of the community — contributions towards the feeding of
the population in time of famine, compulsory loans for the
payment of war debts and the like, money for building ships or
for training the choruses for the games, and so on. In Hellen-
istic and Roman times there was a great development of
municipal life, and the more the leading role in civic life
became the privilege of the propertied classes, the more
they were expected to contribute out of their own pockets
towards the needs of the cities. Gradually the difference
between and Xeirovpytat, corresponding to that between
VIII Economic and Social Eolicy 3 39
honores and munera in the West, disappeared, and every
magistrate of a city was expected to pay for the honour
conferred upon him, quite apart from undertaking real
liturgies, which by degrees assumed the form of regular
offices. The burden was heavy but, so long as it was not
excessive, it was borne by the richer classes willingly and with
a wonderful display of public spirit. As early, however, as
the end of the first century, even in the rich provinces of the
East, it became increasingly difficult to find men ready to
serve the city without remuneration and at the cost of
material sacrifices. In the West, for instance in Spain, from
the very moment when municipal life was being established
in the poorer parts of the country, measures were taken to
provide the necessary numbers of magistrates and members
of city councils by compulsion, if necessary.®®
The situation was aggravated by the part which the cities
had to play in the financial organization of the Empire. The
Republican system of farming out the direct taxes — -the land
and poll tax — to companies of tax-farmers {fublicam) was
very soon dropped by the emperors. The first to deal a heavy
blow to the system was Julius Caesar. Augustus and Tiberius
followed on the same path. Gradually the great companies
of tax-farmers in the provinces disappeared, as far as the direct
taxes were concerned. Their place was taken by the magis-
trates and the senates of the cities. The cities were glad to
get rid of the exactions of the 'puhlicani. They had had their
full measure of suffering in dealing with those sharks, and
they were therefore willing to help the state in collecting the
taxes of their districts. Whether from the very beginning
their co-operation implied responsibility for the full amount
of the taxes to be paid to the Treasury is unknown, but it is
highly probable, since the state must have had some guarantee
for its income and used to have such security in the companies
of tax-farmers. As the direct taxes were reasonable, the
responsibility for their collection did not bear heavily on the
city bourgeoisie. On the contrary, they may have derived
some small profit from it. The general assessment of the
taxes was always the function of the central government, but
it could not have been carried out without the help of the
cities, and here the big men may have had opportunities of
getting some reduction in the assessment of their property
Gradually, however, the responsibility of the municipal
340 Flavians and iAntonines chap.
capitalists was extended to other fields. The collection of
indirect taxes remained for a while in the hands of companies
of tax-farmers. But the emperors kept a watchful eye on
them. The imperial procurators were there to protect the
interests both of the Treasury and of the taxpayers. Their
rights in this respect, including even a certain amount of
jurisdiction, were steadily increased, especially under Claudius.
Nevertheless the collection of indirect taxes remained a weak
point in the financial administration of the Empire. The
constant complaints of the public seem to have been the
reason why Nero in a characteristic fit of benevolence con-
templated the abolition of the indirect taxes ; but they
were retained and the system of farming them out as
well. The only change — it was inaugurated probably by
Vespasian, whose father had himself been a tax-farmer, and
fully developed by Hadrian — was to eliminate the companies,
which in any case were dying out, and to replace them by rich
men holding a sort of intermediate position between tax-
farmers and procurators. The most important feature of
the position of these new tax-farmers, the conductores, was
their responsibility for the full collection of a given tax. As
the office in itself was not very remunerative and the respon-
sibility was very heavy, the state had more and more difficulty
in obtaining men to fill it, and it gradually began to resort to
compulsion and to regard tax-collection as a burden, a liturgy,
a munus. The practice was not entirely new, as it had been
already adopted by the Ptolemies, but it was never before
applied so consistently. I am inclined to think that it was
at the same time — ^that is, after Vespasian and especially under
Hadrian — ^that the system of leasing the large imperial
estates to farmers-general {conductores) took firm root, inas-
much as these farmers were regarded chiefly as agents who
collected the rent (including the land tax) of the small tenants
on behalf of the emperor.
)The responsibility of individuals for the collection of taxes
and, as in the case of the contractors of the imperial estates,
for the performance of compulsory work by the small tenants
was a new feature in the relations between the state and the
bourgeoisie. Its introduction may have been suggested by
the experience of the emperors in Egypt, where the principle
of the personal responsibility of the well-to-do for those who
were economically weak had prevailed from the most ancient
VIII
Economic and Social Eolicy 341
times, and had been applied to a certain extent by the em-
perors from the outset of their domination there. By degrees
the practice was extended to the relations between the state
and the cities. Abotit the development of this new type of
relations very little is known. In the third century and later
the new principle is dominant. It is no longer the magistrates
and the council of the city who are collectively responsible
for the collection of the taxes, for the supplementary pay-
ments, and for the performance of compulsory work by the
population. Individual wealthy, or supposedly wealthy, men
now bear the responsibility, and are liable for the payment
of arrears on pain of losing their property, which might
either be confiscated by the state or voluntarily made over
in part or in whole. In the cities of the West it is apparently
a group of senators, the ‘ first ten ’ , decemprimi, who are
primarily responsible for the collection of the regular taxes,
while the responsibility for the supplementary taxation
{annona) and for the compulsory work falls upon men specially
appointed to bear it.^® All over the East abundant evidence
is supplied alike by the juridical sources and by many inscrip-
tions to prove that the responsibility for the collection of the
regular taxes rested on a special group of the wealthiest citizens,
the ‘ first ten ’ or SeKawpcoroi, who in some places were
replaced by the ‘ first twenty ’ , eiKoaranpcoToi,. They and the
curators of the cities or koytcrTai, as they were styled in the
East, whose office gradually became one of the regular muni-
cipal burdens, were the outstanding men and the greatest
sufferers in all the Eastern communities, including the newly
municipalized Egypt.* **
The origin of this institution is wrapped in obscurity.
The early evidence, which is scanty, shows that in some places,
both in West and in East, it was customary to give the title of
the ‘ first ten’ to the most prominent members of the city
council or of the citizen body in general. We know nothing
of the development of the institution in the West. In the
East, especially in Asia Minor, the title of SeKavparo^ begins
to appear in inscriptions of the early second century a. d.,
and it is used at first as a term denoting a liturgy of a modest
character, often coupled with the mention of KvpiaKal vir-qp^.-
ariai, an expression which means, not state services, but
imperial services performed within the city by a city magis-
* See the next chapter.
342 Flavians and tAntonines chap.
trate or Xetroupyo?, perhaps in connexion with the office of
heK0iTrp<»To<;. In some inscriptions the liturgy appears not as
an annual but as a quinquennial duty. In one, belonging
to the time of M. Aurelius, the duty is specified as that of
collecting a special tax imposed by the emperor in connexion
with the inroad of the Bastamai into Asia Minor. It looks
as if the ‘ first ten ’ were municipal leitomgoi who were obliged
to deal with requirements of the government, and origin-
ally to undertake the supervision of, and responsibility for,
certain extraordinary burdens imposed on the city. It appears
probable, too, that the establishment of the institution was con-
temporary with that of the city curators and was connected
with the difficult times during and after the wars of Trajan.
Later it gained in importance, and spread to other parts
of the East, the bearers of the title becoming the chief lei-
touYgoi of the city, with the duty and responsibility of collect-
ing the regular taxes on behalf of the government.^®
It would appear, then, that the transition from the
principle of collective responsibility to that of individual
liability was effected in the second century and was connected
with the general change of imperial policy towards the cities,
which was manifested, for example, in the creation of special
inspectors {cwatoves) of the cities and of special supervisors
of their invested capital (cwatom kalendarii). We have
noted that in the critical times of Trajan, and again under
M. Aurelius, the cities were imable to fulfil their duties to
the state. They asked repeatedly for the cancellation of
arrears and for a reduction of taxes. In granting the re-
missions and reductions, both Hadrian and M. Aurelius tried
to effect a permanent improvement in the position of the
cities. The method which they adopted took the form of
a sharp control of the management of financial afiairs
and a gradual introduction of the principle of personal
liability. In the third century these innovations were legally
established and became the financial foundation of the
economic policy of the Empire.
The method of improving the financial management of
the Empire which its rulers adopted proved fatal. With one
hand they endeavoured to create a healthy middle class and
establish new centres of civilized life, and with the other they
destroyed their own work by retaining the baneful system of
compulsory labour, of requisitions, and of supplementary
VIII Rconomic and Social T^olicy 343
levies, and by giving to the principle of the liability of the rich
for the poor a practical application which undermined both
the spirit and the material welfare of the most energetic
elements in the Italian and provincial cities. As the regular
income of the state was not adequate to meet emergency
needs, the emperors, instead of prudently increasing the taxes,
which they disliked doing, resorted to far worse expedients
by attacking not income, as before, but capital. The result
was disastrous. As early as the time of Trajan there were in
Bithynia very few men willing to bear the heavy burden of
municipal service, and the same was true of Italy. The
explanation might be sought in the special part played both
by Italy, particularly the harbour of Aquileia, and by Bithynia
in the wars of Trajan. A little later, however, in the time
of Antoninus, the city of Tergeste, suffering under the burden
of liturgies, implored the emperor to extend the ius honorum
to the members of the attached tribes of the Garni and Catali,
and humbly thanked him for granting the request. It was
precisely in the second century, too, that some general
measures seem to have been introduced with the object of
making the public service more attractive, for example, the
institution of the Latium maius. In the time of M. Aurelius
the disease is so deeply rooted that a minor relief granted
by the emperors to the Western municipalities in respect of
gladiatorial shows provokes an almost hysterical expression
of thanks by a Roman senator of provincial origin : ‘ I move,
therefore,’ he says in his speech in the senate, ‘ that our
special thanks be expressed to the two emperors, who by
salutary remedies, disregarding the interests of the
have restored the shattered state of the cities and the fortunes
of the leading men, which trembled on the verge of utter
ruin.’
What the feelings of the lower classes were, we cannot tell.
But what has been said of the revolts during the reign of
M. Aurelius clearly shows that discontent was growing. Later,
when in the peculiar atmosphere of the third century the
petitioners became confident that they would obtain a hearing
directly from the emperors themselves, without the mediation
of city and state officials, they began to send to Rome a shower
of complaints about the unparalleled maltreatment to which
they were subjected. Of these complaints we shall speak in
the following chapters.
IX
THE MILITARY MONARCHY
The enlightened rule of the Antonines was based, as we
have seen on the support of the educated upper classes
throughout the Roman world, and its aim was to widen this
basis as much as possible by reinforcing these classes bv
raising the standards of life of the lower classes, and by
spreading city civilization all over the provinces. The results
far-reaching importance. The senate of Rome
which by Its constitution represented the cream of the
educated classes of the Empire, gained enormously in power.
Not in political power: administrative and legislative
functions were concentrated in the hands of the emperors
and they never thought of sharing it with the senate. But its
moral power, the prestige which it had in the eyes of the
everj^here, constantly grew; it rested on
the fact that the senate was the true representative of their
aspirations and that its conduct was in harmony with those
aspirations. _ Any one who reads the correspondence of Pliny
wSr??bf the standard of requirements to
mltbnri+^r rff +E o^der to maintain the
authonty of the body. Nor can we deny that a large portion
of the sena^ satisfied these requirements, and that it was in
towa”rtL Spk™'
M Aurelius, Commodus assumed
^Ki ? senate was far from
favourable to the new emperor. In making his son his partner
in power and m leaving him as his successor, Marcus broke
wi^ &ml°v ” T^’ ^ century of observance,
was firmly rooted. Every one knew that Commodus became
the successor of Marcus, not because he was the best fitted
was^'le class, but becau^ he
Cassim to explains the haste of Avidius
tassius to^ seize the throne as soon as he heard the rumour
of Marcus death, which turned out to be false. As long.
IX 'The ^dilitary ^Monarchy 345
however, as Marcus lived, his personal authority was too
high to permit of any opposition to him. Commodus had not
his father’s authority, and his first acts aroused the indigna-
tion of the senate. The hasty conclusion of peace— against the
opinion of the best generals of the day and the definite plans
of his father, in the midst of military operations which had
not achieved lasting results — his readiness to purchase an
ignominious peace if necessary, his splendid triumph after
such a peace, his lavish gifts to the soldiers when the finances
of the Empire were in a critical state, his life of pleasure and
amusement before, during, and after the triumph, were not
calculated to establish good relations between the emperor
and the senate.^
We refrain from relating once more all the events of
Commodus’ reign. The fact was that he had not the slightest
desire to find a modus vivendi with the senate. At once he
became violent, and instituted a regime of favourites. The
reply of the senate was a conspiracy against his life. Its
failure opened the period of terror which marked the follow-
ing years of his rule. Like Domitian, Commodus began a
resolute war against the senate. In doing so, he was bound
to look for support elsewhere, and he naturally turned to the
soldiers of the praetorian guard and the provincial armies.
The struggle for the support of the praetorians is best illus-
trated by the repeated executions and dismissals of their
commanding ofl&cers, which gradually took the form of a veri-
table danse macabre — Patemus, Perennis, a long series of
prefects between Perennis and Cleander, Clean der himself,
Julianus, Regillus, Laetus, of whom all but the last fell
victims to the emperor’s suspicious mood. To secure the
allegiance of the praetorians and of the provincial armies, he re-
peatedly gave congiaria and raised the pay of the soldiers
at the end of his reign without any apparent necessity.® The
natural result of the terror was a series of conspiracies, which
further aggravated the situation. How far the grave dis-
turbances in Spain, Gaul, and Africa may be ascribed to
political propaganda, is uncertain. It is more probable that
they were due to the general exhaustion of the provinces,
to the pressure of taxation and of conscription, and to
Gie slackening of discipline among the soldiers and the
imperial officers alike.® There is some reason to suppose that
the disturbances in Africa were connected with abnormal
DESCRIPTION OF PLATE LIII
1. PORTRAIT OF THE EMPEROR SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS
a in the Aslimolean Miiseuiii).
2. Portraits of the Emperors of the dynasty of the Severi, and of the
ladies of their court.
^1. AUREUS OF SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS. Obv. sever¥S pivs
AVG{ ustus). Bust of Severus to r. with laurel crown. Rev,
RESTITVTOR VRBis. Goddess Roma to 1. Coheia: fv o, 6^*
Mo. 605. '
b. DOUBLE AUREUS OF CARACALLA. Obv. antoninvs pivs
AVG. GERM, Bust of Caracaiia to r. wth radiate crown. Rev.
p. M. TR. p. xviiii cos. iiii p. p. Jupiter seated to 1. with
sceptre. Victory, and eagle. Cohen, iv, p. 180, No. 341.
c. AUREUS OF ELAGABALUS. Obv. imp. antoxixvs pivs
AVG. Bust of Elagabai to r. with laurel crown. Rev. p. m. tr.
p. V. cos. iin p. p. Elagabai in a gti&dfig£i to I. Cohen iv
p. 344, No. 217. ,
<f. ^i7RE?7S OF ALEXANDER SEVERUS. Obv. imp. cfaesai)
M(arcus) AVR(elius) SEv(erus} ALEXANr>(er) AVG(ustus). .Bust
ot Alexander Severus to r. with laurel crown. Rev p m tr
p, VI cos. II P. P. Mars to r. helmeted, with trophy and spear!
Cp. Cohen, iv, p. 434, No. 331. " ^
PORTION OF THE FRIEZE OF THE ARCH OF SEVERUS
IX The Ddilitary ^donarchy 347
conditions in Egypt, which resulted in the danger of Rome's
being deprived of regular corn-supplies and in a correspondingly
heavier pressure on Africa to make up the deficit ; the story
of Oleander and the fraefectus annonae Papirius Dionysius is
a good illustration of the uncertainty of supplies. It should be
noted that at the end of his reign Commodus organized the
African corn-fleet on the model of the Alexandrian, which
involved a considerable amount of state-control.^
A strong propaganda, however, certainly developed against
the emperor not merely in the capital but also in the larger cities
of the provinces. The watchwords were the same as in the time
of the Flavians. The tyranny of Commodus was contrasted
with the kingship of his father, and Commodus was branded
as the typical tyrant, the degenerate offspring of great an-
cestors. There are some indications that the philosophers
once more took a lively part in this propaganda ; after the
death of Commodus one of them was brutally killed by the
praetorians. In Alexandria the opponents of Commodus
resorted again to the political pamphlets of which we spoke
in a previous chapter.* Some disturbances may have occurred
in Alexandria, and some Alexandrian nobles were again tried
in Rome before the emperor. It is possible that the disturb-
ances were connected with the terror which raged alike in the
capital and in the provinces, and perhaps with the extermina-
tion of the descendants of Avidius Cassius. The alleged
account of this trial is fuller of the usual Cynic themes than any
other. The dominant note is ‘ Commodus the tyrant ’ and
‘ Marcus the philosopher and king ’ . The senate appears as
the legitimate judge in criminal affairs, and its justice is
contrasted with the arbitrariness of Commodus.®
In his fight against the opposition Commodus, as has been
said, relied on the soldiers and particularly on the praetorians.
On the other hand, he endeavoured to emphasize the sacred
character of his power. The god of his predilection was
Hercules, the great exemplar of toil and pain undergone for
the sake of mankind, the great fighter and the great sufferer
of the Stoics and Cynics. The connexion of the cult of
Hercules with the enlightened monarchy was not new : all
the Antonines paid the god special reverence. There is no
question that Commodus chose Hercules as his guardian deity,
not because of his predilection for the profession of a gladiator,
* See Chap. IV, note 31.
348 T^he Jdiiitary Ddonarchy chap.
but because of the connexion of the god with his predecessors,
and because Hercules was the divine embodiment of the chief
ideas of the enlightened monarchy. So long as the bitter
fight against his enemies did not obscure the emperor’s mind,
Hercules was prominent and became gradually the chief
object of his devotion, his protector, companion, and guide.
As soon, however, as he lost his balance, he insisted that he
himself was an incarnation of the god and that, therefore,
any opposition to him was sacrilege. It is needless to repeat
all the familiar facts about this attitude, but one point must be
emphasized, that they aU belong to his very last years and that
his identification of himself with Hercules was, in the main, an
expression of the same tendency to consecrate the imperial
power as had been shown by Caligula, Nero, and Domitian.
It is also worthy of note that the cult of Hercules was made
prominent in the religion of the Roman army, and that there
it was coupled with the cult of the native gods of the province
concerned, a concession which was probably first made to the
provincial armies by Commodus. We must remember that the
provincial armies now consisted almost entirely of men raised
in the provinces where the armies were stationed, men be-
longing mostly to the class of the peasants, who always
adhered to their local religion.®
Apart from the struggle with the senate and the well-
marked tendency to find support among the soldiers in this
struggle, we know very little of the policy of the emperor.
For the provinces peace, though disturbed by local revolts,
was naturally a blessing; but how much he did for the pro-
vinces is unknown. It is noteworthy that in his attitude
towards the lower classes he followed the policy of Hadrian,
and that these classes looked upon him as their protector and
benefactor. At any rate, the peasants of the imperial estates
of Africa, overburdened with compulsory work and carrying
on a long and persistent campaign against the farmers-general,
were of that opinion when in their struggle they addressed
bitter complaints to the emperor personally. One of these
complaints is almost completely preserved, of another we
have only a fragment. In the former the story of the struggle
was told from the very beginning. The earliest attempt of the
tenants of the saltus Burunitanus to get a hearing from the
emperor miscarried ; their first letter to him, which was full
of bitter denunciations, was sent perhaps in the time of M,
IX
The ^Military Monarchy 349
Aurelius, since the date of our document is a. d. 183-185. This
first attempt was probably followed by a strike, and the strike
provoked ruthless reprisals in the shape of a punitive expe-
dition. The second attempt was more fortunate. The success
of the tenants was due probably to the personality of the man
whom they chose as their plenipotentiary, Lurius Lucullus.
His name shows that he was a Roman citizen ; his interest in
the tenants of the saltus indicates that he was himself one
of them. The fact that Lucullus received an imperial rescript
in answer to his petition attests his personal influence with the
emperor. I am fairly confident that Lurius Lucullus was
a soldier, probably one of the soldiers stationed in Rome, not
a praetorian (as he was of provincial origin) but an eques
singular is or perhaps a frumentarius. We know how im-
portant and influential the frumentarii, the military secret
police, were under Commodus.’ The tone of the petition is
significant of the mood of the lower classes. They have con-
fidence in the emperor, but they are full of hatred against their
oppressors, the farmers-general and the procurators. They
say : ‘ Help us ; we are rustic folk, poor people who scarcely
earn our living by heavy manual work, and so before your pro-
curators we cannot cope with the farmer-general, who enjoys
great favour with them, thanks to large bribes, and is well
known to them by long j^'ears of tenure and by the conditions
of his position ; take pity on us, therefore, and deign to order
by your sacred rescript,’ &c. In the fragment, which may
belong to the same petition (the first letter), the tenants
threaten a strike, a real Egyptian dmxw/>i?o-ts- They say :
‘ We will flee to some place where we may live as free men.’
This fighting temper is a striking feature. They appeal to
the protection of the Lex Hadriana, they insist upon their
rights. It is probable that those rights were violated under the
pressure of government exactions. The strike of the tenants
of the saltus Burunitanus was repressed by military force,
and was not a small affair. A dozen such local strikes might
be regarded as a real revolt, and they would take real fighting
to suppress. I imagine that the rebellion of Maternus in Gaul
and Spain was of a similar nature, and I am inclined to think
also that the seditiones repressed by Pertinax in Africa were
connected with outbursts of discontent such as that to which
the inscriptions of the saltus Burunitanus bear witness. No
less interesting is the attitude of Commodus. He gives a direct
350 The 3dilitary 3donarchy chap.
reply to the petition. He does not ask for supplementary
evidence, he does not refer the case to the local authorities.
He decides the little affair himself, and decides it in favour of
the plaintiffs.*
The fall of Commodus was not an accident. The repeated
conspiracies show that the leading classes had definitely decided
to get rid of him. In this endeavour they were supported
by the provincial armies. Commodus committed the same
mistake as Nero had made. He relied too much on the
praetorian guard and the police corps of the capital, and
neglected personal relations with the provincial armies, which
were left in the hands of their commanders, most of them
good generals who successfully fought the enemies of the
Empire, the Sarmatians, the Britons, and the Moors. The
repeated doles and other favours bestowed on the garrison of
the capital offended the provincial armies and aroused their
jealousy ; as in the time of Nero, they were ready to listen
to their actual commanders and to absorb the propaganda
against Commodus. The first military revolt, of which very
little is known, occurred in Britain. It was not easy for the
emperor to quell it. Commodus was aware of the danger
which threatened him, but whether because of his love for
the dissipated life of the capital or because he was afraid of
leaving Rome to itself, hemade no effort to restore his authority
by personal visits to the armies at the front. He preferred to
grant some privileges to the soldiers, and even resorted in
the last instance to a general increase of their pay. It was
all in vain. The rumours about his dissipated life, his igno-
minious behaviour, and his liking for charioteers and gladia-
tors, which were spread by the efforts of the officers, made it
possible for the commanders of the most important armies,
those of Britain, Pannonia, and Syria, to prepare the troops
to take part in a military pronunciamento. We do not know
whether there existed a real conspiracy of the military leaders
in conjunction with their respective supporters at Rome and
with their officers and colleagues, but it is certain that the
army was ready for a military revolution. Its outbreak was
hastened by events in Rome. By mere chance one of the
many court conspiracies, in which the soldiery of the capital
took no part, proved successful and the conspirators succeeded
in killing the emperor. To satisfy the praetorians, the suc-
cessor of Commodus was appointed not in the provinces but
IX The ^dllitary Monarchy 3 51
in Rome, in the person of the stem general and influential
member of the senate, P. Helvius Pertinax. His reign was
short. He was not the candidate of the praetorians and they
got rid of him as soon as possible. As they had no candidate
of their own, they took the next best, the man who made
the highest bid for their support, Didius Julianus. The
shameful auction aroused a storm of indignation in the pro-
vincial armies, and one after another they proclaimed their
leaders emperors : L. Septimius Severus in Pannonia, C.
Pescennius Niger in Syria, D. Clodius Albinus in Britain.
It would be out of place here to tell the full story of the
contest for the imperial power which followed the murder of
Pertinax and<i»the accession of Didius Julianus, but we may
emphasize the fact that it was a longer and more bitter
struggle than that which followed the death of Nero. It had
a political complexion, each army endeavouring to advance
its leader to the imperial throne. No separatist tendencies are
noticeable. But in fact the three armies recruited in the three
main portions of the Empire, the Celto-Roman army of
Albinus, the Illyrian and Thracian army of Sevems, and
the Asiatic (Syrian and Arabian) and Egyptian army of Niger
had each of them its special character and its special aspira-
tions, and the bitterness of the struggle reflected this diversity
and foreshadowed the later division of the Empire into its
Celto-German, Slavonic, and Oriental parts. Another im-
portant feature of the wars of succession was the hopeless
weakness of Italy. The praetorians who fought so valiantly
for Otho were no longer able or willing to fight for their own
candidate, whoever he might be. They yielded to the pro-
vincial soldiers and asked for mercy. Furthermore, a note-
worthy peculiarity of the wars after Commodus’ death is
the fact that they affected not only Italy but the whole
Empire and ruined its most prosperous areas, Gaul and
Asia Minor, economically the most flourishing and the most
progressive provinces. And, finally, it was no accident that
the victors were the free peasants of Germany, Thrace, and
Illyria, the inhabitants of the most recent Roman provinces.
They proved themselves stronger and better supporters of
their general than the tenants of Gaul or the serfs and
peasants of Asia and Egypt.®
The rule of Septimius Severus, of his Oriental wife, and
of his half-Oriental children is of high importance in the
352 Military 3Ionarchy chap.
history of the Roman Empire. About its character and
historical significance two divergent views are held. The most
eminent scholars affirm that Septimius Severus was the first
to break with the traditions and the policy of the Antonines
and to start on the path of thoroughly barbarizing the Roman
Empire. Others are inclined to think that Septimius Severus
was ‘ a patriotic but broad-minded ruler, intent on extending
the culture and material advantages of Italy and the older
provinces to those on the frontiers of the Empire’. There
appears to be an element of truth in both views. The rule
of Septimius Severus and of his immediate successors was
at once the last link in the chain of development begun by the
Antonines and the first in that of the new devetepment which
ended, after the terrible experiences of the second half of the
third century, in a complete remodelling of the Roman state
on Oriental patterns. Let us consider the facts.^“
Septimius Severus was a military usurper. He received
his power from the soldiers and retained it as long as the
soldiers were willing to support him. He forced himself
upon the senate, and the recognition and legalization of his
power was voted by the senate under military pressure. In
this respect his position was much more precarious than that
of Commodus, the son and legitimate heir of M. Aurelius.
Hence his endeavours to purchase the allegiance of the senate
and — after he became conscious that he was much less popular
with it than his rivals Pescennius and Albinus, and succeeded
in. crushing them one after the other — the savage regime of
terrorism which followed his victories and ended in the
extermination of the most prominent senators. From the
very outset he was well aware that his dynastic policy, his
firm decision to transmit his power to his children, could not
fail to arouse protests and opposition in the senate, since it
was an open break with the traditions of the Antonines,
a break of the same kind as had made that body fighb
Commodus, the last Antonine, with all the means at its disposal.
So long as Septimius pretended an intention to maintain the
system of adoption, that is to say, so long as he recognized
Albinus as his associate, the senate did not show its hand.
But as soon as, after the defeat of Pescennius, Septimius broke
off his relations with Albinus and declared his son Caracalla
co-regent, open war with the senate began and was carried
On until senatorial opposition had been definitely crushed.
IX ‘The {Military {Monarchy 353
The well-known fact that the terrorism of the victor was not
confined to Rome and Italy but was extended on a large scale
to the provinces, especially those of the East and Gaul, where
the provincial aristocracy had supported his rivals, cannot
be explained merely by his financial difficulties. He knew
that the provincial aristocracy, which dwelt in the largest
and richest cities of the Empire, shared in the devotion to
the Antonine dynasty and would not accept without protest
a new rule based on the negation of the principles that guided
the policy of the enlightened monarchy, and he endeavoured
to silence this opposition as he had silenced it in Rome and
in Italy.^’^
With the senate and a large part of the provincial aris-
tocracy against him, Septimius was forced to make one
concession after another to the army. I am not alluding to
his gifts and bribes to the soldiers of the provincial armies
during the struggle against his rivals, nor to the disbandment
of the praetorian guard, the introduction of a new system
of recruiting that guard, and the quartering of a legion in the
neighbourhood of Rome. These were measures of safety
dictated, not by military considerations — not by the desire
to have an army ready to hand to lead against enemies on
the borders of the Empire — but by the necessity of having
more than one corps of reliable troops in Italy to support his
power and even to fight each other if necessary. The 'AX^dvioi
were there to check the praetorians ; the fmmentarii, the
equites singular es, and the urban cohorts were so many strong
military units unconnected with each other, which might be
useful in case the praetorian guard or the Alban legion should
attempt again to impose their will on the emperor or to depose
him. The important concessions made by Septimius to the
army were the more lasting military reforms which he intro-
duced. It is an exaggeration to speak of his having thoroughly
barbarized the corps of officers : the officers still belonged
as a rule to the ranks of the senatorial and municipal aris-
tocracy of the Empire. But it is clear that the ranks of this
aristocracy were filled more and more with the Mte of the
common soldiers, the non-commissioned officers, all of whom
(as well as their descendants) were now members of the
equestrian class. By giving the privilege of the gold ring to
private soldiers Septimius emphasized the fact that every
soldier, if brave and loyal to the emperor, might by promotion
2354-2 A a
354 The Military Monarchy chap.
to the centurionate become a member of the privileged classes.
The militarization of the upper classes did not, indeed, mean
their immediate barbarization. The centurions were more or
less Romanized as the result of their service in the army,
although if we take into account the composition of the army at
the end of the second century (of which we spoke in the fourth
chapter), we may safely say that the Romanization of most
of them was very slight. Another measure of the same
character was the militarization of the administration by
widening the sphere of office open to knights and enlarging
the activities of equestrian officials. Such facts as the appoint-
ment of a knight as governor of Mesopotamia, the appointment
of knights as commanders of the Parthian legions at Albano
and in Mesopotamia, the increased importance of the prefect
of the praetorians, the practice of temporarily replacing pro-
consuls in senatorial provinces by procurators, and the role
which the knights now played among the comites AugusH, dll
show that Septimius intended gradually to open to the common
soldiers the highest posts in the imperial administration.
On the other hand, the increase of the soldiers’ pay, the
privileges given to the veterans (exemption from municipal
liturgies), the protection of club life in the fortresses, and
(not least important) the legal recognition of marriages con-
tracted by soldiers, which resulted in a gradual migration of
the married soldiers from the barracks to the canabae, were
serious concessions which were bound to undermine the
military spirit and to create an influential military caste
within the Empire. It is evident that such concessions were
granted under the pressure of necessity. We have only to
bear in mind the many military revolts, especially at the very
beginning of his reign, to appreciate how difficult it was for
Septimius to consolidate his influence with the soldiers. Facts
like the pitiful failure of all the attempts to capture Hatra in
the second Parthian expedition, which was due to the lack of
discipline among the soldiers of the European legions, prove
that the policy of Septimius did actually undermine discipline
and was adopted not from choice but from necessity. His
last words addressed to his sons, ‘ Be united, enrich the
soldiers, and scorn the rest,’ if not genuine — though there
seems to be no reason why they should not be — were in full
conformity with his general policy. Beyond doubt Septimius
was the first to base his power firmly and permanently on the
IX T‘he Military 355
army. Though many of his predecessors in the first century,
and particularly Domitian, did the same, nevertheless, after
the rule of the Antonines and after the practical elimination
of any influence of the senate on the administration of the
Empire, the militaristic policy of Septimius was a new phe-
nomenon. What he aimed at was not a military tyranny but
a hereditary military monarchy.^^
Yet it is idletospeakof Septimius as establishing an Oriental
military despotism. His military monarchy was not Oriental,
it was Roman in its very essence. The principate of Augustus
was completely militarized by Septimius, emphasis was laid
on the title imperator, chief of the Roman army, but the
emperor remained the chief magistrate of the Roman Empire,
and the army remained an army of Roman citizens. If the
Empire now comprised all the Roman provinces and if the
supremacy of the Italian stock, still maintained by Trajan
and not openly repudiated even by Hadrian, was gone for
ever, there was nothing radically new in that. It was a normal
development, inaugurated by the civil wars and gradually
worked out by one Roman emperor after another. Septimius
took decisive steps in democratizing and provincializing the
army and in giving a larger number of provincials access to
administrative posts, but in principle he pursued a policy which
had long ago been established by the rulers of the Empire.
There was nothing revolutionary in this policy. Its baneful
aspect was, not that he made the army democratic, but that
he militarized the principate ; and that was in fact a necessary
consequence of his usurpation of power and of his establishment
of a hereditary monarchy.
Septimius was, therefore, perfectly consistent in empha-
sizing his respect for the enlightened monarchy of the Anto-
nines. He wished to be recognized as the legitimate heir of
Commodus and he very soon ceased to pose as the avenger
of the senate’s nominee, Pertinax. When he proclaimed
himself the brother of Commodus, when he consecrated his
memory, when he forged an adoption of himself by M. Aure-
lius, he was perfectly well aware that these gross absurdities
could not deceive anybody. His object was to lay stress on
his allegiance to the last great emperor and on his willingness to
carry out his policy. Another reason was, of course, the
pressing need for a legitimization of his usurped position.
Legal sanction was extorted from the senate, but the imperial
356 The Dvlilitary S^onarchy chap.
power did not depend merely on a senatus considtum', it
rested primarily on the imperial cult, and now, after a century
of peaceful evolution, that cult was closely connected with
the name and the traditions of the Antonines. It is not
surprising that Septimius wished to appear as the son of the
sainted Marcus and with that object introduced his own image
into the municipal shrines and the legionary chapels, nor that
he allowed his sons to assume the name of Antoninus in order
that they should become the heirs not only of the name but
also of the reverence paid to the name. Never before, except
in the times of Caligula and of Domitian, was the imperial cult
more personal and more d5mastic. It was symptomatic that
on the crowns of the municipal flamines the busts of the
Capitoline triad were replaced by the busts of Septimius and
his two sons, the new Antonines.^
It must be recognized that in some respects the policy
of Septimius was in fact a genuine continuation of that of
Hadrian and of the Antonines. It is notorious that the legis-
lation of the Empire was never more humane than in the age
of the Severi. The great jurists of this time, Papinian, Ulpian,
and Paulus, were given a free hand to develop their favourite
humanitarian ideas of equal law for everybody and of the duty
of protecting human life in general and the weak and poor
in particular. On the eve of the great social revolution for
which the militarization of the Empire was preparing the
way, Roman law displayed for the last time its noblest and
most brilliant aspect. It is needless to dwell on this familiar
theme.^* It is manifest, however, that the liberal social
policy of Septimius was designed first and foremost to con-
solidate his own power and that of his dynasty. Like Corn-
modus, he determined to base his power on the classes from
which his soldiers were drawn : hence his liberal legislation
and his measures for the protection of the peasants and the
city proletariate against the ruling classes and the imperial
administration. It is to be noted that he restored the aliment a
which Commodus had abolished. In Africa he continued the
policy of the Flavians, of Trajan, and of Hadrian. It is no
freak of chance that the copy of the Lex Manciana which we
possess probably dates from the time of Septimius Severus,
and that the ara legis Hadrianae belongs to the same period.
Septimius apparently wished to increase the numbers of free
landowners on his estates, and he insisted on the strict
IX The {Military O^onarxh^ 357
adherence of the contractors and the procurators to the
provisions of his predecessors. After the persecutions of the
partisans of Pescennius in Egypt, which shattered the eco-
nomic prosperity of the land and led to an increase in the
number of those who fled from their villages, he published,
in connexion with the usual census, a special proclamation
calling upon the peasants to return to their fields and
villages. On this proclamation was based the edict of the
governor Subatianus Aquila. To these documents appeal is
made, for instance, by the peasants of the village of Sokno-
paiu Nesos in the Fayum, when they say in their petition
directed against certain rich men who took advantage of
their absence to occupy the land which they used to cultivate :
‘ Our lords, the most sacred and invincible emperors Severus
and Antoninus, during their stay in their own land of Egypt,
among many other benefactions, desired those who did not
reside in their own abodes to return to their homes, eradicating
compulsion and lawlessness.’
The same spirit of confidence in the emperor and the same
allegiance to him personally, as contrasted with his agents and
officials, was shown by the peasants of the imperial estates
in Asia Minor. We possess three or four petitions dating
from the time of Septimius, all recently found in Lydia. After
making complaints to the high officials, and suffering dis-
illusionment, the peasants appealed directly to the emperor,
using the most devoted and loyal language. In one of the
petitions their representative says : ‘ We beg of you, greatest
and most sacred of all emperors, that having regard to your
laws and those of your ancestors, and to your peace-making
justice to all, and hating those whom you and all your
ancestors on the throne have always hated, you will order &c.’
In another petition another group of peasants emphasize their
hereditary allegiance to their imperial masters, saying : ‘ We
shall be forced ... to become fugitives from the imperial estates
where we were bom and bred and where, remaining from the
times of our ancestors tillers of the soil, we keep our pledges
to the imperial ft sous.' Like the tenants of the salkis Bunmi-
tmms, the peasants of Mendechora presented their petition
to the emperor through their representative. It is a pity that
we do not know his name, but the fact that in later time such
petitions were regularly forwarded to the emperor by soldiers
makes it .possible that the peasants of Mendechora acted
358 The , ‘Military Monarchy chap.
through one of their number who happened to be a soldier
or an officer of the imperial army d®
Thus the policy of Septimius towards the humble was
a policy of protection and concessions. Towards the cities
his attitude was different. It is true that Septimius was not
hostile to the cities as such. For those which staunchly
supported him he showed both sympathy and understanding
of their needs, especially for those of his own native land of
Africa, for those of Syria, his wife’s home, and for those of
the Danube provinces, whence his soldiers were drawn. In
his reign the cities of all these countries flourished and pros-
pered. Many were promoted to a higher municipal dignity,
a large number were honoured by gifts and new buildings,
some received a colony of Roman veterans (Tyre in Phoenicia
and Samaria in Palestine). Naturally they glorified the
beneficent regime of the emperor and erected to him, to his
wife, and to his sons statues and triumphal arches one after
another. But it would not be just to generalize and say that
in regard to the cities Septimius fully maintained the policy
of his predecessors. We cannot forget the fate of Lyons in
Gaul and of Byzantium. The former never recovered from
the ruthless punishment meted out to it. Severe chastisement
was also inflicted on Antioch. Scores of cities were obliged
to pay enormous contributions, because they had been forced
to furnish money to Pescennius Niger. Of the confiscation of
the property of many members of the provincial aristocracy
we have already spoken.^’
More important than these temporary measures of re-
pression was the general policy of Septimius towards the
upper classes of the city population. In speaking of liturgies
in the preceding chapter, I laid stress on the fact that
Septimius was the first emperor who insisted upon the personal
responsibility of the municipal magistrates. He was also
the first who, with the help of his Jurists, developed the
oppressive system of liturgies into a permanent institution
legalized, regularized, and enforced by the state. The jurists
who did most to elaborate the system and the theory of the
munera were Papinian and Callistratus, the contemporaries
of Septimius, and Ulpian, the adviser of Alexander Severus.^®
The development is especially clear in the case of the deca-
g 'otia and eikosapfotia. The references to this burden in the
igest begin in the third century. Herennius Modestinus and
IX
The J^iUtary 31 on arc hy 359
Ulpian and later Arcadius Charisius and Hermogenian are
the first to record its transformation into one of the most
important municipal muner a, axid it is not till Caracalla’s
reign that the inscriptions of Asia Minor reflect the change.
Some time, too, in the third century the decaproty was
introduced into the new municipal life of Egypt ; about the
middle of the century it had become one of the most important
institutions in the financial life of the country.^*
It is certain also that more systematic pressure was
exercised by Septimius and his successors on the associations
and corporations which served the state. The fact that
Callistratus, in speaking of the organization of the munera in
municipal life, devotes so much attention to the corporations,
shows that Septimius, following the lead of his predecessors,
particularly Hadrian, M. Aurelius, and Commodus, minutely
regulated the relations between the corporations and the
cities. Specially important were the navicularii and the
merchants, and to them is devoted the largest part of the
excerpt from Callistratus which is preserved in the Digest.
It is significant of the position of these corporations that
Callistratus emphasizes the assistance of the merchants and
the service of the shipowners, and that he insists upon the
point that both are performing a munus publicum. That
explains his collection of all the earlier rules which had
regulated the activity of these corporations and his further
development of them.'^® In the preceding chapter it has been
pointed out that the special care of Septimius for the corpora-
tions of merchants and shipowners was probably dictated by
the constant complaints of these corporations, provoked by
the regular use which he made of them during the civil and
the Eastern wars. The navicularii of Arelate, who probably
transported men and supplies from Gaul to the East during
the second Parthian expedition and during the stay of
Septimius and Caracalla in the East, bitterly complained
in a petition of a.d. 201, a copy of which was found not very
long ago at Berytus, of the vexations and exactions to which
they were subjected in performing their service to the state.
It is likely that their insistent complaints, which were coupled
with threats of a strike, induced Septimius to revise and
complete, and even to extend, some of the privileges which
were granted to them. One of the most important was exemp-
tion from municipal burdens.®^
360 The d^ilitary J^onarchy chap.
Similar special privileges, and in particular that of exemp-
tion from the municipal liturgies, were granted to other groups
of men who belonged to the urban population of the Empire.
The most important was the group of men who farmed the
taxes and of men who farmed the imperial and public estates,
the latter of whom were treated by the imperial legislation
on the same lines as the former. There was no great difference,
from the point of view of the state, between these two sections
of the group, as both of them performed practically the same
public service by collecting in the name of the state payments
which were due to it. We have described in the preceding
chapter the important part which the tax-farmers played in
provincial life in the second and the early third century. The
farmers of the customs in the Danube provinces and in Africa
were prominent and influential men.^^ Still more influential
were the farmers of the imperial estates, particularly in such
provinces as Africa and Asia and especially in the reign of
Septimius, who confiscated enormous tracts of land from his
supposed enemies. These conductor es have been spoken of
in the seventh chapter. The earliest references to their
corporate organization date from the time of the Flavians and
of Trajan. Hadrian protected them and M. Aurelius extended
to them the privilege of freedom from the municipal liturgies.
All these privileges were maintained by Septimius Severus, as
is clear from their careful registration by Callistratus.®^
But, while helping in this way some members of the
privileged classes whose service was needed by the state,
or rather while endeavouring to ease somewhat the increasing
pressure of the burden which lay on their shoulders, Septimius
never forgot the interests of the humbler and poorer classes.
It is proMble that it was he who extended the privilege of
exemption from the municipal liturgies to the tenants of the
imperial estates. Very likely he was moved to do so by their
repeated complaints about the arbitrary way in which,
though not resident in the cities, they were forced by the
municipal magistrates and the imperial officers to share the
municipal burdens. In the petition of Aga Bey in Lydia
the peasants lay great stress on this point and threaten the
emperor with a mass strike in the form of an dvaxciprjo-Ls. In
accordance with his general policy, Septimius yielded to these
demands and freed the tenants from the burden of municipal
liturgies, while maintaining the claim of the state to demand
IX T^he D^ilitary 361
compulsory work and the discharge of other munera which
concerned it.^*
Another important group of the municipal population
which was exempted from municipal burdens, on the same
plea of serving the state in another capacity, consisted of the
corporations which ‘ performed manual work indispensable
for public-utility services’.* Such in particular were the
corporation of the fahri and centonarii, who performed the
duties of firemen in the cities. It is now clear that the views
expressed about these collegia by Callistratus in a well-known
passage reflected the ideas of Septimius, as a rescript of Septi-
mius and Caracalla was recently found at Solva in Pannonia
which contains the same regulations almost in the same words.
The main principle of Septimius’ policy in regard to the
centonarii and fabri is identical with that which guided him in
dealing with the merchants and shipowners. He grants to
the members of these corporations exemption from municipal
burdens, but he is anxious that none should enjoy the
privilege who do not actually perform the duties connected with
membership. The latter are the richer members. For them
there is no exemption, but the privilege is maintained in full
for the humbler, the tenuiores, who really help to extinguish
fires, and no limit is fixed to the number of such members.^®
It is evident that all these exemptions, while making the
burden a little easier for some and to a certain extent assisting
the poorer classes, added to the burden of those who were
now left to bear the municipal liturgies unaided. Some of the
richest men being thus exempt, the owners of land and shops,
belonging chiefly to the middle class, remained the sole
bearers of the liturgies. It was no wonder that they tried by
various ingenious devices to escape these burdens, which
undermined their economic prosperity. From this point of
view also the introduction of municipal life into Egypt must
be regarded. We know that in a . d . 199 a municipal council
was granted to Alexandria and it is reasonable to suppose
that the grant was gradually extended to the metropoleis of
the country. This meant that Egypt, the original home of
the system, was subjected to the same set of liturgies as the
rest of the Empire. For Egypt the change involved no
privilege, perhaps not even a new burden : the bourgeoisie of
Egypt was anyhow accustomed to bear responsibility for the
* Dig . 50. 6, 6, § 12.
362 The ^^iilitary JVlonarchy chap.
rest of the population. But it meant rearrangement and
systematization . Liturgies which heretofore had been imposed
on the bourgeoisie were now gradually classified, not without
some modifications, and piled as a whole on the shoulders of
the unhappy members of the new municipal councils.^® The
same motives explain the endeavours of Septimius to equalize
the burden upon the rural and the city population, the full
and the second-class citizens, in some cities of Asia Minor,
such as Prusias. The country population had henceforth to
bear its share not only of compulsory work, of taxes, and
of extraordinary payments, but also of the responsibility
which previously had rested on the full citizens only.“'^
The radical and ruthless measures of Septimius may be
attributed to the desperate state of the imperial finances
caused by the extravagances of Commodus and by the civil
war at the beginning of his reign, which was followed by
serious and expensive external wars. The reign of Septimius
was not a time of peace : out of eighteen years not more than
six were free from war. Certainly by his relentless measures
he accumulated in his own hands an enormous fortune,
especially landed property, which was organized as a new
department of administration, the ratio privata, and filled up
the empty treasury of the Roman state. But it is clear that
this was done chiefly to promote his own interests and to
satisfy his personal ambition. Money, acquired by confis-
cations and contributions, was spent lavishly in bribing the
soldiers and the Roman mob. The finances of the state were
restored, but at the expense of the people. There is not the
slightest ground for affirming that the Empire was happy
and prosperous under Septimius. The provinces — apart from
Africa, which was not aflected by the civil war to such an
extent as the rest of the Empire, the Danube provinces,
whence he drew his chief support, and Syria, which was under
the special protection of Julia Domna — as well as Italy w^ere
far from flourishing. During and after the civil war the
Empire was full of homeless people who were tracked and
persecuted by the emperor’s police agents, his frumentarii and
stationarii. Wandering about in desperation, they formed
bands of robbers and devastated the land. We hear that an
army of bandits under Bulla was the terror of Italy for years,
and that a military force was necessary to suppress him and
his partisans, while some other scattered notices seem to attest
IX The Jvltlitary ^Monarchy 363
similar conditions in Germany and Gaul and certain other
provinces.^®
The causes of the growth of robbery, particularly in those
provinces which had been affected by the civil war and lay
near to the theatres of external wars, are not far to seek.
Confiscations of landed property en masse convulsed economic
life to an extent which must not be underestimated. Private
capital and private initiative were thus removed from large
and flourishing concerns and were replaced by a new system
of management, bureaucratic and lifeless in the extreme.
Political persecutions on a large scale scared thousands of
people, both guilty and innocent, and forced them to flee from
their homes. The chief evil, however, was the enormous
number of government agents, mostly soldiers performing
the duties of policemen — the frumentarii, stationarii, and
colletiones— who in their pursuit of political ‘ criminals’
penetrated into all the cities and villages and searched private
houses, and who were, of course, accessible to bribes. Still
more serious were the exactions of these same agents in con-
nexion with the frequent military expeditions of the emperor.
In time of civil war no one cared a straw for the people. New
recruits were levied in masses and compulsorily; means of
transport and men were requisitioned for armies on the march ;
foodstuffs and war material also had to be supplied by the
people, and quarters provided in their homes for soldiers and
officers. The inscriptions mention many prominent men who
were in charge of the war chest, that is to say, whose function
it was to levy money contributions and war supplies from
cities and individuals. These men naturally could not perform
their duties without the aid of a mass of minor officials and
soldiers, who swooped down like a swarm of locusts on the
cities and villages, devouring their substance and scaring and
exasperating all classes of the population.®®
Another remarkable feature of the period was the large
number of military deserters. We have noted the same
phenomenon in the time of Commodus, when Septimius Severus
was sent to Gaul to suppress bands of such runaways. Evi-
dently the situation did not improve during the civil war.
That is clear from the collection of regulations on the subject
contained in the Digest. Most of these were collected and
illustrated by the jurists of the time of the Severi, especially
by Arrius Menander, a member of the council of Septimius
364 The hM Hit ary ^Monarchy chap.
and Caracalla— a fact which attests the wide extension of the
evil, which was a serious trouble to the Empire from the end
of the second century till the close of the third. It is clear (as
has been pointed out in the fourth chapter) that recruiting, par-
ticularly in time of war, was now almost wholly compulsory,
and this compulsory recruiting under the conditions of civil
war was regarded as a heavy burden by the inhabitants both
of the cities and of the villages. A Lydian inscription, which
is the earliest document attesting a compulsory levy, should
be dated in all probability to the time of one of theSeveri— it
may be Caracalla or Elagabalus or Alexander.®®
The relations of Septimius to the lower classes of the
Empire have been illustrated above by some newly discovered
petitions addressed by Lydian peasants to the emperor
personally. These men believed in the emperor’s good will
and sympathy, but they were full of hatred towards the minor
agents of the imperial powder, the colletiones, fnimentarii, and
stationarii. The burden and the tone of the complaints are
the same in all four documents. ‘ [These men],’ they say in
one petition, ‘ [appear in the villages] . . . doing no good but
squeezing the village by unbearable requisitions of goods and
by fines, so that, exhausted by the immense expenditure
for these visitors and for the multitude of colletiones, it has
been forced to give up even its public bath and has been
deprived of the necessary means of subsistence.’ The other
petitions deal with the lawlessness and brutality of the same
agents in arresting, imprisoning, and even killing prominent men
of the village who were unable or unwilling to bribe them.
If we take into consideration the severities of execution on
the person as prescribed by the law and widely applied,
especially when the humiliores, or unpropertied people, were
concerned, we may understand the sufferings and the feelings
of the peasants. In the best preserved of these petitions the
peasants of the village (the modern Aga Bey) say: 'As
suppliants of your divine and sublime royalty, most sacred
of all emperors, inasmuch as we are hindered from attending
to our agricultural toil by the threats of the colletiones and
their representatives to put us, who still remain unhampered,
in peril of our lives, and inasmuch as we are unable, owing to
the obstruction of our agricultural work, to do our duty in
the matter of imperial payments and other obligations in the
future, we beg you ’ &c.®^
IX The 3/ltUtary ^o?iarchy 3^5
We cannot, then, speak of the time of Septimius as a time
of peace and prosperity. There was no peace and conse-
quently no prosperity. The situation improved somewhat in
the last six years of the reign, and the improvement was
not impeded by the colonial war in Britain. The ageing
emperor lost his ferocious energy and found a modus vivendi
with the senate, which had been terrified by the savage
executions of his earlier years. The economic conditions
became slightly better and the population was glad to have
some rest at last. This feeling and the sympathy which
Septimius showed towards the soldiers and the lower orders
made him and his sons popular with the masses, exhausted
as they were by long years of civil and external war. But the
leading classes, the city aristocracy of Italy and the provinces,
were not reconciled to the new militaristic and autocratic
regime, and in the few years of peace which were granted to
them their opposition grew steadily stronger. Everybody
felt that the strife between the military monarchy and the
enlightened rule of the Antonines was not yet ended. The city
bourgeoisie was too powerful to resign its position and its
influence without a further effort. Caracalla, the eldest son
of Septimius, who grew up as the companion and associate of
his father, who was educated by him and by his mother to
share their views and aspirations, and who from childhood
spent his time among the members of the highest aristocracy
of Rome, thoroughly realized how unpopular his father’s ideas
and plans were with the cultured classes of the Empire. From
the very beginning of his rule he showed that he was fully
determined to pursue his father’s policy and to make no
concessions to the higher classes. The strife between him and
his brother Geta, which filled the first months of their joint
rule, afforded a good test of the loyalty of the senate and
its supporters. Though the senate knew very well that Geta
was of the same brand as his brother, most of the leading men
sided with him in the quarrel and displayed undisguised hos-
tility to Caracalla. The result was the treacherous murder
of Geta and the policy of terror alike in Rome and in the
provinces which revived the worst times of Septimius.®^
We have sufficient materials to form a fair judgement on
Caracalla’ s general policy. It is true that the detailed pictures
which have been given by Cassius Dio, a contemporary and an
influential member of the senatorial class, by Herodian,
DESCRIPTION OF PLATE LIV
I : FRAGMENTARY FUNERAL STELE. Found at Kostolatz (Moesia'
Superior). Museum of Belgrade. Inscription: ‘D(is) M(anibus) L. Biassius
Nigellio specula{tor) leg(ionis) VII Cl(audiae) vixit ann(is) XXV iii.
1650, cp. p. 1021 ; Dessau, L L. S., 2378. Bas-relief : my article in Rom,
Mitth., 26 (1911), pp. 268 if. Only the upper part of the stele is reproduced here.
The sculptured face of the stele represents a two-storeyed aedimla. The
pediment, adorned with a Medusa-head and two Genii with torches, is supported
by two columns which form the upper storey of the aedicula and are separated
from a lower storey, which contains the inscription, by a frieze depicting two
dogs hunting a hare and a bear. Inside the aedicula is seen a four-wheeled car
drawn by three horses, with a driver on the box, a traveller seated on a bench,
holding in his right hand a short staff or a roll, and behind him a servant seated
on the baggage, carr3dng a long spear with a peculiar head — the insigne of the
speculator. There is no doubt that the deceased is represented travelling in his
official capacity, and using a carriage and horses requisitioned by the govern-
ment for its postal service {cursus puhlicus). On the specidatores and their
insignia, see Ch. XI, note 17 ; on the type of funeral reliefs w^ith scenes of
travel, pL XXVI, 3.
2. A FUNERAL STELE. Found at Carnuntum. Museum of Deutsch
Altenbiu;g. Inscribed ‘ C. Attius C. f. Voturia Exoratus miles ieg(ioms) XV
Apo(lHnaris) anno(rum) XXXXIV stipend(iorum) XXIIII h(ic) s(itus) e(st).
M. Minicius et Sucesus l(iberti) posierunt \ E. Bormann in Oesterr. Limes,
xii, pp. 318 ff., figs. 37, 38 ; A. Schober, Die romischen Grabsteine von Noricum
tmd Panmnia, 1923, p. 50, No. 105, fig. 45. Cp. above, p. 226, with note 70.
A soldier in military dress but without arms, holding a short staff in his
right hand, leads a rustic cart dragged by a team of oxen and driven by a peasant
who holds an axe. A dog follows behind. As indicated in the text, the scene
represents an angareia performed by a peasant with his cart, probably for the
purpose of cutting wood in the forest. On the angareiae, see Ch. VIII, notes
34-6, and especially the text of Epictetus quoted in note 36. Cp. the bas-relief
of B, beneficiarius of Intercisa in Archaeologiai £rtesitd, 1905, p. 230, No. ii,
3. FRAGMENT OF A FUNERAL STELE. Found at Strasbourg (Argen-
torate). Museum of Strasbourg. R. Henning, Denkmdler der elsdssischen Alter-
tumssammlung, pi. L, 3, p. 53 ; Germania Romana (Atlas), ist ed., pi. XXXIV, 6 ;
E. Esperandieu, Rec. gen., vii, No. 5499. The fragmentary inscription is given
in CIL., xiii. 11630.
On a road planted with trees a soldier, with his sword under his arm, is
driving a four-wheeled cart drawn by two mules. The cart is loaded apparently
with foodstuffs. The relief represents the provisioning of a fort from the
neighbouring country by a soldier.
IX The o^ilitary Monarchy 367
another contemporary, who belonged to the group of intel-
lectuals of Greek origin and was probably an imperial official,
and by a historian of Roman origin who was the chief source
of the biography contained in the collection of Latin lives by
the so-called Scriptores Historiae Augustae, are not unbiased
and represent in the main the point of view of the higher
and cultured classes of the Empire, who were thoroughly
hostile to the emperor and regarded him as the worst tyrant
in the history of Rome.®® There is no doubt, however, that
neither Dio, nor Herodian, nor the unknown Roman senator
has invented the facts, and that they have well expressed the
current opinion which prevailed among the best informed
and the most intelligent inhabitants of the Empire. The
hostility of these men towards Caracalla is in itself a significant
fact, which must not be underestimated. The causes of this
hostility are fully explained by our sources.
In his policy Caracalla declared openly and frankly, more
frankly than his father, that he was determined to base his
power not on the higher classes — the city bourgeoisie and the
Italian aristocracy — but on the lower classes and their
representatives, the soldiers. It is notorious that he favoured
the soldiers and endeavoured to appear as one of them, to
say nothing of his increase of their pay and pensions and his
lavish donatives. This might be explained as a means of
buying their fidelity and support after the murder of Geta.
On the other hand, he openly showed his contempt of, and
hostility towards, the propertied and intellectual classes.
Dio is positive on this point, and his statement suits very
well Caracalla’ s notorious tendency to identify himself with
the humblest soldiers. Nor can we disbelieve in the genuine-
ness of one of his most favourite sayings, also recorded by
Dio : ‘ No one but myself ought to have money, and that in
order to give it to the soldiers.’ His conduct and his policy,
too, are in full accord jvith the attitude which this saying
expressed.®* .< j
To corrupt the soldiers, Caracalla needed enormous sums.
The stock of money accumulated by Septimius was soon
depleted. To fill his treasury, he was therefore obliged to
resort to extraordinary measures. The sources of his income
are fully enumerated by Dio. It was mostly derived from
a systematic draining of the wealth of the propertied classes.
The land tax and the poll tax— -the chief taxes paid by the
368 The 3 ifilitary ^Monarchy chap.
working classes— were not increased, but the crown tax {aumm
coronarium), an extraordinary supplementary income-tax,
which mainly affected the richer classes, was repeatedly de-
manded. The contributions in kind were a heavy burden.
Though everybody had to make such contributions, which were
used for the maintenance of the soldiers, the chief payers were
the large landowners who always had great quantities of food-
stuffs in store, while the peasants had practically no surplus.
Dio emphasizes the fact that for these contributions no money
was paid, and that the rich classes often bought the foodstuffs
which they were obliged to deliver. Finally, an abundant
source of income was the compulsory gifts extorted both from
rich individuals and from the cities, a heavy and arbitrary
capital levy very like pure robbery. The only regular taxes
which were increased (by being doubled) w^ere the tax on
inheritances and the tax on manumissions, which w'ere
always closely connected. It is evident that these taxes
were paid chiefly by the well-to-do classes.*®
The mutual hostility between Caracalla and the upper
classes in the cities is best shown by the terrible, though
mysterious, story of the murders perpetrated in Alexandria
before the emperor’s Parthian expedition. Without any
pretext Caracalla treacherously and secretly killed off the
young generation of Alexandrian citizens, and completed his
work of extermination by mass murders in the houses where
his soldiers and officers were quartered. Our sources give
no explanation of this violent act. One cannot, of course,
believe that he committed it because he was offended by gibes
hurled at him by the Alexandrians. I cannot help thinking
that the military preparations for his Parthian expedition
were carried out mostly at the expense of Egypt. Towards
the city of Antioch, for instance, Caracalla acted as a pro-
tector and benefactor, not as an executioner. Syria, the native
land of his mother, was spared and the whole burden was
imposed on Egypt. It is no wonder that Egypt, and expeci-
ally Alexandria, bitterly resented such treatment. It is very
likely, therefore, that Alexandria was far from friendly to
Caracalla ; it was probably at this time that the so-called
‘ Acts of Heathen Martyrs’ were collected into one pamphlet,
which was circulated all over Egypt. Caracalla was aware
of the situation and became alarmed. He was afraid that
during his absence in Parthia the country might revolt and
IX The ^Military ^Monarchy 369
cut off his supplies ; he may have believed in the existence
of a conspiracy in Alexandria ; and he acted accordingly,
displaying all his cowardice and vileness. Be that as it may,
the episode clearly reveals the real attitude of Caracalla
towards the city bourgeoisie and the readiness of the army to
support him in any cruel measure which he might take
against the cities.^®
I am convinced that it was the same spirit of hostility
towards the upper classes that produced the famous constitutio
Antoniniana of a.d. 212, by which Roman citizenship was
granted to all peregrini. The ordinance of Caracalla remains
a puzzle even after the discovery of some fragments of it in
Egypt, and it is very difficult to determine what its real
intention was. The original text of the measure, as discovered
in Egypt, apparently excludes the dediticii from the grant.
How many of the peregrini were styled dediticii in the time
of Caracalla? Were the free peasants of the villages (for
example, in Thrace and Syria) included in this class ? What
about the rural population of the city territories ? Were all
the tenants of the emperors dediticii or not ? So long as we
are reduced to mere guesswork on all these vital points, we
are practically helpless to decide what the historical impor-
tance of the constitutio is, and what purpose Caracalla endea-
voured to effect by publishing it at the very beginning of
his reign. If it really excluded from the grant all the rural
elements and concerned the cities only, if in the cities it
affected the full citizens (the honestiores) but not the lower
classes (the humiliores), it cannot be regarded as a great step
towards political equalization, towards levelling up the masses
of the population throughout the Empire. It becomes
a partial measure which enlarged the numbers of Roman
citizens in the cities,, and especially in the cities of the East.
Moreover, even if the grant was not limited to such small
numbers, but had a wider application, the fact that it was
individual and did not affect the legal standing of the city as
such, so that a ‘ peregrine ’ city remained what it had been
although all its citizens were now cives Romani, reduces the
importance of the measure to very small proportions. It
leads us to believe that, apart from its effect on taxation,
which Dio emphasizes, the act of Caracalla had two special
objects. By giving the Roman citizenship to the municipal
class and to the upper stratum of the village population
23S4.* B b
370 T" he Military [Monarchy chap.
(thereby effecting the ‘ a-vpoiKKrjios ’ of the rural and the city
population), as well as to some members of the lower classes,
Caracalla enlarged the numbers of those who were liable to
the city liturgies. Having now equal political rights,_the new
Roman citizens had no ground of escape from this heavy
burden. Furthermore, by the grant of Roman citizenship to
these former outcasts Caracalla intended to flatter them and
to win their allegiance. But his main aim was not so much
to raise the lower classes, as to degrade the upper, not only
in Rome and Italy but in the provinces, and thus to reduce
the pride and self-confidence of the ruling class in the cities,
the imperial and municipal aristocracy. Roman citizenship
was now such a common thing, such a cheap honour, that it
had lost all value and might be extended even to the dediticii
without any prejudice to anybody. In fact Caracalla’ s grant
did not help any one and had no real social or political impor-
tance. The burden of taxation and of liturgies remained the
same ; the gulf between the city residents and the peasants, as
well as between the city proletariate and the city middle
class, became deeper ; the new Roman citizens became subject
to the Roman law, which in this period of the development
of an all-imperial law did not mean very much ; and that
was all.
However small the practical importance of Caracalla’ s
measure may have been, from the historical point of view
the constitutio marks the end of one period and the beginning
of another. It symbolizes the death of the Roman state as
founded on the Senatus Populusque Romanus, which was
still the ideal of the enlightened monarchy. Everybody was
now a Roman citizen, and this meant in plain fact that
nobody was such any more. As soon as the Roman citizenship
became a mere word and a mere title, it lost every shred of
importance. To be a Roman citizen meant a good deal as
late as the times of Trajan an^ Hadrian. The Roman citizens,
even if no longer the masters and rulers of the world, still
formed the higher class of the urban population, an important
and influential group socially, if not legally and politically.
For Aristides, the Roman citizens were still the highest and
the best. Bestowed on all and sundry, Roman citizenship
was a mere name : it only meant that the bearer of the title
lived in one of the cities of the Empire. Later it became
synonymous with an inhabitant of the Roman Empire in
IX
T’he 3 dilitary Monarchy 371
general, that is, a subject of the Roman emperor, who was
now the embodiment of the state. With the rise of the
imperial power Roman citizenship had lost its political value.
Now it lost its social importance as well. It is difficult to tell
whether Caracalla realized this when he promulgated his
measure.®’
The principal facts concerning the political and military
events of the short reign of Caracalla need not be retold here.
After some military successes in Germany and a short stay on
the Danube frontier, he started a great expedition against the
Parthians. It was evident that the Parthian question had not
been settled by Septimius, and that the agony of the Parthian
dynasty afforded Caracalla a good opportunity of achieving
lasting results. We are ill informed about the expedition.
Before anything of importance was achieved, the emperor was
killed by one of his officers at the instigation of the prefect of
the guard M. Opellius Macrinus. A short civil war followed
the proclamation of Macrinus as emperor. Indulged by
Caracalla and full of confidence in the benevolence of the
family of the Severi, the army was not very willing to recognize
an outsider as emperor of Rome and to keep its allegiance
to him. As soon as a rival appeared in the person of a nephew
of Caracalla, the young Bassianus, surnamed Elagabal (or
Heliogabalus), chief priest of the god of Emesa, the soldiers
preferred him to the unknown Macrinus, whose first steps
and whose dealings with the senate had not been welcome to
the soldiers.®® Elagabal’ s rule was brief and full of incident.
His religious experiments are well known. His attempt to
achieve by them the creation of a world-religion acceptable
to everybody and a consecration of the power of the emperor,
as the representative of the God on earth, was abortive. But
he nevertheless succeeded in arousing the indignation of
all honest Romans throughout the Empire and of some
soldiers. The result was that two of the three clever Syrian
women who had arranged his accession and ruled in his name,
Julia Maesa and Julia Mammaea, replaced him against the will
of his mother J ulia Soaemias by another Bassianus, his cousin,
who received the name of Severus Alexander.®®
We need not dwell on the political aspect of the rule of
Alexander. Dio and, to a certain extent, Herodian praised
it as an almost complete return to the principles of the en-
lightened monarchy. There may be some truth in this view
Bb2
372 The 34 ilitary 34onarchy chap.
so far as the intentions of the emperor were concerned. But
he was not free. Behind him stood the army, the compact
mass of soldiers who had been spoilt by the Sever! and accus-
tomed to methods of policy which excluded any real return
to the principles of the Antonines. The soldiers would not
allow a genuine recovery of power by men of the senatorial
and of the old equestrian classes. They would not suffer
a strong and resolute man to be the adviser of the young
emperor. They were sharply opposed to any reduction of
their pay and to the restoration of discipline. Under such
conditions a revival of the principles of the Antonines was
a dream. The emperor was a tool and a slave in the hands
of the soldiers, and had to bow to bitter necessity.^® As an
instrument of protection for the Empire, the army became
more and more unfit. The war against the new rulers of the
East, the Persians, was an almost total failure and, if it did
not end in disaster, it was because the Persians had their
own affairs to settle. Grave troubles on the German frontier
led to an attempt on the part of the emperor to purchase
peace, and this resulted in his treacherous murder by his
own soldiers. “
The foundations of the new structure of the state laid by
Septimius and consolidated by Caracalla were destined to
abide. Externally there was no change. As before, the
emperor ruled as the highest magistrate of the Roman people ;
as before, the supreme power in the state lay with the senate,
which handed it over to the emperor ; as before, the sena-
torial and equestrian classes furnished the officers required
to command the army and to administer the Empire ; as
before, the cities were ruled by the city aristocracy ; and
the army continued to be an army of Roman citizens. But
in fact there was nothing left of the ancient state save the
names, and any attempt to change the conditions was bound
to miscarry. The soldiers were determined to remain the
rulers and the masters of the Empire and not to permit the
upper classes, still strong and numerous, to rise again to
power. The Roman Empire faced one of the greatest crises
in its history.
The reigns of Caracalla, Elagabal, and Alexander were
times of great misery for the Empire. There were indeed no
long and bloody civil wars, with the sole exception of the war
between Macrinus and Elagabal, which was local in character
IX
The ^Military ^Monarchy 373
and did not affect the Empire as a whole. But the organism
of the Empire was exhausted to such an extent that it was
unable to stand the strain of the serious external wars which
threatened it. The extravagances of an Elagabal, to which
the ruin of the imperial finances is ascribed by our sources,
had but a minor importance. The main problem was how to
meet the expense of the great campaigns which had to be under-
taken unless the Roman Empire were to become the prey of
continual invasions by the Iranians in the East and by the
Iranians and the Germans in the North-east. A great effort
was needed, and needed at once. This was generally under-
stood throughout the Empire : it was realized by Septimius
Severus, by Garacalla, and by Alexander Severus, who in this
matter were all the exponents of public opinion. Caracalla’s
dream of becoming a new Alexander the Great and of carrying
out the great Macedonian’s purpose of amalgamating into
one nation and one state the two warlike and cultured races of
the world, the Iranians and the Romans, in order to stem the
tide of barbarism which threatened to engulf both the Roman
Empire and the Parthian kingdom, was no quixotic ideal,
though it shows the romantic aspirations of those difficult
times. It would be childish, however, to regard this romantic
dream as a great political idea which the crime of Macrinus
prevented from being realized. But the dream, which was in
such striking contrast with the bitter reality, is characteristic
of the conditions of the decaying Empire. The fact that the
second Bassianus assumed the name of Alexander indicates
that the utopian idea originated in the boundless phantasy
of the Syrian empresses and was inherited from them by the
two Bassiani.
The experiments of Garacalla and Alexander failed, not only
because of the degenerate condition and the steadily decaying
discipline of the army, but first and foremost because the
Roman Empire was too poor to bear the enormous cost of
such a colossal enterprise. To carry out their abortive
schemes, Garacalla and Alexander alike plundered the Empire.
It appeared very quickly that the confiscations of Gommodus
and Septimius Severus and the enormous increase of the
financial resources of the state at the expense of private
fortunes had resulted not in the enrichment but in the im-
poverishment of the Empire. Pertinax, who was himself an
agrarius mergus, a. land-grabber, was obliged, in order to stop the
374 •‘Military ^Monarchy chap.
increase of waste land, to have recourse to a general measure
which was to a certain extent a repetition on a larger scale
of the measures of Hadrian. He launched an appeal to the
population of the Empire to occupy the waste land and so
become landowners instead of tenants. So far as we know,
the appeal was fruitless.^^ Alexander was forced to resort
to the method, which had been introduced by M. Aurelius,
of ensuring the cultivation of waste land by settling on it
captives brought from beyond the frontier. We hear inci-
dentally, too, that in his time there was an acute shortage
of cattle in Italy and that the meat-markets of Rome remained
empty.
It is thus plain that there was in the organism of the
Roman state a deep-rooted trouble which could not be cured
by palliative measures. The state was constantly draining
the capital which was the life-blood of the Empire : all the
measures designed to restore the public finances were merely
repeated attempts to extract more money, whether they were of
a violent nature, like the confiscations of Septimius, or whether
they were more systematic but not less harmful. The wars
of Septimius Severus and those of Caracalla and Alexander
were based, like the wars of Trajan and M. Aurelius, though
to a much greater extent, on the system of liturgies, on the
compulsory work of the humiliofes and the compulsory
responsibility of the honestiores. In the documents of this
period we constantly meet with mentions of such exactions.
In Eg5rpt the system of compulsory dehveries seems to reach
an unparalleled regularity both in the time of Caracalla and in
that of Alexander. Even earlier, in the reign of Septimius,
the liturgies became so onerous that one benevolent citizen
of Oxyrhynchus asked for permission to establish a special
foundation to make the burden more tolerable for the popu-
lation of some villages of the nome. The system of requisitions
was rampant : corn, hides, wood for spears, and draught
animals had to be delivered, and payment for them was
irregular and indeed problematic.^
The same conditions prevailed in Asia Minor and Syria.
Many inscriptions testify to the heavy burden of the TrapaTrofiir^
or prosecutio, that is, the responsibility for a methodical trans-
portation both of troops and of supplies {annona) for the
army. The greatest sufferers, were the members of the
municipal aristocracy. Another plague was the exactions of
IX The ^Military ^Monarchy 375
the imperial and municipal officials, who on their journeys
requisitioned quarters and food from the inhabitants of the
cities and of the villages alike. The quartering of soldiers
was a real disaster : the population of Syria regarded an
occupation by the Parthians as a relief in comparison with
a prolonged stay of Roman troops. The time was past when
rich men of the province would voluntarily undertake such
burdens. If provincials still occasionally mention the per-
formance of liturgies in inscriptions, they do it to show that
they discharged their duties and that the duties were not light.
The type of the rich benefactor of a city is disappearing, and
in his place we find members of the city bourgeoisie over-
burdened with liturgies but still able to bear them.^®
Towards the lower, as towards the upper classes, the policy
of Caracalla and of Alexander was the same as that of Sep-
timius. They were favoured by imperial legislation : one
of the most striking instances is the legislation about the
schools, which has been spoken of in the fourth chapter.*
The third century represents the climax in the spread of
primary education ail over the Empire. To the schools in
the small villages of Egypt, which were probably connected
with the temples, we owe most of the recently discovered
literary papyri, which served as text-books for the pupils;
and it is in the third century, in the time of Alexander Severus,
that we first hear of village elementary schoolmasters as
a class. In the third book of his Ofiniones Ulpian speaks of
these schoolmasters and emphasizes the fact that they were
to be found both in the cities and in the villages.^®
Still more important are the facts concerning the relations
between the emperor and the rural population, especially
the tenants of the imperial estates. There is no question that
after the time of M. Aurelius and Commodus the army
definitely became an army of peasants, drawn from the
villages in the city territories and on the imperial estates.
These villages now became the main support of the imperial
power, the cities being hostile to the military monarchy
established by Septimius and his successors. The emperors
realized this and acted accordingly. We have already empha-
sized the confidence in, and allegiance to, Septimius and his
house — the legal successors of the divine Antonines — which
were displayed by the rural population in general and by the
* See especially note 32.
376 The ^Military Monarchy chap.
tenants of the imperial estates in particular ; and we have
shown that these feelings were based on the sincere efforts of
Septimius to improve the position of this class as a whole,
and especially that of the imperial tenants, by raising them
to the status of landowners on the largest possible scale, in
full accord with the policy of Hadrian.
Another aspect of the same policy is revealed by some
inscriptions lately found in the region of Sitifis and brilliantly
elucidated by J. Carcopino in two special articles."*^ The
region of Sitifis was, or became under Septimius, one vast
imperial estate, cultivated by tenants who were partly
Romanized people, partly natives. When in the time of
Septimius {a. D. 202) this region was deprived of its garrison
of Roman troops, probably under the pressure of urgent
military necessities, there began a process of concentrating
the agricultural population in fortified castella, a process
certainly started and encouraged by the emperors. This
concentration meant a considerable urbanization of the life
of the peasants, and it involved also a certain, probably
a large, amount of self-government in the shape of a half-
municipal organization with a strong military flavour, which
was natural, since the concentration had a purely military
purpose. The tenants of these fortified villages certainly
received many privileges besides the quasi-municipal organiza-
tion. They became, like the inhabitants of the free villages
of Thrace and Syria, the main foundation of the army of the
Severi, and consequently they were probably treated, from
the economic point of view, as landowners and not as tenants.
Without doubt their numbers were increased by the establish-
ment from time to time of new settlers who received land in
the imperial defensiones and definitiones * and, though in name
tenants (coloni), were practically small militarized land-
owners.^ The policy of Septimius was carried on both by
Caracalla and by Alexander. The numbers of the castella
constantly increased, their earth-walls were replaced by stone
fortifications, public buildings were constructed, and so on.
Numerous inscriptions attest this policy of the Severi in
the borderlands of Africa. As has been said, it implied
a special protection of this section of the population, the last
warlike elements which survived in the Empire. The pheno-
menon was too conspicuous to be passed over even by our
See above^ p, 285,
IX \ 'The ^dilitary 34 onarchy 377
literary sources, and the Latin biography of Alexander
expressly mentions his efforts in this connexion.^* Familiar
with the bravery of the peasants of the Danube and of the
Syrian lands, and greatly admiring their military abilities and
their physical strength, the Sever! endeavoured to create
a similar class in Africa. Thus, in the period of the Sever! the
borderlands became the most prosperous part of the African
provinces, and they showed their gratitude to the emperors
by according them most enthusiastic praise in inscriptions.
The movement was not confined to Africa. A similar
policy of urbanizing and militarizing peasants, whether
landowners or tenants, may be traced in the Thracian
lands. The activity of Septimius in this direction is attested
by a document recently discovered there, the charter of
a newly founded ifiTropiop called Pizus, to which is appended
as a supplement a list of new settlers and a letter from the
governor of the province. Pizus was only one of many
similar foundations of Septimius : the fact is explicitly stated
by the governor in his letter. Such ifnropia were neither
cities nor villages. In speaking of them the governor calls
them also crraOpoL, stationes, which emphasizes their military
character. They were not, however, settlements of soldiers
or veterans. I'he settlers were drawn from neighbouring
villages. I am convinced therefore that the ipiropia of Thrace
corresponded to the castella of Africa and had the same pur-
pose. It is to be noted that they had no real self-government,
though they bore the external aspect of a city. Their presi-
dents were roTrapxoi fiovXcvraC, praefecti, appointed by the
governor, and granted by him a certain amount of jurisdiction.
The best parallel to these prefects is thus afforded by the
praefecti of the early Roman colonies and the municipia of
Italy.®®
In the provinces of Upper Germany a like policy was
pursued by Septimius and by his successors. Here, however,
it was not a matter of turning peasants into soldiers but
rather of turning soldiers into tillers of the soil. It is well
known that in Germany in the time of Septimius the new
castella, which protected the frontier, were manned either
by Roman soldiers or by native numeri. To these castella
a piece of land was assigned, which was cultivated by the
soldiers of the garrison, each of them receiving a plot and
paying for it out of his income to a special farmer-general,
378 The 3diUtary 3donarchy chap.
who also was a soldier. We may compare such cmtella with
the of the Danube frontier. Furthermore, behind the
line of these fortified castella, with their population of peasant-
soldiers, some vici and some canabae of former forts were
developed into towns, and were regarded and treated as
seminaries of soldiers for the army of occupation in Germany.®^
Finally, we may mention in this connexion the so-called
KoktaviaL of Roman veterans in Egypt. These settlements
which are found in various parts of Egypt, especially in the
Fayum, date from at least the early second century a . d .
They consisted of ex-soldiers who acquired parcels of land
from the government at a nominal price, and formed in the
territory of a given village a body of Roman citizens with
a certain measure of self-government (on the pattern of the
old iroXiTivfiara of the Ptolemaic period). Under Septimius
many new KoXavCat of the same type were founded. The
settlers received their plots of ground as a grant from the
emperor, and enjoyed probably a larger amount of self-
government. The institution was shortlived, being probably
merged in the development of municipal life in Egypt which
followed the grant of Roman citizenship to all the privileged
classes of the population in a . d . 212. It cannot be denied,
however, that Septimius, while reviving the policy of the
early emperors by repeatedly sending out colonies of Roman
veterans to various existing cities (like Tyre and Samaria
in Phoenicia and Palestine, Uchi Majus and Vaga in Africa),
endeavoured by the foundation of new KoXwvCai. in Egypt
to achieve the same result as in Africa, Thrace, and Germany.
In these groups of new settlers distributed all over Egypt he
endeavoured to create so many seminaries for his army and
so many nuclei of staunch supporters of his regime, the
regime of a dynastic military absolutism.®^
In the sixth chapter we have pointed out how closely
the creation of castella and the urbanization of villages and
canabae throughout the Empire was connected with the
spread in these half-cities, half-villages, of the associations
of young men, the collegia iuvenum, which in fact were special
associations for training and educating future soldiers and
officers in the proper spirit. Is it not striking to see these
associations, created by Augustus and intended as a founda-
tion of the military structure of the Empire and of the new
form of government, dying put in Italy and in the urbanized
IX
The hM ilitary onarchy 3 79
provinces and migrating to the borderlands of the Empire ?
This migration is the characteristic feature of the time. The
only classes on which the Empire may now rely are the half-
civilized dwellers in the lands which stood in direct contact
with the countries of Rome’s enemies. Caracalla, with his
predilection for the blond Germans and the warlike Persians,
instinctively felt the bitter truth that the Roman Empire had
now to trust to these elements. There was no other sal-
vation.®^ It is likely that in the new African castdla similar
associations of young men were developing.®® These facts
fall into line with the practice, which has been mentioned
above, of settling barbarians within the Roman Empire.
Despite repeated efforts to improve the position of the
lower classes, both they and the upper classes, with a few
exceptions, were very badly off, especially from the economic
point of view. The heavier the pressure of the state on the
upper classes, the more intolerable became the condition of
the lower. Law and administration were helpless to improve
the situation. Alexander Severus or rather the members
of his cabinet, the great jurists of this period, saw the critical
state of the Empire and tried to save it. Some taxes, such as
the heavy tax of crown gold {aurum coronarium), which had
been ruthlessly exacted by Elagabal, were partially abolished.
Some remissions and privileges were granted to the upper
classes and to the cities. But such measures did not produce
the desired result.®® Alexander had recourse again and again
to the system of compulsory work and liturgies. In this
sense must be interpreted certain new devices which he
introduced in connexion with the associations of merchants
and of industrialists. To attract the merchants especially
to the capital, he abolished the tax which was paid by them
and replaced it by a new tax levied on the artisan producers,
and at the same time he himself imported from Egypt masses
of industrial products, which were paid to him as a tax in kind
by the peasants and the artisans of that country (anabolicum).
The measure shows how low the productivity of the local
industries in Rome was, and how seriously sea commerce
and trade in general were overburdened-, by taxes and com-
pulsory service. On the other hand, he increased the number
of those associations which were supposed to be useful to
the state and from which compulsory service was demanded.
We have seen that the corporations of shipowners and of
380 The ^Military ^Monarchy chap, ix
merchants had been subjected to a large measure of state-
control as early as the beginning of the second century.
We have mentioned the privileges which they received from
various emperors- as compensation for their compulsory
service, and have emphasized the importance of the steps taken
by Commodus to organize the African commercial fleet on
the model of that of Alexandria. Certain other corporations,
probably of the city of Rome, were now organized on the same
principle. They were not only recognized as legal associations
but as corporations . in the service of the state. Our sources
mention the dealers in wine and in lupines, and the shoemakers,
but they give these names exempli gratia and indicate that
Alexander’s measure had a more general character, and
affected almost all the corporations. In any case the ten-
dency of the reform is evident : without compulsion and, in
the last resort, without state-control the government was
helpless. The army devoured the resources of the state, and
the population, even of Rome, was more and more deprived
of the necessary supplies. In this terrible plight the state
resorted to compulsion and to organized robbery. As is well
known, one of its most pernicious devices was the abuse of its
monopoly of coinage. Looking round for new resources, the
state did not shrink from pure forgery by debasing its cur-
rency, which the ever-increasing use of alloy made more and
more worthless. The result was a tremendous increase in
prices and the ruin of sound business.®’
The result of the situation of the Empire and of the policy
pursued by the emperors was what might have been expected.
The slight improvement which had been felt in the last years
of Septimius vanished. During the reign of Alexander
robbers again infested both land and sea. Extraordinary
measures were taken, especially against the pirates. The
Roman Empire seems to have reverted to the deplorable
condition of the first century B. c., when piracy made com-
merce practically impossible. No wonder that writers like
Cyprian, describing the conditions of the Empire at the end
of this period, are full of pessimism, and speak of the complete
exhaustion of the forces alike of nature and of mankind. We
may say that Cyprian was a Christian, and that he was making
the colours of his picture darker than the reality, but we can
hardly believe that he could speak in this tone, unless the picture
which he painted was perfectly familiar to his audience.®®
X
THE MILITARY ANARCHY
The period between the death of Alexander Severus and
the accession of Diocletian is one of the darkest in the history
of the Roman Empire. So long as we have the work of
Herodian and the fragments of Cassius Dio, which enable
us to check the statements of the Latin biographies of the
emperors, and so long as these biographies are based on a more
or less reliable and well-informed source, we are able not only
to trace the general lines of the political development of the
Empire, but also, with the help of the juridical sources and
the documentary material, to recognize the main features of
its social and economic evolution. With Alexander Severus
the history of Cassius Dio ends, and his continuator, known
to us by some fragments, is not so well informed as the great
senator of the time of the Severi. Herodian narrates the
history down to Maximinus and the Gordians, giving in his
seventh book a splendid picture of these troubled years, and
stops there. For the following period we have nothing similar
to these substantial and well-composed accounts.
The only literary sources for the second half of the third
century, the period of the great social revolution and the
thorough reconstruction of the Empire, are on the one hand
the Latin biographies of the emperors, the second part of
the so-called Scriptores Historiae Augustae (with a gap from
244 to 253, covering the reigns of the Decii, Hostilianus,
Callus, Volusianus, Aemilianus, and the beginning of the rule
of the Valerian!, and another gap at the end extending over
the reign of Carinus), and on the other hand the short and
meagre Breviaries and Chronicles, both Latin and Greek.
The Latin compendious histories are those of Eutropius,
Aurelius Victor, and the author of the so-called Epitome de
Caesafibus, wrongly ascribed to Aurelius Victor. All of these
date from the second half of the fourth century. With the
exception of the fragments of the well-known sophist Eunapios,
.^.•.■>.4.. - .'i- '
DESCRIPTION OF PLATE L\
1. MARBLE BUST OF MAXIMINUS. Capitoline Museum, Rome, Helbig-
Amelimg, Fuhrev, i, p. 454, No. 62 ; A. Hekler, Die Bildnisskiinst der Griechen
and Romer, pL CCXCVI, a; H, Stuart Jones, A Catalogue of the Ancient
Sculpture, See, The Sculptures of the Museo CapUolino, 1912, p. 207, No. 62,
pL XLIX.
2, a, SILVER ANTONINIANUS OF PUPIENUS. Cohen, v, p. 14, No. 3.
Obv. IMP. CAES. PVPiENVS MAXiMvs AVG. Bust of Piipieiius to r. with radiate
crown. Rev. caritas mvtva avgg. Two clasped hands.
b. SILVER ANTONINIANUS OF BALBINUS. Cohen, v, p. ii. No. 17.
Obv. IMP. CAES. D. GAEL. BALBiNVS AVG. Bust of Balbiiuis to 1'. with radialc
crown. Rev. fides mvtva avgg. Two clasped hands.
c. AUREUS OF GORDIAN III. Cohen, v, p. 47 f., No. 265 (a. d. 242).
Obv. IMP. gordianvs pi vs fel. AVG. Bust of Gordian to r. with laurel crown.
Rev. p.M. TR. p. V cos. II p. p. Gordian in military dress standing to r. with a spear
and a globe.
d. AUREUS OF PHILIP I. Cohen, v, p. iii, No. 164.
Obv. IMP. PHILIPPVS AVG. Bust of Philip I to r. with laurel crown. Rev.
ROMAE AKTERNAE. Roma Seated to 1. holding Victory and spear, with her shield
beside her.
A UREUS OF DECIUS. Cohen, v, p. 190, No. 48.
Obv. IMP. c. M. Q. TRAiANvs DECivs AVG. Bust of Dccius to r. with laurel
crown. Rev. genivs EXERC(itus) illvriciani. Genius of the Illyrian army,
wearing mural crown, naked, standing to 1., with a patera and a cornucopide.
To the r. a military standard.
These coins (all in the British Museum) show the features of the various
emperors of the period of military anarchy, which differ strikingly from the
aristocratic heads of the Antonines, and (on the reverse) some of the chief
emblems of their short reigns. Pupienus and Balbiniis emphasize their mutual
affection and loyalty, Gordian his military exploits, Philip the eternity of Rome,
which had just celebrated her millenary, Deciiis his relations to the Illyrian army.
The selection of coins and the casts for this plate and pL LVII I owe to the
kindness of Mr. H. Mattingly of the British Museum.
;
MAXIMINUS
C, GORDIAN in
LV. THE EMPERORS OF THE EARLY THIRD CENTURY
384 The Military J-narchy chap.
Tf we are to believe what is said on the matter by the
author or the authors, of the Latin biographies, we must
“Sme that fte second ajtemattve is corr«t ; and he „-
the^Gordians used as his main source the work of Herodan.
M a cSi^alysis of ‘he documents mserted ^^
(o-anhies has shown with complete certainty that all or mem
SSm sSi C<,r<s<dta. speeches of the emperors and of other
iSso^ ^d so foA-kre forgeries. Furthermore almost all
?hTaSh^whom the biographies quote are. with few
exceotions completely unknown, and there is therefore a
presumption in favour of regarding these
fictions!^ All this shatters our confidence m trustwortn
ness of the information given by the biographies, where t
does not coincide with the statements of the Latin epitomists
and of the Greek chroniclers. These are of course suspicions,
but t 4 v are suspicions based on a careful verification of the
few datl which can be verified and on
The Latin biographies, before, cannot be used for the
rpconstruction of more than an outline of the history 01 tne
Empire after the time of the Gordians. We
meaere information about social and economic life only when
it is supported by some trustworthy testimony found either in
‘the eptomists Ir in the juridical
such as papyri and inscriptions, or on coins. As a matter of fact
such coincidences very rarely occur, not only ^ ^
rharacter of our source but also because of the ^
the supplementary material ; apart from coins, whic suppy
verv scanty evidence, our documentary material is not
abimdant, as is natural in a period of troubles and endless
wars and revolutions, and what we do possess vety rarely refe
to facts and events that interested the ancient historians and
find a place in their narrative. _ .
There is another question concerning the
toriae Augustae not less important than the question of the
sources of the biographies. the
the biographies were compiled and published, and
personality of their authors or author. According to the
Narratives themselves, the cross-references, f
hev were compiled by six authors, three of them Aeim
N^tolinus, Trebellius PoUio, and Flavius Vopiscus Syracusius
X T'he Military Anarchy 38 5
—being responsible for the lives of the emperors after Alexan-
der. According to their own statements, and to the dedications
of the biographies to the emperors, they all lived in the time
of Diocletian and Constantine. If this were so and if the
authors were really contemporaries of the events of the third
century, poorly informed as they were, we might expect to
find in their accounts, especially in those relating to the
end of the century, some reliable information not taken from
literary sources and, what is more important, in reading them
we might expect to breathe the atmosphere of the period. In
that case we might disbelieve in the authenticity of the docu-
ments and speeches, we might find the narratives excessively
rhetorical (and conventionally rhetorical too), we might brand
the sayings and utterances of the emperors as fabrications,
but we should have to assume that in reading these third-
. century biographies we are listening to men who were born
and bred in the turmoil of the civil wars and that, indifferent
writers as they were, they have expressed the feelings and the
mood of the age.
Until quite recent times, nobody questioned the fact that
the six authors in question were contemporaries of Diocletian
and Constantine. The last of them, Vopiscus, for instance,
gives a detailed account of some episodes in his own life and
of some men whom he knew, an account which agrees with
perfectly trustworthy documents. It was this observation
and others of a similar kind that led even quite modern and
eminent scholars of the critical school who carefully investi-
gated the problem, like H. Peter, Ch. Lecrivain, G. de Sanctis,
G. Tropea, Th. Mommsen, and Diehl — not to speak of many
younger English and American scholars — still to believe in
the joint authorship of the six men, in their reality, and in the
exactness of their statements about the time to which they
belonged, and this in spite of many strong arguments adduced
by a group of scholars who regard the whole set of names and
alleged dates as mere fiction. It was H. Dessau who first
pointed out, in two articles, that the biographies could not
have been written in the time of Diocletian and Constantine,
that they breathe the atmosphere of the later and very
different age of Theodosius, and that therefore all the names
of the authors and all the information about their lives are
an impudent forgery, the real author being a contemporary
of Theodosius and a member of the circle of the Symmachi
386 The ^Military ^Anarchy chap.
and the Nicomachi. Dessau’s attack made a powerful im-
pression. O. Seeck at once supported his theory by many
new arguments, fixing, however, the date of the forgery still
later (fifth century), and A. von Domaszewski took up the
question himself and induced numbers of his pupils to devote
their efforts to a thorough investigation of the problem, with
the main object of proving the general correctness of Dessau’s
hypothesis. This Domaszewski has supported, though he differs
from Dessau in regard to the date of the forgery, which he
would assign to the time of Gregory of Tours (end of the
sixth century). The views of Dessau have been accepted by
other distinguished historians like 0. Hirschfeld and E. Kome-
mann, and propagated by their pupils.
The arguments produced by Dessau and his followers,
though not conclusive, were beyond doxibt exceedingly strong
and convincing, and they induced many eminent scholars of
the opposite school to compromise. Thus, Mommsen was
ready to recognize that the stock of imperial biographies of
the time of Diocletian and Constantine was taken over and
revised by a contemporary of Theodosius, who was responsible
for most of the fabrications and for the flavour of the Theo-
dosian epoch which the biographies have. Mommsen’s com-
promise, though accepted by some scholars, has been rejected
by the majority of German historians, who still insist on the
full acceptance of Dessau’s main thesis. The crucial question
of the reasons which induced the forger to compile his work
has lately been answered by Geffcken and Hohl, who suggest
that his purpose was to present to the readers of the time the
history of the Roman emperors from the point of view of the
last pagans, such as Symmachus, advocating tolerance tow^ards
the pagans and introducing some veiled attacks on Christ-
ianity. Another aim may have been to glorify the senate
and give a survey of imperial history from the senatorial
point of view. Certainly this point of view is very strongly ex-
pressed in the biographies, where a sharp line is drawn betw^een
the good emperors, those who favoured the senate, and the
bad ones, the enlightened monarchs and the military tyrants,
who promoted the principle of adoption and that of hereditary
succession. Taking this standpoint, the circle of Symma-
chus did not dare to speak in its own name, but pretended
to publish a work written by authors of a comparatively
remote past, of the time preceding the victory of Christianity
X "The J> 4 iUtary Anarchy 387
and the final establishment of Oriental despotism. The
prevalent ignorance of that period was so profound that
nobody would think of verifying the forger’s statements and
proving that the series of imperial biographies was a mere
fraud.
Such, in its main outlines, is the theory held by the
supporters of Dessau. It cannot be said that it has been
definitely proved. There are still many points which need
elucidation, and the task of showing the thoroughness of the
work of the forger, or forgers, in piling up a heap of inventions
on a bare historical sketch is far from accomplished. However,
if the kernel of the theory is sound — and it is very difficult
to prove that it is not — the Scriptores Historiae Augusiae must
be almost completely eliminated from the series of trust-
worth}? sources for the life of the third century. They repre-
sent the point of view of the late fourth century, and this
point of view was in many respects different from that
of men who lived in the third. An age of stagnation and
of resignation cannot thoroughly understand the mood of
a revolutionary period, and can hardly give a true picture of
it, especially if the writer’s purpose is to establish particular
ideas cherished by leading men of his own time. We must,
therefore, exercise great caution in using the material supplied
by the Historia Augusta. If a statement is not corroborated
by other and better sources, the right course is to disregard
it and to refrain from building any conclusion upon it at all.^
Thus, in dealing with the time after Alexander Severus,
we are justified in making full use of Herodian, who is specially
well informed on the conditions of the time of the Maximins
and the Gordians ; we may use (as will be shown later) the
contemporary speech ‘ To the emperor ’ of a rhetor or sophist
of the third century ; we must restore the historical outlines
with the aid of the epitomists and chroniclers and the docu-
mentary material furnished by coins, inscriptions, and papyri.
As all these sources, except the inscriptions and the papyri,
give very little information on the social and economic
evolution, our reconstruction must rest as far as possible on
the documents. Though our material is scanty and frag-
mentary, the task in itself is in no way hopeless. Some parts
of the Roman Empire have recently yielded abundant and
valuable information, which has never been used to restore
the main outlines of the picture as a whole.
388 The ^Military narcky chap.
Before endeavouring to recover the main features of
the social and economic development of the Empire after the
death of Alexander, and prior to the accession of Diocletian,
it will be well to give a short sketch of the political events of
this troubled period, a survey of the internal and external wars
which ravaged the Empire”® After the treacherous murder
of Alexander (a. d. 235) the soldiers proclaimed as emperor
one of their leaders, a man of low origin, a Thracian peasant
who was an officer of no very high rank, but a brave, able, and
strong soldier, who knew the army and the mood and aspira-
tions of the common soldiers, C. Julius Verus Maximinus.
His brief rule was an unbroken period of external war and
civil strife. Maximinus probably never asked to be recognized
by the senate, and he never appeared in Rome. He was a real
soldiers’ emperor. A good general and a man whom the
army obeyed, he gained some important successes on the
Rhine and Danube frontiers (a. d. 236), but he succumbed to
a strong resistance, offered chiefly in Italy but also in Africa,
to the principles on which his rule was based (a. d. 238). Of
these we shall speak later. In Africa an old senator, at the
time governor of the province of Africa Proconsularis, M.
Antonius Gordianus, was proclaimed emperor and was sup-
ported by the upper classes of the population. He and his
son perished in the struggle against the regular army of
Africa, which was led by Capellianus, the legate of Numidia.
After their death the senate, which had recognized Gordian
as the rightful ruler, elected in his place two senators,
M. Clodius Pupienus Maximus and D. Caelius Calvinus
Balbinus, who with the help of a special committee of twenty
senators organized the defence of Italy against Maximinus.
Maximinus, contrary to his own expectation and that of
everybody else, was unable to obtain access to Italy, and
perished under the walls of Aquileia, which barred his way
to Rome.
About a month after his death the praetorian guard got
rid of the two senatorial emperors by a couf de main, and
recognized as sole emperor the grandson of the elder Gordian,
the young boy Gordian III, whom Pupienus and Balbinus
were forced to associate with themselves in the Empire before
the final catastrophe (a. d. 238). The reign of Gordian III was
as disturbed as those of his predecessors. The situation ix)th
in the North-east and in the East became extremely grave.
X The .!MiIitary Anarchy 389
In the North-east the Goths, who in the second half of the
second century had formed a strong state in the prairies of
South Russia, invaded the Danube provinces, in alliance with
some Iranian tribes and the Thracian Carpi ; in the East the
new king of Persia, Shapur I, took possession of the Syrian
dominions of Rome. The peril was averted on the Danube
by the strong hand of Tullius Menophilus, the defender of
Aquileia ; in the East by the emperor himself, who under the
guidance of his father-in-law, C. Furius Sabinius Aquila
Timesitheus, defeated the Persians and liberated Syria. When
the army was ready to enter the enemy’s land, Timesitheus
died, and Gordian III was killed by the soldiers in a bread-
riot, caused by lack of supplies, probably at the instigation
of Timesitheus’ successor in the command of the imperial guard,
the son of an Arabian sheikh of the Hauran, M. Julius Philip-
pus (a. d. 244).'*
Philip hastened to put an end to the Persian war by
making large concessions to the Persians and evacuating
Mesopotamia, and hurried to Rome. On his way thither he
defeated some German tribes and almost annihilated the
Thracian Carpi on the Danube. While in Rome, he cele-
brated the thousandth anniversary of the foundation of the
city (a. D. 248) ; but meanwhile the legions of the Danube
revolted, after a disastrous invasion of Moesia by a handful
of Goths, and proclaimed one of their non-commissioned
officers, Ti. Claudius Marinus Pacatianus, emperor. Another
usurper lotapianus arose in the East. Philip dispatched
against Pacatianus his best general, C. Messius Quintus Tra-
janus Decius, a native of Pannonia, and at the time governor
of Moesia. Marinus was slain by his own troops (a. d. 249), but
Decius was forced by his soldiers, who threatened to kill him
in case of refusal, to become emperor and to march against
Philip, whom he defeated near Verona (a. d. 249).® Installed
as sole ruler, Decius hastened to the Danube to beat off
a new and formidable invasion of the Goths. They passed
through Moesia and overran Thrace, besieged Philippopolis,
the capital of Thrace, and defeated the emperor, who went to
the rescue of the rich and prosperous city. Through the treason
of Priscus, the commander of the garrison of Philippopolis,
who aspired to ascend the throne with the help of the foe,
Philippopolis was taken and plundered by the Goths. On their
way back, they were intercepted by Decius with a new army, but
390 The 3diUtary \Anarchj chap.
he was defeated again and fell in the battle together with his
son (a. d. 251).® The Goths returned safely to their own
land, laden with booty. The Roman troops proclaimed
C. Vibius Trebonianus Gallus emperor. Under the pressure
of a disastrous plague, which broke out in the Danube pro-
vinces, Gallus bought peace from the barbarians and left for
Rome. After his departure the governor of Lower Moesia,
M, Aemilius Aemilianus, a Moor born in Mauretania, suc-
ceeded in defeating the Goths and was proclaimed emperor
by his troops (a. d. 253). In the struggle between the two
emperors, Gallus and Aemilianus, the former was killed in
a battle near Interamna in Italy, and the latter was murdered
by his own soldiers at Spoletium. P. Licinius Valerianus, the
governor of Raetia, who marched from the Rhine to Italy
to aid Gallus, was proclaimed emperor and was recognized
by the senate.
As soon as Valerian reached Rome he associated with
himself in the imperial power his son P. Licinius Egnatius
Gallienus.’ The situation of the Empire on the Rhine, the
Danube, and the Persian frontier was almost desperate. The
Franks and the Alemanni broke through the Rhine frontier
and invaded Gaul. Though the Goths were stopped on the
Danube frontier by some able generals of the Danubian
armies, they and the Borani used the resources of the rich
kingdom of Bosporus, which became their vassal, to assemble
a fleet of Greek ships, crossed the Black Sea to the shores of
the Caucasus and to Trapezus (Trebizond), and afterwards
coasted along to the rich province of Bithynia. No Roman
navy worth mention existed at the time and piracy reigned
on the seas, so that the Goths had every opportunity to carry
out their daring raid successMly. Still worse was the situation
in the East. The Persians invaded Syria and threatened
Asia Minor. Valerian moved against them. Near Edessa he
was utterly defeated and captured by the enemy (a. d. 260).
Asia Minor and Syria were rescued, the former by Callistus
a Roman general, who drove the Persians out, and the latter
by the sheikh of Palmyra, Odenathus, who defeated the
invaders when they tried to cross the Euphrates on their way
back to Persia.
At this critical moment the Roman Empire was saved
by the energy and persistency of Gallienus. He was forced
to evacuate a part of Gaul, but he succeeded with his German
X T’he 3 dilitary \Anarchy 391
and British soldiers in saving Italy from a German invasion,
and in defeating on the Danube two usurpers, Ingenuus and
Regalianus, who had been proclaimed emperors one after
the other (a. d. 258). On the other hand, the provinces seem
to have realized the great danger which threatened them and
took their salvation into their own hands. In Gaul the troops
and the people of the province proclaimed as their emperor
M. Cassianius Latinius Postumus, the restihitor Galliarum
and the founder of the imperium Galliarum, and succeeded in
driving the Germans out of the province (a. d. 259). On
the Euphrates similar success was achieved by Odenathus of
Palmyra against the Persians and two Roman pretenders,
Ballista and Macrianus, who after assisting in the expulsion
of the Persians from Asia Minor had established in Syria the
joint rule of the two sons of the latter, Macrianus and Quietus.
Odenathus was recognized by Gallienus, and ruled over Syria
and part of Asia Minor with the title of Imferator until he
was killed in a. d. 266-7, when he was succeeded by his son
Vaballathus, in whose name the government was carried on
by his mother, Queen Zenobia.®
Gallienus meanwhile was still engaged in fighting the
pretenders and the barbarians, and in endeavouring to
defend Africa (against a Moorish king Faraxen), Gaul, Italy,
and the Danube lands. Despite some successes against
Postumus, he was finally forced to recognize him as de
facto ruler of the Gallic provinces, being handicapped by
a great inroad of the Goths by land and sea and by repeated
attempts of pretenders to seize the throne. Plague also raged
in the Empire, and a severe earthquake destroyed many
flourishing cities of Asia Minor (a. d. 262). Further, insubor-
dination of the troops caused grave damage : Byzantium,
for example, was plundered by her own garrison. A re-
newed invasion of the Goths laid waste the Balkan lands and
Greece a second time, and when these devastations were at
their worst, one of Gallienus’ best generals, Aureolus, to whom
he had entrusted the command of a strong force of cavalry
regiments destined to fight Postumus, turned his arms against
his master. Gallienus rushed from the Danube to Italy,
defeated and besieged Aureolus in Milan, but was killed by
his own soldiers, who proclaimed as emperor M. Aurelius
Claudius, an officer of the Danubian army and an Illyrian by
birth (a. d. 263). With Claudius begins a series of Roman
392 The ^Military ^Anarchy chap.
emperors, mostly brave generals of the Roman army, Danu-
bians by origin, who endeavoured to restore the unity of the
Empire and to prevent it from being entirely flooded by
its Northern and Eastern neighbours. They had, of course,
like their predecessors, to face the insubordination and the
treacherous attitude of the army. Like their predecessors, too,
almost all of them fell victims to military plots, and during
the reign of each usurpers sprang up in different parts of the
Empire. But, while such behaviour seemed to have become
a kind of tradition or firmly rooted habit of the army, we find
signs of a sound reaction against the dismemberment of the
Empire and the licentious conduct of the soldiers. From the
purely military point of view the troops, and not the troops
of the Danube regions only, appear to be better trained and
show a better fighting spirit. As a whole, they were true
to their allegiance to the emperors : the latter, indeed, were
mostly the victims of treacherous conspiracies, but these
conspiracies were the work of small groups in which the mass
of the soldiers took no active part.
We must content ourselves with a very brief sketch of
the complicated and dramatic history of the last thirty years
of the third century. The rule of Claudius ® was distinguished
by exploits in Germany and on the Danube, where he finally
crushed the forces of the Goths and stopped their advance
towards Italy for more than a century. He fully deserves
the surname of Gothicus under which he is known to history.
He had, however, no time to reunite with the Roman Empire
the independent Gallic Empire, though it was in a state of
internal dissolution, one emperor succeeding another in rapid
succession after the death of Postumus (Ulpius Cornelius
Laelianus, M. Aurelius Marius, M. Piavonius Victorinus).
More prosperous and better consolidated was the Eastern
Empire of Palmyra under the rule of Zenobia and her young
son Vaballathus. Gradually Zenobia formed the idea of
creating an independent Eastern Roman Empire with an
independent Augustus as its ruler.
In 270 Claudius perished on the Danube, a victim of the
plague which again ravaged the ranks both of Romans and
of barbarians. His brother M. Aurelius Claudius Quintillus
was proclaimed emperor in the West and was reco^ized by
the senate, but he was nnable to maintain himself against
L. Domitius Aurelianus, the ablest of the generals of Claudius,
X The 3dilttary Anarchy 393
a Danubian peasant like Maximinus, and a soldier who had
made a brilliant career for himself by personal merit. “ The
short reign of Aurelian was a time of extreme peril for the
Roman Empire but also of brilliant triumphs for the Roman
arms, comparable to those of Trajan and M. Aurelius. His first
task was to defend Italy from a formidable invasion of German
tribes, the Juthungi and the Alemanni. After some successes
against the Juthungi in Raetia and against the Vandals in
Pannonia Aurelian had to face an overwhelming invasion of
Italy by the joint forces of the Juthungi and Alemanni.
Defeated by them near Milan, faced with a rebellion in Rome
and in some of the provinces, threatened by a new invasion
of the Goths, and confronted with a definite breach of alle-
giance by the Palmyrene Empire, Aurelian fortified the cities
of Italy including Rome, called the youth of Italy to arms,
and finally succeeded in driving the barbarians from Italy and
in re-establishing his authority both in Rome and in the pro-
vinces. After defeating the Goths, he marched against Queen
Zenobia, and in a difficult campaign restored the supremacy
of Rome in the East, reconquered Egypt, and captured both
the city of Palmyra and the rulers of the Palmyrene Em-
pire, in spite of the help sent them by the Persians. Re-
turning to Europe, where he had to fight the Carpi on the
lower Danube, he was suddenly recalled to the East by the
outbreak of revolts in Palmyra and Alexandria, the latter
headed by a wealthy Alexandrian merchant and industrial
magnate named Firmus. Both rebellions were swiftly crushed,
and it remained for Aurelian to complete the restoration of
imperial unity by reducing the Gallic Empire to obedience.
The task proved a comparatively easy one, as the last Gallic
emperor, C. Pius Esuvius Tetricus, a Roman senator, betrayed
his own army and at the critical moment passed over to the
side of Aurelian. After a splendid triumph in Rome (a. d. 274)
Aurelian left again for the provinces, to restore peace in Gaul
and to prepare an expedition against the Persians. During
these preparations he was killed by a band of conspirators
near Perinthus in Thrace (a. d. 275).
The conspirators had no candidate of their own, and the
troops referred the election of a new emperor to the senate.
Apparently, even the army, accustomed as it was to create
and depose emperors, was still convinced that the legitimacy
of an emperor depended in the last instance on the senate.
394 Military dinarchy chap.
The senate elected its princeps, the first on the list of senators,
M. Claudius Tacitus, the last ruler who endeavoured to restore
the co-operation of emperor and senate on equal terms.
Called by an invasion of the Goths to Asia Minor, Tacitus
took the field against them and routed them, but in
the hour of victory fell by the hand of conspirators.” The
Eastern army elected M. Aurelius Probus in his stead ; the
West recognized as its emperor the brother of Tacitus, M.
Annius Florianus. A new civil war broke out. Near Tarsus
the rivals met, but Florianus was slain by his own troops
before a battle took place. The rule of Probus shows the
same features which marked all the reigns of the last half of
the third century. Not only had he the heavy task of fighting
the barbarians both in Syria and in Gaul, which was overrun
in 276 by the Germans, who pitilessly destroyed the flourishing
cities and the fertile fields of the province. He had also
to combat rivals or usurpers, Bonosus and Proculus in Gaul,
Satuminus in Syria. While preparing for an expedition
against the Persians, he was killed in a. d. 282 by his own
soldiers at Sirmium, his birthplace. His successor was
M. Aurelius Carus, another Danubian,^^ whose main exploit
was a successful expedition against the Persians while his son
Carinus ruled the West. During the Persian expedition
Carus died, and his second son Numerianus was assassinated in
Asia Minor on his return journey from the East by his father-
in-law Arrius Aper, who hoped to succeed to the throne.
Aper, however, was not elected emperor. The officers of the
army proclaimed C. Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus, and he
was at once recognized by the East. In the civil war which
followed between Carinus and Diocletianus, Carinus w'as
defeated and slain, and Diocletianus remained sole emperor.
Contrary to all expectation, Diocletian was able to maintain
his position as emperor unopposed and unchallenged for the
whole of his reign. He was no worse and no better than his
predecessors, and if he succeeded in the task in which they
had failed, it was because the time was ripe and the measure
of suffering was full. The Roman Empire bitterly needed
peace and was ready to accept it from the emperor at any
price.
Before attacking the difficult task of analysing and
explaining the great social and political revolution which we
have outlined, a revolution which took more than fifty years
X The didtUtary t.Anarchy 395
to exhaust itself, we must examine the policy which was
followed by the Roman emperors during this crisis. Even
a superficial reader of the sources which refer to this troubled
period may easily recognize in ail the measures taken by
the emperors, and particularly in the daily practice of their
administration, the leading principles which had been once
and for all laid down by the Severi and which were partly
based on precedents set in the period of the enlightened
monarchy. Most of the emperors after Alexander were faithful
disciples of Septimius, no less faithful than the members of
his own house. From time to time we notice a strong reaction
against that policy, desperate attempts to get back to the
glorious and blessed times of the Antonines, but in fact these
attempts caused additional bloodshed and resulted in a still
more devoted allegiance on the part of succeeding emperors
to the main principles of the policy of Septimius.
Of these we have already spoken, and we have explained
their origin, but it may be helpful to summarize them briefly.
From the political point of view, Septimius began a systematic
militarization of the government, which had been completely
bureaucratized by his predecessors. A militarized bureaucracy
was the watchword, and at the head of this bureaucracy a
monarch with autocratic power, hereditary in his family, his
power being based on the allegiance of the army and the state
officials and on the personal worship of the emperor. To
militarize the bureaucracy was equivalent to barbarizing it,
as the army now consisted almost wholly of peasants from the
less civilized parts of the Empire and of the children of settled
soldiers and veterans. To attain these objects — the militariza-
tion of the government and the security of the imperial power —
the old upper classes were gradually eliminated from the
commanding posts in the army and from the administrative
posts in the provinces. They were replaced by a new military
aristocracy. Like the emperors themselves, this aristocracy
sprang from the ranks of the Roman army and, like the
emperors, it was subject to perpetual change; new men
constantly rose from the rank and file of the army to replace
those who were advanced to equestrian offices and to a seat
in the senate.
The system of administration conducted by this militarized
bureaucracy was mainly dictated froip above, and its character
was a natural consequence of the utter instability of the
396 The .Military .Anarchy chap.
imperial power. It might be defined as a system of permanent
terrorism which from time to time assumed acute forms.
The most important part in the administration was played
by countless thousands of policemen of different denomina-
tions, all of them personal military agents of the emperor.
Their duty was to watch the people closely both in the
cities and in the country, and to arrest those who were con-
sidered dangerous to the emperor. They were probably
employed also to quell any troubles and strikes that might
arise from the heavy pressure of the government on the
population in the matter of taxation and compulsory work,
and to use physical compulsion against those w^ho failed to
pay their taxes or to discharge the public burdens to which
they were liable.
A salient feature of this system of organized terrorism
was the further development of the principle of compulsion
in all dealings of the government with the population, par-
ticularly in the sphere of taxation and forced labour. Along
with taxation, but much more oppressive than it w'as and no
less methodically applied, went the system of requisitioning
foodstuffs, raw material, manufactured goods, money, ships,
draught cattle and men for transport purposes, and so forth.
A complement to the system of requisitions was the demand
made on the people for personal work. On it was based, for
instance, the method of recruiting and the arrangements for
all emergency work required by the government. The same
system of compulsion also reigned supreme in the organization
of the economic activities of the state. The richer members
of the community were made responsible for the cultiva-
tion of the land which belonged to the state, for the collection
of taxes and of requisitioned goods and money, and for the
transport of goods and men moved on behalf of the state. As
the success of the system depended on its power easily to
reach and keep within call everybody who was subject to
compulsion, there was a natural tendency to bind every
individual alike to his place of residence and to the particular
group to which he belonged by birth and by profession. A
tiller of the soil ought to remain in his domicile, and he ought
to carry on his work without regard to his desires and inclina-
tions. A soldier should remain in camp, and his children
should take up military service as soon as they reached
a certain age. A member of the municipal aristocracy should
X T"h,e 34 ilitary \Anarchy 397
be at hand in his own city to carry out the obligations con-
nected with his position. A shipowner was called upon to
remain a member of his corporation as long as he was able to
conduct his business. And so on.
There was nothing new in the system as such. But under
the conditions of a permanent revolution it assumed un-
paralleled proportions and, being used not as a subsidiary, but
as the main, resource of the government, it became a real
plague which undermined and destroyed both the prosperity
of the Empire and the spirit of its inhabitants. It no longer
amounted to a series of emergency measures carried out in
difficult times and dropped as soon as normal conditions
were re-established, as had been the case under the Antonines
and even under the Severi. When abnormal conditions
ceased to be the exception and became the rule, measures
which had been regarded as temporary emergency measures
became the regular system of administration, the foundation
of the whole fabric of government.
It is no easy task to sketch the development of this
system in the troubled times of the military anarchy. Our
information is scanty and little to be trusted. There is,
however, one moment at the very beginning of this age
when we have ample and good information, on which we can
thoroughly rely — the period following the murder of Alexander
and extending over the short reign of Maximinus and the re-
action after his death, but not including the rule of Gordian III
and the six years of Philip, on which we have almost no
evidence. For the reign of Maximinus we have the substantial
and dramatic report of a contemporary, Herodian, which is
repeated by the Latin biographies of the emperors of the
time, with some additions taken from another Greek his-
torian of the third century, perhaps Dexippus. For the rule
of Philip we have the speech entitled ‘ To the Emperor' (Ets
/SacrtXea), written by a contemporary, a man of good education
and of comparatively high standing, who was well acquainted
with the conditions of his time, especially in the East.^® There
may be many exaggerations in his characterization of Philip ;
there is undoubtedly a certain idealization of his character ;
but even this part of the speech is interesting and important,
as it shows not so much the ideas and ideals of Philip as those
of the educated classes of the time. In that respect the speech
is comparable with those of Dio and with some of the orations
398 The Military Jlnarchy chap.
of Aristides. On the other hand, its negative portion, which
was intended to present a contrast to the endeavours of Philip
and to the aspirations of the educated classes, gives a true and
perfectly trustworthy picture of the conditions which prevailed
in the Empire before Philip’s accession. This picture agrees
in all its details with that given by Herodian and Dexippus.
The question whether Maximinus, after the murder of
Alexander, endeavoured to obtain confirmation of his power
by the senate is not of great moment.^® His activity after
his accession and after his first victories over the Germans,
when he was in urgent need of money and full of hatred
towards the better classes of the population, is much more
important as an indication of his real attitude and aspirations.
His rule began and ended with a regime of terror. ‘ What
was the use’, says Herodian, ‘ of barbarians being annihilated ’
— an allusion to the military successes of Maximinus in Ger-
many — ‘ when greater slaughter took place in Rome itself and
in the provinces ? ’ And the Latin biographer says more
specifically ; ‘ People heard in Rome how some men were
crucified, others sewn into the bodies of animals freshly killed,
others thrown to wild beasts, others beaten with cudgels,
and all this without any discrimination of their standing.’ We
may believe or disbelieve in the statement that he ruthlessly
exterminated all the higher officials of Alexander Severus,
yet there is not a shadow of doubt that his reign opened
with a relentless extermination of his enemies, which never
ceased.^’ The fact is not only stated by Herodian and the
Latin biographer but is also expressly affirmed in the speech
Els ^axrCkia. In speaking of the accession of Philip, the author
says ; ‘ Those others began their rule ’—he is alluding, of course,
specially to Maximinus — ‘with wars and many murders, de-
stroying numbers of the officials and bringing on a multitude of
others irremediable calamities, so that many provincial cities
were desolated, much land was laid waste, and manv human
beings perished.’ When the revolt against Maximinus in
Africa was suppressed by his legate Capellianus with the
help of the African army, wholesale murder raged all over
the country. For evidence we have not only the assertions of
Herodian and the Latin biographer but also a touching
inscription found in Africa : ‘ Sacred to the memory of
L. Aemilius Severinus, called also Phillyrio, who lived for
about sixty-six years and died for his love of the Romans,
X The ^Military ^Anarchy 399
being captured by this (fellow) Capelianus. Victorinus/ called
also Verota (erected the monument) in memory of friendship
and mindful of piety.’ The reader will note the opposition of
the Romans to the barbarians led by Maximinus and Capellia-
nus. We shall revert to this feature later
Such a method of terrorism was not new ; we have seen
that the same method of propping up the imperial power was
inherited by the military tyrants of the first century a. d.
from the leaders in the civil wars of the first century b. c.,
and that it was revived by Domitian, and consistently carried
out by Septimius and his house. The novelty was the un-
precedented cruelty of the Thracian soldier and the fact that,
once started, the system was pursued by the successors of
Maximinus for more than fifty years. Another novel feature
was that the victims of the terrorism were not only, as under
Septimius, the higher classes of the imperial aristocracy and
a section of the municipal aristocracy but the whole of the
intellectual and bourgeois class. A corollary to this campaign
of murder was, as in the time of Septimius, the replacing of the
victims by men who, like the emperor himself, belonged to
the lower classes, mostly common soldiers who had quite
recently become members of the new equestrian class. Once
more our sources are very explicit on the point : the Latin
biographer for example says, ‘ he would have no man of noble
rank in his entot^rage ’
If Maximinus’ terrorism was not confined to the imperial
nobility, the chief reason was his pressing need of money,
which led him to attack the bourgeoisie of the Empire in
general, and especially that of the cities, and to rob them as if
they belonged to a conquered foreign state instead of being
Roman citizens, who mostly owed their citizenship to Cara-
calla’s grant of a few years before. We may quote again the
bitter but perfectly justified words of Herodian, himself a
member of the persecuted class : ‘ Every day one could see
the wealthiest men of yesterday beggars to-day. Such was
the greed of the tyranny which used the pretext that it
needed a constant supply of money to pay the soldiers.’
‘ But ’, he proceeds, ‘ as long as these things were done to individuals
and the calamity was confined to the classes nearest to the court,
the people of the cities and of the provinces did not pay much attention
to them. The misfortunes of the rich, or those whom they think to be
well off, are not only disregarded by the masses, but sometimes even
400 The Ddilitary diarchy chap.
delight ill-disposed persons of the baser sort, because they are jealous
of their betters who are favoured by fortune. But when Maximinus,
after reducing most of the distinguished houses to penury, found that the
spoils were few and paltry and by no means sufficient for his purposes,
he attacked public property. All the money belonging to the cities that
was collected for the victualling of the populace or for distribution
among them, or was devoted to theatres or to religious festivals, he
diverted to his own use ; and the votive offerings set up in temples,
the statues of the gods, the tributes to heroes, all the adornments of
the public buildings, everything that served to beautify the cities,
even the metal out of which money could be coined, all were melted
down. This conduct greatly grieved the people of the cities. . . . Even
the soldiers were displeased at what was done, for their relatives and
kinsfolk reproached them, bearing them a grudge, since it was on their
account that Maximinus did these things.’
It is impossible to say how far Herodian is right in general-
izing about the conduct of Maximinus and speaking of a
wholesale pillage of the cities throughout the Empire. The
fact that after his reign we have very few of those inscriptions,
so frequent in the second century and in the first years of the
third, which mention large donations to the cities by rich
citizens, and foundations established by them for the very
purposes enumerated by Herodian, shows that the well-to-do
class was alarmed by the confiscations of Maximinus, and that
his methods were probably taken over by his successors. One
cannot believe that the wealth accumulated by generations
in the cities could disappear at once, but the ruthless pro-
cedure of Maximinus and of those who followed his example
evidently dealt a mortal blow at the civic spirit of the higher
classes, and induced them to conceal their wealth and appear
as poor as possible. The system of liturgies, moreover,
diverted everything that had formerly been spent by the
cities, or by rich citizens on their behalf, into the treasury
of the state and into the pockets of the financial agents of
the government. Thus the accumulated capital of the Empire,
which (as we have seen) was not very large, was severely
assailed and never recovered from the deadly blows ad-
ministered to it by Septimius Severus and by the emperors
of the period of military anarchy.®^
As in the time of Septimius, the system of terrorism was
carried out by an army of spies and military police. In the
speech Els fiaaikea the orator says of Philip :
‘ About his justice let what I have said suffice. What benevolence can
X T"he O^tlitary ^Anarchy 401
be greater and more conspicuous than this ? All the provinces lay
cowering and enslaved by fear, since many spies went round all the
cities listening to what people were saying. It was impossible to think
or speak freely, when all temperate and just liberty of speech was
destroyed and every one trembled at his own shadow. From this fear
he released the souls of all and set them free, restoring to them their
liberty full and complete.’
If we compare this statement with the inscriptions of the time
of Septimius which have been quoted in the preceding chapter,
we shall realize that there is no exaggeration in the orator’s
words and that the system of Maximinus was only the logical
outcome of the practice first systematized by Hadrian, and
afterwards developed in a masterly fashion by Septimius. We
may be confident that in the period subsequent to Maximinus
there was no change in this respect, except perhaps for the
worse.
But all the measures taken by the emperors to safeguard
their power and to fill up their treasury were vain. The same
author emphasizes this point by insisting on the heavy burden
of taxation and on the emptiness of the treasury The docu-
ments corroborate his statement and reveal to our eyes the
working of the system and all its consequences. We shall
speak of it later, in describing the economic situation of the
Empire in the third century. Everybody saw, of course, that
the root of the evil was the army, those bands of greedy and
licentious soldiers who were the real masters of the emperors
and who did not love work or fighting but enjoyed robbing
and pillaging their own fellow citizens. The fact is definitely
stated by the author of the speech ‘ To the Emperor ’ , and
both Herodian and the Latin biographer support him. He
says once more of Philip :
‘ Many [of the previous emperors] were brave in face of the foe, but
they were ruled or mastered by their own soldiers. He, however,
easily mastered them and so reduced them to order that, although
they received many vast sums and might have been troublesome and
formidable if they did not receive as much or even more, their covetous
desires were not whetted.’
Under the pressure of the system of terrorism, which had
never before been carried out so systematically or so pitilessly
as under Maximinus, tension became so high and the popu-
lation, especially the population of the cities,-® so exasperated
that, despite the terror, revolts broke out one after another,
2354-2 D d
402 The Military tAnarchy chap.
first in Africa, and then in Italy. The events in Africa are
generally misrepresented by modern scholars, who persist in
speaking of a peasant revolt, in face of the clear statement of
Herodian, our best source, who was misunderstood and mis-
translated by the Latin biographer of Maximinus. What
really happened was as follows. After the accession of Maxi-
minus the procurator of Africa received a commission to
extort money there for the emperor. That he was appointed
governor of the province in place of the aged proconsul
M. Antonius Gordianus, who retired to the city of Thysdrus,
is a very attractive hypothesis of von Domaszewski.^’ The
procurator, reluctantly helped by the quaestor and his
assistants, proceeded in the usual ruthless manner and
attacked particularly the rich landowners of the province, who
formed, as we know, the most influential portion of the
population of the African cities. Some of these men, described
by Herodian as ‘ well-bom and rich ’ , being threatened with
the prospect of losing their ‘ paternal and ancestral estates’,
organized a plot. To ensure its complete success, they ordered
some of their olKirai (slaves or tenants, probably the former)
to come from their estates to the city armed with axes and
sticks. Such a crowd would not look suspicious to the pro-
curator, who was accustomed to receive from the peasants
complaints against their landlords. These men killed the
procurator, and then the leaders of the plot, a group of African
landowners, whose numbers were increased by other men
of the same class, proclaimed Gordian emperor.*^® Gordian,
however, did not succeed in receiving any support from the
African army. His forces were a motley crowd consisting of
a few soldiers (perhaps the cohors urbana of Carthage) and
a militia composed of men who dwelt in the cities, probably
the members of the curiae nmiorum. They were attracted by
Gordian’s promise to banish all the spies and to restore the
confiscated estates. These troops were badly equipped and
badly organized. They had no weapons and used such as
were to be found in the houses of the African bourgeoisie —
swords, axes, and hunting javelins (the equipment of hunters
may be seen on numerous African mosaics).^® It is hardly
probable that many peasants and tenants joined his standard.
No wonder that his army was easily vanquished by the regular
troops of Africa, led by the Numidian legatus Capellianus,
his personal enemy. The victory was followed by an orgy
X 'The ^Military tAnarchy 403
of murder and confiscation. Capellianus first executed all
the aristocracy of Carthage and confiscated both their private
fortunes and the money belonging to the city and the temples.
He then proceeded to do the same in the other cities, ‘ killing
the prominent men, exiling the common citizens, and ordering
the soldiers to bum and pillage the estates and the villages’
Meanwhile Gordian had been recognized at Rome, and the
Romans, even after his death, persisted in their revolt against
Maximinus. The revolt spread quickly all over Italy and
assumed the same form as the revolt of Africa : it was
a desperate fight of the city bourgeoisie against the soldiers
and their leader, the soldier-emperor. The task of the senate
was to organize and lead this bourgeoisie. Pupienus formed
an army, which consisted of recruits collected in Rome and
Italy and which was supplied and supported by the city popula-
tion throughout the peninsula. That the emperors elected by
” the senate had the full support of the cities, is proved by the
behaviour of the people of Emona, who thoroughly devastated
their own territory in order to deprive Maximinus of supplies,
and by the valiant and heroic resistance of the city of Aquileia,
which decided the fate of Maximinus. The victory of Pu-
pienus and Balbinus was thus a temporary victory of the
bourgeoisie.^^
In fighting Maximinus, the cities fought against the new
system of administration introduced by Septimius. Their
enemy was the military monarchy, and their ideal was the
enlightened monarchy of the Antonines based on the city
bourgeoisie. This is shown by the fact that after the death
of Maximinus no attempt was made to restore the Republican
form of government. The election of Pupienus and Balbinus
emphasized the senate’s point of view that the emperor should
be the best representative of the senatorial class, and not
a nominee of the soldiers. The same view that the best man
should be emperor permeates the speech in honour of Philip,
of which we have frequently spoken. In its main ideas the
speech reproduces the ideal picture of an emperor given in
the speeches of Dio, and it is not an accident that the iyKcofiiov
of Philip bears the title Ets ^aa-tkea. By /3acriX,eus the author
meant, of course, the Stoic holder of supreme power. Another
remarkable coincidence may be noted between this speech
and thg_ edict of Alexander Severus on the aurum coronarium,
referred to in the preceding chapter, which contains a
Dd2
DESCRIPTION OF PLATE LVI
1. MOSAIC. Found in the ruins of a rich house near El I
Museum of Bardo, Tunis. Inv, des mos., ii. i {Tunisie), No. C)4
(and a coloured plate) ; S. Reinach, Rip, d, peint,, p. 298, 1.
The picture is arranged in three bands. The upper shows two
young men, who have probably just left the villa, riding slowly in
an olive grove ; between them walks a servant on foot carrying a
sort of fork (to act as a beater). In the second band another
servant is seen, holding on a leash tw:) tall hounds (* slougiiis ^),
which he is ready to launch against a hare found by two dogs in
a bush. In the third the hare is being pursued by th(‘ two horse-
men and the hounds. Hunting scenes are as popular in Africa as
agricultural scenes. See our pL XLVib cp. Inv. d. ii, i
(Tunisie), No. 375 (Oudna) ; No. 601 (Carthage! : ii. 2 (Algerie),
No, 260 (Oued Atmenia), Cp. our plates LVlil, uml LX.
2. MOSxAIC. Found in the ruins of the fine house of a
certain Sorothus near Sousse (Hadrumetiim). !viiiseum of the 1 Vth
regiment of the Tirailleurs at Sousse. Ijuk d. nun., ii. i (Tunisie),
No. 126 ; S. Reinach, Rip, d. peint., p. 360, 3. Cp. the companion
mosaic in Inv. d. mos,, ii. i, No, 124.
The four corners of the mosaic are occupied by four medallions,
in each of which are represented two race-horses near a palm tree,
with their names written above and below them — Amor, Domina-
tor, Adorandus, Crinitus, Ferox . . . , Pegasus. . . . The lunettes
between the medallions are filled with the figure of a hare hiding
in the bushes. The centre of the mosaic depicts a meadow at
the foot of a range of mountains, from which a river flows.
Watch-towers are seen in the mountains, trees and grazing goats
on the slopes of the hills, and a herd of mares with colts grazing
in the meadow. The horses are beautifullv drawn. Cp, our
pi. XLVH, 2.
X The Military Jlnarchy 4^5
summary of the programme of the new ruler. In this edict
Alexander Severus, or rather his advisers, laid stress on the
point that the emperor intended to follow the examples ot
Trajan and Marcus and that his rule was to be based on
(TOiSpoo-vim, <j>L\avepcm[a, evepyecria, Koo-^tonjs a^nd iyKpa7€La,
all the Stoic virtues.® Still more explicit is the speech Ets
Sao-iXca It is addressed to the ^ikdv6p(imo<s ^acn\€v<;. hirst
and foremost, the' King’ is praised as a man who has received
the imperial power, not like the others by opposing force to
justice and not ‘ as though to save the regular sequence and
Accession in one family ' . but by the vome of public opinion
bv the general consent of the population of the Roman
Empire The orator proceeds to set forth the mam featurp
of Dilip’s rule and praises the emperor as oo-ios and euo-e^ijs,
as TrpSos and aoKios, and above all as a-dfpmv,SUaio?, iyKpar^,
and%\dvepw 7 ro^. In every field of activity his policy is the
direct opposite of that of the military monarchy : he puts no
trust in spies and informers, he does not rob his subjects, he
is a good g^eral, but, more than all, he is a successful politician
and^diplomat, and he is not the slave but
soldiers. Is not this precisely the Stoic
and wise king which was applied to Trajan by Dio . D does
4 o 6 The ^Military ^Anarchy chap.
of the situation, and that it was futile to dream of the restora-
tion of a rule based on the peaceful elements of the population
as represented by the city how geohie. Philip’s successors,
and in some respects even Philip himself, understood the
position and suited their action to it.®^
The policy of the military monarchy thus triumphed
over the last attempt of the city bowgeoisie to restore the
supremacy of the intellectual and propertied classes in the
Roman Empire. But the victory of the army was won at
the expense of the safety and the prosperity of the Empire.
The victors indulged in a real orgy and reduced the Empire
to such a condition that its very existence was for a while
imperilled. We have spoken of the formidable attacks of
the barbarians and of the gradual disintegration of the Empire
under their pressure. The chief cause of these repeated
attacks was, of course, the internal strife which never ceased
within the Empire. The victory of the army was the triumph
of the militaristic and autocratic form of government. The.
truth was realized by those emperors who now, under the
most difficult conditions, undertook the task of saving the
state and restoring its unity at any cost. Little wonder if
these emperors definitely gave up the dream of restoring the
system of the Antonines and began to build up and to sys-
tematize the militaristic state, which was supported by the
only real force in the Empire, the army. After the experiences
of the reigns of Maximinus and his immediate successors, it
became evident that the bowgeoisie was too weak and too
ill organized to lend effective support to the central power.
The first to recognize this painful fact fully was the
Emperor Gallienus, himself a member of the senatorial aris-
tocracy, a man with intellectual interests and of good educa-
tion. He therefore began to build up the fabric of a militar-
istic state based on the army. Evidently this could not be
done all at once : Gallienus and his successors were bound
to make minor concessions to the opposite camp and introduce
the new system gradually. But the day of compromise, when
attempts might be made to maintain the chief institutions of
the Antonine period, as had been done under the Severi, was
past and gone. From this time onwards these institutions
become more and more survivals, and the leading part is
played by the militaristic methods initiated by Septimius.
Even our scanty information permits us to see that Gallienus
X T’he (‘Military (Anarchy 407
was the first to deduce the consequences involved in the policy
of thoroughly militarizing the Roman bureaucracy. It was
he who excluded the senatorial class definitively from the posts
of command in the army and who took the decisive step of
regularly appointing as governors of the provinces members
of the equestrian class, that is to say, former soldiers. Himself
of senatorial origin, Gallienus was forced to deal the death-
blow to the aspirations of the upper classes and to build up
the new military aristocracy of the Empire. After his time
no member of the senatorial class had access to the post of
commander of a legion or of a special detachment for military
purposes {vexillatio). In the provinces to which senatorial
governors were still sent it is probable that their power did
not extend over the equestrian commanders of the legions ;
and there is no doubt that elsewhere the military men reigned
supreme, alike in the provinces and at the imperial court.
The equestrian career was now in fact a purely military
career, the civil posts playing but an insignificant part in the
militarized administration of the Empire.®®
The rule of Aurelian, short as it was, seems to have been
another stage in the same process. The Empire presents to
us the appearance of a beleaguered country, where a state of
siege reigns and where all the cities are merely so many
fortresses ready to repulse the attacks of the enemy. The
same is true of many villages and of the great villas, the
centres of large private estates. It is unfortunate that our
evidence on the important reign of Aurelian is so meagre and
that the few data which we have very often refer to sub-
sidiary matters and to local measures of very little importance.
It is generally assumed that Aurelian took the last and
decisive step in transforming the imperial power into a pure
military autocracy, based on religious sanction. On this view
the emperor is now king ‘ by the grace of God’, and God is
the almighty Sun, the supreme god of the Illyrian troops.
There is no doubt that Sol was the god of Aurelian’ s predi-
lection, and that in his time the cult played a part in the city
of Rome similar to that played by the cult of the Syrian
Elagabal during the rule of his chief priest. It is certain also
that a kind of solar monotheism was supreme among the
Danubian troops before and under Aurelian.®® How far,
however, we may rely upon the testimony of the continuator
of Cassius Dio (Petrus Patricius), who affirms that during
4 o 8 The ^dilitary jlnarchy chap.
a revolt of his troops Aurelian laid emphasis on the fact
that it was God, and not the troops, that had given him
the purple, is not at all clear. It is worth noting that the
same saying was attributed by Cassius Dio, almost in the
same circumstances, to M. Aurelius.^’’ On the other hand,
apart from his devotion to Sol and to Hercules,** the chief
god of the Antonines, there is very little evidence about
Aurelian’s theocratic tendencies. As a matter of fact, he was
as much an autocrat as many of his predecessors. A strong
personality, conscious of what he thought to be his duty,
he ruled the reunited Empire with a firm hand, and ruled it
alone. But the same is true of many of his predecessors.
As regards his attitude towards the senate and the city
bourgeoisie, he adopted at the beginning of his reign the policy
of terrorism, which was somewhat relaxed when after his
victories over Zenobia he was able temporarily to . fill his
treasury with the spoil of a part of the Empire.
How far Aurelian developed the militarization of the
imperial administration, it is impossible to say. He was
known as a good administrator, as a man who maintained
discipline both among his military and civil officers and among
his soldiers, but we can hardly rely upon the details furnished
in this connexion by his Latin biographer. There are prac-
tically, only two measures wholly attributable to Aurelian
which were real attempts to concentrate the life of the state
in the hands of the emperor and so constituted a further
development of the policy pursued by his militaristic and
autocratic predecessors. The first of these was the energetic
action taken to regulate the utterly disorganized currency
of the Empire, to unify it, and to eliminate almost all the
local autonomous mints, including the senatorial mint at
Rome. It was one of the last blows aimed at the autonomy
of the cities of the Empire and at the prerogatives of the
senate.
The second measure affected the associations which were
in the service of the state. We have followed the consecutive
stages of the evolution of these associations. The government
steadily assumed increased control of the most important
of them, especially those formed by the shipowners and by the
wholesale merchants dealing in foodstuffs. Side by side'with
this etaiisation went the nationalization of the associations of
workmen engaged in special work connected with trade and
X ’The ^vlilitary (Anarchy 409
transport in the large cities, and of such corporations as were
connected with the security of life in the Italian and pro-
vincial cities, especially the local fire-brigades, known under
the names of collegia dendrophorum et centonariorum. The
men occupied in the imperial mints were also brought under
full state control and quasi-military discipline. In each case
there was involved not only strict control of the corporations
by agents of the state, but also the attachment of individuals
both to their profession and to their place of residence, and
the tendency to transform the individual’s obligation into
a hereditary munus. We have seen how Alexander Severus
extended government control to those associations which
were important for ensuring a regular food-supply for the
capital. Aurelian seems to have taken a decisive step in this
connexion. The allusion is not to his temporary militarization
of all the associations of Rome for the purpose of building the
walls of the city. Similar measures may have been taken
in other cities of the Empire which were transformed into
fortified castles. I cannot think that this measure, which
consisted in a careful registration of all the members of the
building corporations and in giving to these corporations the
title of Aureliani (with which may be compared the corre-
sponding measures of Commodus in respect of the navicularii) ,
was perpetuated, and that it should be considered as the
beginning of a new era for all the corporations of the capital.
On the other hand, it is highly probable that, in connexion
with the reorganization of the system of victualling the city
of Rome, Aurelian reorganized the associations which were
connected with the food trade and the transport of foodstuffs
and made them real agents of the state, departments of the
administration, subject to stern discipline under the strict
control of officers of the Roman garrison. For the corpora-
tions this meant that their members were now definitely
bound to them, and that they themselves might be reinforced
by the compulsory enrolment of new members. If such a
measure was taken by Aurelian for the capital, which indeed
is no more than an hypothesis, it was doubtless extended
at least to the cities of Alexandria and Carthage ; and in
all probability the same system was gradually imposed
by individual rescripts on local corporations all over the
Empire.®*
The strong and consistent rule of Aurelian— the great
410 The ^dilitary tAnarchy chap.
restorer of the Roman Empire, who once again, and more
efficiently than before, centralized the government of the
Empire in the city of Rome and appeared as the head of
a thoroughly militarized bureaucracy, whose work was based
on the compulsory participation of all groups of the population
of the Empire in the work of administration and also in
furnishing the Empire with the means of existence and with
a supply of labour — ended quite surprisingly in what seemed
to be a temporary restoration of senatorial rule over the
Empire'. Nor was this the result of a counter-revolution, as
in the period after Maximinus, of a bitter struggle between
the cities and the army ; it was the consequence of a decision
taken by the army. Instead of Aurelian, the senate elected
as sole emperor Tacitus, the princeps senatus. It is evident
that such a possibility implies the disappearance of the sharp
antagonism, which had existed under Maximinus, between
the senate, as representative of the city bourgeoisie, and
the army. I can see only one explanation of this amazing
event in the history of Rome, and that is that the senate no
longer represented the city bourgeoisie of the Empire, and
that, in regard to the vital questions of state life, there was
now a perfect accord between the senate and the emperor, the
commander-in-chief of the army. The senate felt as strongly
as the emperors, what indeed was beginning to be felt in the
ranks of the army, the urgent necessity of restoring order
if the Empire and Roman civilization were to be saved ; and
consequently it gave up, so far at least as the majority of
its members were concerned, the golden dream of restoring
the conditions of the Antonine period. The old words and
formulae were still used, for example, to glorify the new era
which had dawned for the Empire with the rule of the first
senator Tacitus, but they were mere words and did not imply
any acts or change of policy.
The fact is that after the terrible years of Maximinus, and
still more after the reforms of Gallienus, the senate no longer
represented the same classes of the population as before. The
members of the senate were now mostly former generals of
the army, who had risen from the lowest grades of military
service, and former military officers and officials of the
imperial administration. Taken all together, it was a new
aristocracy. It was also an aristocracy of great landowners.
We shall see in the next chapter how on the ruins of the old
X The 3 Vlilitary \Anarchy 41 1
landed aristocracy, imperial and municipal, there grew up
a new class of landowners, mostly ex-soldiers and ex-officers.
Alongside of them stood some of the ancient landowners, who
had succeeded not only in emerging safe from the storms of the
revolutionary period but even in increasing their estates by
grabbing new land. The senate now represented these new
men and no longer the enslaved and half-ruined city how-
geoisie. Such an aristocracy was, of course, vitally interested
in the restoration of order. It was indiherent to the past
glory of the cities, and was ready to support the emperor and
the army in their endeavours to restore the Empire. It was
willing to see the new social order which arose out of the
convulsions of the revolutionary age stabilized and con-
solidated.*®
The city bourgeoisie never recovered its position as the
leading class of the Roman Empire. Its forces were broken
by the savage executions and confiscations of Maximinus,
and still more by the system of liturgies which completed the
ruin begun by the acute spasms of terrorism. Whether, after
Septimius and Maximinus, it was subjected to new attacks
of the same kind we cannot say. There is no direct evidence
that it was ; but to complete its ruin no new attacks were
needed. The general economic conditions of the Empire
which will be described in the next chapter, the ruin of
commerce and industry, the terrible barbarian invasions of
the provinces — especially Gaul, the Danube provinces, Greece
and Asia Minor, and to a certain extent Africa and even
Egypt (the Blemmyes) — ^which wiped out the flourishing
centres of bourgeois life, the constant draining of the wealth of
this class by the various exactions of the government and by
the liturgical system, all these factors are sufficient to explain
the gradual decay of the cities and of their bourgeoisie. I do
not assert that the class disappeared : that would be notori-
ously untrue. It is not so easy, even by violent means, to
reduce to naught resources accumulated by centuries. The
middle class survived, and there were still some rich citizens
in the provincial and Italian cities. But it was a new bour-
geoisie, of a mean and servile type, which practised subter-
fuges and various tricks to evade the obligations imposed by
the state, a bourgeoisie which based its prosperity on exploita-
tion and speculation, but which nevertheless steadily went
down. In the main it lived on the past and did not add very
412 The 3s/[ilitary ^Anarchy chap.
much to the resources accumulated by the past. We shall
come back to this problem in the next chapter.
To sum up what has been said. In the period after
Alexander Severus we see the emperors under the constant
pressure of the army completing the process begun by Sep-
timius. The real diarchy of the age of the enlightened
monarchy, the diarchy of the central government and the
self-government of the cities, came to an end. The senatorial
and the ancient equestrian classes, which represented the
municipal bourgeoisie, gradually lost their social and political
privileges and disappeared. The municipal aristocracy was
still employed by the government and kept some of its social
privileges, but was enslaved : it no longer enjoyed initiative
and freedom. Its members acted on behalf of the state in the
capacity of servants, who closely resembled slaves. The new
system of government was based on the emperor and on a new
militarized bureaucracy, supported by the army. This was
the last phase of the development and the main result of the
long years of military anarchy.
Was this development the ideal of the emperors of the third
century ? We have tried to show that the policy was forced
upon Septimius by his usurpation of power. His real ideal
was the enlightened monarchy of the Antonines. As often
as the emperors were allowed by circumstances to show their
true colours, they appeared as supporters of the ancient
ideology. With the exception of Maximinus, who cordially
hated the old regime, they all proceeded reluctantly and
without enthusiasm on the path which led through the
development of a militarized bureaucracy to the destruction
of the ancient foundations of the Roman Empire. It is
evident that they did so because they were forced, and because
they saw that the ideals of the second century became more
and more a sorrowful anachronism. The master of the state
was the army, and the emperors had to adjust themselves
and the structure of the state to this bitter reality. The army
showed with perfect clearness that it was not prepared to
tolerate any preponderance of the old privileged classes, and
the emperors had no alternative but to comply with its
demand. By complying gradually and, as far as possible,
without excesses, they showed a real understanding of the
situation and a real patriotism. Their chief aim was, not the
destruction of the ancient social structure and the establish-
X
"The ^Military Anarchy 413
ment of a dictatorship of the army, but such an adjustment
of the constitution and the administration of the Empire as
would enable them, in the chaotic conditions which resulted
from the reigning anarchy, to keep the fabric of the Roman
state solid and intact, to protect it against dismemberment
and against conquest by enemies on its borders.
Gradually there came to be one vital question, how to
preserve the Roman Empire. To solve this question, all avail-
able forces were concentrated on the one task of maintaining
a strong army able to fight the enemy. This task required
a subordination of the interests of the people to those of the
state. The chaotic manner in which it was gradually accom-
plished was due to the military anarchy, which in the last
resort was the result of the expiring efforts of the city
bourgeoisie to restore its vanishing supremacy. As soon
as this struggle was over and the bourgeoisie was finally
crushed, the emperors devoted themselves wholly to the task
of restoring the unity and the strength of the state. The main
obstacle in their path was no longer civil war between the
bourgeoisie and the army but the army itself, which had little
efficiency and was utterly licentious. The efforts of the
emperors from Gallienus onwards were consequently devoted
to the task of reforming the army so as to make it an efficient
military instrument and, so far as possible, neutral as regards
politics. It was the same task as had been accomplished by
Augustus after the civil wars.
About the military reforms carried out by Gallienus and
his spccessors we tteive scanty information, and what we have
is little to be trusted. It is evident, however, that from the
military point of view the main task was to create a strong
mobile army, always ready to be moved to any threatened
frontier and therefore concentrated as near as possible to the
emperor’s place of residence. This was the reason for the
formation of a powerful army of cavalry under the direct
command of the emperor or of the most trusted of his generals.
It was also the reason for the decay of the provincial armies,
which gradually became units of local militia. Hence, too, the
creation of a special military aristocracy of protector es, bound to
the person of the emperor by ties of purely personal allegiance.
But this was only one part of the problem. The inefficiency
of the army was due not only to its provincial character —
to sits decentralization — ^but also to its constitution : it had
414 The Military Anarchy chap.
become an army of mobilized peasants, levied compulsorily
and not drawn from the best elements of the Roman popu-
lation. That constitution, as will be shown in the next chapter,
accounted also for its rebellious spirit. To do away with this
army of peasant proletarians was, therefore, another heavy
task for the emperors of the third century, as it had been the
main task of Augustus and of Vespasian. The solution was
gradually found in the replacement of conscripts by mercenary
soldiers. The masses of the population ceased to serve in the
army. For actual service was substituted payment, the so-
called aurum iironicum, and the money was used to hire
good mercenaries. The successive stages of this cardinal
process cannot be traced. We have seen that the working of
the new system began as early as the Severi. Its final conse-
quences were probably drawn by Gallienus and the great
military leaders of the last half of the third century. The
mercenary soldiers were carefully selected partly from among
the least civilized tribes of the Empire — Illyrians, Thracians,
Arabs, Moors, Britons — partly from among the Germans and
the Sarmatians. The last were attracted by the prospect of
good pay, or they were captives of war, who were enrolled in
the Roman army individually or in groups. Conscription was
as far as possible limited to the sons of the settled soldiers,
many of whom were originally barbarian captives, and to the
more warlike tribes of the Empire ; and this material was used
to man the frontier forts and to fill up the ranks of the pro-
vincial armies. Thus the emperors could rely upon the kernel
of their troops, who felt that they stood and fell with them,
being entirely foreign to the population ; and they were free
to use these troops even against the provincial armies in case
of necessity.
The consolidation of the army was achieved by a radical
and, indeed, desperate measure. The new Roman army was
no longer a Roman army. It was an army of the Roman
emperor or of the Roman state, but not an army of the Roman
people, even in the broadest sense of the term. It was not
a part of the Romari population and did not represent the
interests of that population. It was a special caste, main-
tained at the expense of the population to fight foreign
enemies. This caste now furnished the administrative
personnel of the Empire, the greater portion of the ruling class,
and the emperors themselves, Such an army could not be
X
The ilitary tA narchy 4 1 5
completely Romanized and absorbed by the population. Its
Romanized elements, of course, merged in the mass of the
population, but it was constantly being recruited by new
elements coming from foreign lands, and so it remained a foreign
military caste. Its upper layers now formed the ruling
aristocracy of the Roman Empire. They in turn, as soon as
they became Romanized, were replaced by new-comers, the
strongest and the ablest among the soldiers of the foreign
military caste. “
XI
THE ROMAN EMPIRE DURING THE PERIOD
OF MILITARY ANARCHY
We possess no general description of the Roman Empire
in the third century comparable to that of Aelius Aristides,
but the misery of the times is frequently expressed by con-
temporaries and is reflected in all the documents of the period.
Any one who reads attentively the speech Els ^acrikea,
which has been repeatedly quoted in the preceding chapter,
and compares it with the speeches of Dio and Pliny on the
one hand and of Aristides on the other, will realize the enor-
mous difference not only in the actual conditions but also in
the mood of the population as a whole and of the highest
classes in particular. No less impressive is the tone of the
Latin biographies of the third-century emperors, as contrasted
with those of the second century. We may believe that these
biographies were written in the fourth century and that they
reflect the interests and the attitude of the upper classes of
Theodosius’ time, but we cannot deny that even the writer
(or the writers) of the fourth century, with contemporary
sources before them, would unconsciously reflect not only
their own feelings but also those which they found in their
sources.
One of the most striking utterances of a general character
finds expression in the well-known dream of the Emperor
Probus. I cannot help thinking that the rhetorical exclama-
tions of the author of his biography were called forth by
a genuine saying of the emperor, familiar to his contem-
poraries and famous in his time ; and I am convinced that
even the almost hysterical expressions used by the biographer
himself adequately represent the general desires and aspira-
tions of the third century, which did not differ greatly from
those of the fourth, when conditions were somewhat more
stable, but still uncertain and far from satisfactory. I there-
fore quote the relative passages from the life of Probus. Some
XI
The Empire during the ^Anarchy a^xj
sentences are trivial rhetoric, but some phrases (especially
those which are printed in italics) would be impossible in
a picture of the golden age drawn, let us say, in the first or the
second century a.d. ‘ Very soon, he [Probus] said, we shall
not find soldiers necessary,’ writes the biographer, and adds :
‘ Is not this the same as to say : there shall be no Roman soldiers
any more ? The Roman state shall rule ever5rwhere, shall possess all
things, in full security. The world shall forge no arms, it shall not
deliver compulsory supplies. Oxen shall be used for the plough, the
horse shall be bom in peace. There shall be no wars, no prisoners,
everywhere shall be peace, everywhere the laws of Rome, ever3rwhere
our judges. ’
Summarized briefly, the desires of the biographer are for
Securitas, pax, ahundantia, and iustitia. He becomes still
more specific when he enlarges on the same theme.
‘ The provincial shall deliver no compulsory supplies, no pay shall be
disbursed to soldiers out of compulsory gifts, the Roman state shall
possess inexhaustible stores, nothing shall be spent by the emperor,
nothing shall be paid by the owner. It was indeed a golden age that
he promised. There sh^ be no fortresses, nowhere shall be heard the
military trampet, there shall be no need to manufacture arms. That
host of soldiers, which now oppresses the state with civil wars, shall
cultivate the land, shall spend its time in studying, in practising the
arts, in sailing the seas. Nor shall any one be slain in battle. Ye good
gods, what sin did the Roman state commit against you so great that
ye took away such an emperor ? ’ ^
It is far from easy to give a picture of the general situation
of the Empire in the third century, especially in the period
after Alexander Severus, but some outstanding facts, which
are sufficiently attested, illustrate its rapid economic ruin
and the corresponding decline of civilization all over the
Mediterranean world. One of the most striking phenomena
in economic life was the rapid depreciation of the currency
and a still more rapid increase in prices. The turning-point in
the gradual depreciation of the silver currency and in the
disappearance of gold coins from the market was the reign of
Caracalla, who replaced the denarius by the Antoninianus.
From his time onwards the purchasing power of the imperial
coins steadily diminished. The denarius, which corresponded
in the first century to about eightpence halfpenny, and fell
just a little in the second, became towards the middle of the
third century worth rather less than a farthing. This decline
2354-2 E e
DESCRIPTION OF PLATE LVII
i: MARBLE BUST OF GALLIENUS. Museo deiie Terme, Rome. Helbig-
Amelung, Ftihrer, ii, p. 178, No. 1414 ; A. Hekier, Die Bildnisskunsi der Griechen
und Romer, pL CCXCVUI ; R. Delbruck, Antike Portrdts, pL LIIL
2, a. AUREUS OF CLAUDIUS GOTHICUS. Variant of Colieii, vi, p. 145;
No. 161.
Obv. IMP. c. CLAVDivs AVG. Bust of Claudiiis to r. with laurel crown. Rev.
MARTI PACiF(ero). Mars the peace-bringer running to L, with a laiirel-branch
and a spear.
b. A UREUS OF AURELIAN. Cohen, vi, p. 175, No. i.
Obv. IMP. CL. DOM. AVRELiANVS p. F. AVG. Bust of Aurellan to r. with cuirass
and radiate crown. Rev. adventvs AVG(usti). Aurelian in military dress on
horseback to 1 ., with a spear in his left hand, makes the gesture of greeting with
his right.
c. JURE US OF TACITUS. Cohen, vi, p. 233, No. 122.
Obv. IMP. c. M, CL. TACiTVS AVG. Bust of Tacitus to r. with laurel crown.
Rev, ROMAE AETERNAE. Roma Seated to L with spear, globe, and shield.
d. JURE US OF PROBUS. Unpublished.
Obv. IMP. c. M. AVR. PROBVS AVG. Bust of Probus to r. with laurel crown.
Rev. p. M. TR. p. V cos. iiii p. p. ANT(iochiae). Probus riding to 1 . in a triumphal
chariot, with palm-branch and sceptre.
AUREUS OF CARUS. Cohen, vi, p. 360, No. 86.
Obv. DEO ET DOMINO CARO AVG. Bust of Car US to r. with laurel crown. Rev.
VICTORIA AVG. Victory standing to 1 . on a globe, with wreath and palm-branch.
/. AUREUS OF CARINUS. Cohen, vi, p. 397, No. 131,
Obv. IMP. CARiNVS p. F. AVG. Bust of Carinus to r. with laurel crown and
cuirass. Rev. veneri victrici. Venus standing to L, holding a Victory and
a globe.
All these coins are in the British Museum.
This series of coins serves the same purpose as that on pi. LV. Note that
the type of Philip is repeated by Tacitus : both of them endeavoured to revive
the constitutional monarchy of the Antonines. Note also the military character
of the coins of Claudius, Aurelian, Probus, Carus, and Carinus. Claudius
emphasizes the fact that his ultimate aim was an enduring peace.
AURELIANUS
d. PROBUS
/, 'CARINUS, ■' ■
a, CLAUDIUS GOTHICUS
LVII. THE EMPERORS OF THE LATE THIRD CENTURY
XI
The Empire during the tAnarchy 419
was not checked even by the reforms of Claudius II and
Aureiian (who introduced the new currency, Ka.wQv vofiurfia,
as it was called in Egypt), though these reformers definitely
broke with the ancient practice of issuing real money, with
a real commercial value corresponding to the quantity and
purity of the metal, and introduced a new system of fiduciary
money, which had almost no real value at all and was only
accepted and circulated because of its recognition by the state!"
The depreciation of money was closely connected with
the rise in the prices of products of prime necessity. No
statistics are available, but the investigation of thousands of
papyri shows clearly, at least for Egypt, how ruinous was the
rise in prices in the third century and how unstable they were
all through the century, and especially during the second half
of it, as compared with the relatively stable prices of the
second century. It is sufficient to refer the reader to the facts
recently produced by F. Oertel, who intends to publish in
the near future a full survey of the evidence of papyri on the
.subject, and to the valuable, though incomplete, lists of
A. Segre. But one or two examples may be given here. The
price of wheat in Egypt was surprisingly steady in the first and
second centuries, especially in the second : it amounted to 7 or
8 drachmae for one artaba. In the difficult times at the end
of the .second century it was 18 to 20 drachmae, almost
a famine price, and in the first half of the third it varied
between 12 and 20 drachmae. The depreciation of money
and the rise in prices continued, with the result that in the
time of Diocletian one artaba cost 20 talents or 120,000
drachmae. Of course the coins were now fiduciary currency,
but the leap is amazing. Unfortunately we have no data
for the period between Gallienus and Diocletian. A similar
variation occurred in the rate of wages. An adult male
unskilled workman received in the first two centuries a.d.
wages amounting to 4-6 obols a day, a sum which corresponded
to 2-3 artahac of grain a month and was hardly sufficient
to keep a family alive. We must bear in mind, however, that
we can hardly presume the existence of a specific wage-earning
class of labourers in Egypt. The majority of wage-earners
worked occasionally and had another permanent occupation
(most of them being peasants) ; moreover, women and children
worked along with the men. The position of labour in
industry is almost unknown. In the first half of the third
JE 0 . .
CHAP*
420 The Empire during the t^dnarchy
century wages rose to about 2, 3, and 5 drachmae ; but,
as the price of grain almost doubled and steadily increased
the conditions of the workmen remained as bad as before.
When fiduciary money came into vogue, wages became
utterly unstable, and the whole question of labour underwent
a radical change.®
It is not surprising that under such conditions speculation
of the wildest kind was one of the marked features of economic
life, especially speculation connected with exchange. There are
two typical documents referring to the grave consequences of
such speculation. In the time of Septimius Severus, about
A.D. 209-11, the city of Mylasa in Caria decided to protect
the bankers, who were its own concessionaires, against the
clandestine exchange which was going on in the city and
which caused serious loss not only to the bankers, who enjoyed
a monopoly of exchange, but to the city as a whole. The
concluding portion of the document shows that it was not
only the Io.ss of income to the city that induced tlie city
council to take .such strong measures. ‘ In very' truth,’ it say.s,
' the security of the city is shaken by the malice and villainy
of a few people, who assail it and rob the community. Through
them speculation in exchange has entered our market-place
and prevents the city from securing a supply of the necessities
of life, so that many of the citizens, and indeed the community
as a whole, suffer from scarcity. And on this account also
the regular payment of the taxes to the emperors is delay'ed.’
The trouble, as we see, was not confined to the breaking
of the monopoly. A wild speculation was going on, which
probably consisted in the hoarding of good silver by profiteers,
who secured it by paying a handsome rate of exchange. This
is indicated in the succlamatio of the members of the council
which is appended to the decree.* About half a century later
(in A. D. 260) in Oxyrhymchus, during the short rule of Macrianus
and Quietus, the tremendous depreciation of the currency led
to a formal strike of the managers of the banks of exchange
{KoWv^ianKal Tpdirelai). They closed their doors and refused
to accept and to exchange the imperial currency (ro Belov
Toiv ^e^acTTMv vofiio-fia). The administration resorted to
compulsion and threats. The strategus issued an order to
the bankers and to other money-changers ‘ to open their
banks and to accept and exchange all coin except the abso-
lutely spurious and counterfeit ’ . The trouble was not new, for
XI
The Empire during the ^Anarchy 421
the sirategus refers to ‘ penalties already ordained for them in
the past by his Highness the Prefect ’ . It is worthy of note that
in several contracts of the same time the money specified is not
the current imperial issues of billon but the old Ptolemaic
silver, masses of which probably lay hidden all over Egypt."
■ The general insecurity of business life led to a fluctuation
in the rate of interest, which in the second century had
been as stable as prices. Our evidence on this point is, of
course, scanty and does not permit wide conclusions of a
general character. But if Billeter is right in thinking that
the rate of interest showed an extensive decline in the period
between Caracalla and Alexander Severus, the fact may be
explained by the general uneasiness of business life and the
stagnation caused by the prevailing insecurity. People
refrained from borrowing money, and on the market there
was more supply than demand.® What happened later we
do not know. Our evidence for the second century and the
first decades of the third is mostly confined to documents
dealing with investments connected with donations and
foundations, and we have seen that after the Sever! a pro-
digious decline in the number of donations may safely be
inferred even from our scanty information.’ A pheno-
menon of the same type, due largely in all probability to the
depreciation of currency and to the decay of initiative on the
part of business men, was the almost complete cessation of
commercial relations between India and the Roman Empire,
especially Egypt, Practically no coins of the third century
have been found in India. Business relations were not
resumed till order and a stable gold currency had been re-
established in the Byzantine period.®
' ^This tremendous depression in business activity was due
in large measure to the constant danger to which the most
progressive and richest provinces were exposed. We have
spoken of the repeated invasions of Gaul by the Germans
and in particular of the catastrophe of a.d. 276, when the
richest parts of Gaul were pillaged and devastated and most
of the cities lost all power of recovery. The Danube lands
repeatedly suffered similar devastation. We have mentioned
the capture of the largest and richest cities by Goths and
Sarmatians : the fate of Philippopolis was typical. The rich
and flourishing province of Dacia was finally given up by
Gallienus or Aurelian, and the population had to enaigrate
CHAP.
422 The Empire during the jlnarchy
to the other Danubian provinces. Even in those cities which
had not been pillaged and destroyed by the Goths we observe
a rapid and disastrous decay. A good example is Panti-
capaeum in the Crimea, which was in vassalage to the Goths
from the middle of the third century. The city was not
destroyed, like Oibia, but the conditions of life, as revealed
by excavation and by its coinage, changed quite suddenly ;
poverty and oppression now reigned supreme.'* In Asia
Minor and Syria things were no better. While the advance
of the Persians was arrested by the dynasts of PalmjTa, the
cities of Asia Minor frequently suffered from Gothic invasions
by sea, while native tribes, like the Isaurians, resumed their
old habits of pillage and devastation : Probus indeed was
forced to carry on a regular war against them.“ In Syria the
energy of the Palmyrenes helped the country only for a short
time : the brilliant victories of Aiirelian over Zenobia, which
restored the unity of the Empire, undermined the vital forces
of this flourishing city, which never recovered from his blows.
Egypt was quieter but suffered also from repeated invasions
of the Blemmyes, especially under Probus.“ And, finally,
the prosperous land of Africa experienced serious attacks at
the hands of Libyan and Moorish tribes. The insurrection
of 253, the invasion of the Bavares and of the Quinquegentanei
with the help of Faraxen in 258-60, and the war with the
Baquates and their king Nuffusis followed each on the heels
of the other. Although it is not mentioned by our literary
sources, the last was important enough to engage the attention
of the Emperor Probus, who probaWy made important con-
cessions to Nuffusis.^^ There is no doubt that the condition
of Spain was equally bad. The only exception seems to have
been Britain, where the third century appears to have been
a time of peace and prosperity.^®
Still more disastrous were the constant wars between the
rival emperors. The real evil was not the loss of some
thousands of lives in battle, a loss which could readily be made
good, but the utter impossibility of establishing under such
conditions any semblance of an orderly and legal administra-
tion. Every pretender, every emperor, needed first and fore-
most money, food, clothes, arms, and so forth for his army,
and no one had either the time or the desire to act in a legal
manner and confine himself to the regular income of the state.
The policy of ail the emperors, with a very few shortlived
XI
'The Empire during the ^Anarchy 423
exceptions, was therefore more or less similar to that of
Maximinus — compulsory levies of soldiers, compulsory con-
tributions of money and foodstuffs, and compulsory labour.
And not the least of evils was the utterly lawless behaviour
of soldiers, officers, and officials, natural as it was in the
circumstances. To the excesses of the soldiers even the poor
and meagre literary sources which we possess make frequent
allusion. The speech Eis jSatnXea and the reflections of the bio-
grapher of Probus, which have been quoted, will recur to the
reader. In the biography of Aurelian there are other state-
ments of the same type. The alleged punishment of the soldier
who violated the wife of his host is frequently quoted. In
a forged letter Aurelian enumerates the common crimes of the
soldiery :
‘ If you want to be a tribune ’, he says, ‘ nay, if you want to remain alive,
restrain the violence of the soldiers. Let none of them steal a chicken,
nor take an egg. Let no one carry off grapes, nor thresh the crops,
nor exact olive-oil, salt and wood. Let every one be content with his
miHona. Let them live on the spoil taken from the foe, and not on
the tears of the provincials.'
Such an utterance would have been impossible even for
a writer of the fourth century, had he not found in his sources
countless references to the licentious conduct of the troops,
which in fact was as bad in the time of Theodosius as in that
of Gallienus.” When we come to describe life in some of
the provinces in the third century, we shall quote certain
specific facts which show that the biographer of Aurelian
was perfectly correct in his statements about the violence
of the soldiers. Here we may lay stress on the fact that,
though our information is limited to certain provinces, we
are Justified in extending it to other provinces. We have to
remember that there was not a single portion of the Roman
Empire, save Britain and Spain, that had not set up one or
many pretenders and emperors who obtained recognition.
That was by no means a privilege of the Danube lands :
Syria, Asia Minor, Greece, Egypt, Gaul, and Africa all took an
active part in creating Roman emperors.
Under the conditions of the ‘ state of siege’, which was
the permanent state of the Empire, the militarized bureau-
cracy, whether government or municipal officials, acted in
the same way as the soldiers. The former were responsible
with their lives to the emperor, the latter were threatened
CHAP,
424 The Empire during the Anarchy
with degradation, ruin, and execution if they failed to carry
out the orders of the imperial bureaucrats. Thus all classes
of the population suffered heavily under the pressure of both
foreign and internal wars. The robberies of the soldiers were
not entirely due to greed. The impoverishment of the pro-
vinces and the bad organization of the supply and transport
service often forced the soldiers to acts of violence merely to
safeguard their own lives. The upper classes of the cities,
who were responsible for the population of the city territories,
did their best to save the remnant of their fortunes and
oppressed the lower orders. The lower orders, indeed, w’ere
oppressed and robbed by everybody. Added to all were the
frequent plagues, which were largely due to the di-sorganiza-
tion of life in general; to poverty, to underfeeding, to unsanitary
conditions in the cities, and tihe like.^®
Small wonder if in such circumstances the salient social
and economic feature of the period was depopulation. Plagues,
invasions, civil and foreign wars decimated the peoples. Still
more serious were the general insecurity of life and the
constant oppression of its subjects by the state. Under the
pressure of the.se conditions, which seemed to be permanent,
people fled from their places of residence and preferred to
the intolerable life of the cities and villages a life of adventure
and robbery in woods and swamps.^® The utter disorganiza-
tion of the naval forces caused a revival of piracy, and the
seas again became as unsafe as they had been in the first
century b. c. In some places, such as Sicily (under Gallienus)
and Gaul (the scene of the so-called Bagaudae revolts), the
lower classes of the population organized formal rebellions,
which were suppressed by military means.'’ And finally we
have every reason to believe that very few families either of
the upper or of the lower classes cared to rear children.
Depopulation, which in the early imperial period was confined
to a few areas, like Greece and to a certain extent Italy, and
was caused mostly by emigration to other parts of the Roman
world, became now the outstanding feature of the life of
the Empire.'®
As a result of these conditions, the general productivity
of the Empire constantly decreased. Larger and larger tracts
of land ran to waste. Irrigation and drainage works were
neglected, and this led not only to a constant reduction in
the amount of land under cultivation, but perhaps also to
XI
The Umpire during the t^dnarchy 425
the spread of malaria, which gradually became one of the
most terrible scourges of mankind.^® The exchange of goods
became more and more irregular, and the various parts of
the Empire came increasingly to depend on what they them-
selves produced. Hence the frequent occurrence of famines ;
hence, too, the decay of industry, which worked more and
more for a small local group of consumers, whose demand
was confined to the cheapest and plainest products.-® Natur-
ally every home, large and small, endeavoured to become
as self-supporting as possible, and home-production flourished
as it had never done before. No partial measures could
counter this progressive decay. Groups of war captives were
planted on the depopulated lands. Measures were taken to
make the cities responsible for waste land. Flight from one’ s
place of residence was regarded as a crime. It was all in vain.
The process of decline could not be arrested by such de\dces :
the productivity of the Empire steadily fell, and the govern-
ment found itself forced to resort with increasing energy to
violence and compulsion.®^
Such in broad outline was the general situation of the
Empire. If we proceed to seek for specific evidence about
individual provinces, we find that it is exceedingly .scanty.
Nevertheless it is possible to draw a more detailed picture
at least of Asia Minor and Egypt. In Asia Minor, as well as
in Syria, one of the leading features of life was the gradual
reversion to the feudal system. ■ We have already described
how the local dynasts of Palmyra became for a while rulers of
the Eastern part of the Empire, and we have spoken of the
revival of the dynasty of the Sampsigerami in Emesa.®® The
so-called revolt of the Isaurians in Asia Minor is another
symptom of the same tendency towards the formation of
almost independent states within the Empire.®® Still more
characteristic of the conditions of the third century is an
inscription of Termessus in Lycia belonging to the time of
Valerian (a.d. 253). Here a man with a good Roman name,
Valerius Statilius Castus, appears with the strange title
KpdricrTO<i crviipa^^o^ tS>v SejSaoTiSy, that is, egfCgius socius
Augustomm. He is commander of the local detachments of
soldiers, no doubt a local militia, and he is praised for having
established peace on land and sea. He took an active part in
the life of the city, though he did not reside in it, and showed
his respect and loyalty to the emperors. It is evident that we
CHAP.
426 T’he Empire during the ^Anarchy
have here, as at Palmyra and Emesa, an instance of the self-
defence of a Roman province against marauding bands of
Persians and against pirates, who were natives as well as (loths.
Here, too, it takes the form of the establishment of an almost
independent vassal state under the leadership of a strong man,
who was probably a descendant of a local Romanized noble
family of former dynasts of the land.'^'* A good parallel to
these" Lycians and Syrians is furnished by the usurper Pro-
culus, a man of Ligurian origin and one of the chiefs of the
tribe of Ingauni (modem Albenga near Genoa), who special-
ized in robbery, became rich and influential, formed a little
army of 2,000 men, and with its help aspired to the throne of
the Roman Empire.^“
Another side of life in Asia Minor is illustrated by a well-
known document recording a petition made by a certain
Aurelius Eclectus in the name of a group of imperial tenants,
and presented to the Emperor Philip through an intermediary
named Didymus, who was a member of tlie military police
{fnmmitarius) of high rank {centenarius). The peasants’
complaint is as follows :
‘ While in the most happy times of your rule, most pious and most
blessed of all kings that ever have been, all other men live a peaceful
and undisturbed life, since wickedness and exactions have wholly
ceased, we alone are suffering misfortunes out of keeping with your most
happy times. We, therefore, forward to you the foUowdng petition.
We are your estate, most holy emperors, a whole community, and
as such we appeal and make supplication to your majesty. We are
most atrociously oppressed and squeezed by those whose duty it is
to protect the people. ... These men — officers, soldiers, city notables
holding authority (magistrates), and your subordinate agents— . . .
come to our village and take us away from our work and requisition
our plough-oxen, exacting from us what is not due to them, so that
w'e are suffering no ordinary injustice and extortion.’
We see that conditions, far from improving since the time
of Septimius, have become much worse. The peasants of
Arague may praise the happy time of Philip’s reign, but their
own situation is no better than it was. As a matter of fact,
the chief offenders are the same as under Septimius, and so
are the methods of oppression. A contemporary and almost
identical petition to Gordian III (a. d. 238), presented to the
emperor by a soldier named Pyrrhus and supplemented by
a statement of a lawyer (?), Diogenes of Tyre {defensor of the
village ?), depicts almost the same conditions as prevailing in
XI
’The Empire during the iAnarchy 427
Skaptopare, a Thracian village in the territory of Pautalia.
The petitioners are not tenants of the emperor, but owners of
land and houses (otKoSecrTroTat). Their grievance is, again, the
exactions and extortions of soldiers, minor agents of the
emperors, and other people. The village had the misfortune
to be situated near a health resort and near an important
market-place with a great seasonal fair. Under normal
conditions that would have been a blessing, and so it had been
for a long time, but in the third century it became a real plague
for the villagers. The numerous visitors to the health resort
and the fair, and other travellers, used the village as a suitable
resting-place on their Joumey and as a source of supplies.
They demanded quarters and food without payment, and
gradually reduced the place to such poverty and misery that
the number of its inhabitants steadily decreased. The villagers
beg for help, failing which they threaten to flee from their
ancestral homes, thus depriving the imperial treasury of their
payments and other services.^’
We pass to Eg5rpt. Papyri of the time after Alexander
Severus are not very frequent, compared with those of the
second century and the first thirty years of the third. Yet
they give a very good, though incomplete, picture of conditions
in the third century. An excellent bird’s-eye view of the
chief preoccupations of average residents of different classes
in Egypt is furnished by a list of questions addressed to an
Oracle. They were probably typical of the questions which were
commonly asked, and so they were catalogued by some one
who either wanted to ask some of them or more likely had to
answer them. Some of them are of a neutral character, like
the questions commonly asked in the second century, ‘ Shall
I marry ? ’ or ‘ Is the prospect of doing business good ? '
But of the twenty-one questions preserved in the papyrus
eight at least are peculiar to this particular time (the end of
the third century), and reflect its special interests. ‘ Shall I be
sold up ? ’ is an inquiry which clearly refers to confiscation
of property. The same question is put in a different form,
‘ Is my property to be sold by auction ? ’ Other typical
questions are : ‘ Am I to become a beggar ? ’ ‘ Shall I take
to flight ? ’ ‘ Shall I become an envoy ? ’ ‘ Am I to become
a member of the municipal council ? ’ * Shall my flight come
to an end ? ’ ‘ Shall I receive my salary ? ’ and so on.^ One
sees what were the great perils that threatened a man’s
CHAP.
428 The Empire ciurmg the dinarchy
career. They arose from the interference of the state with
the life of the individual. It was an everyday occurrence
for a man to have his property sold nip, to become a beggar,
to flee, from his place of residence, or, what was worse, t(j
become a member of the council or, as such, to lx* st ut as an
envoy to the capital on behalf of his city, which of course
involved him in great expense. Another glimpse into the
state of affairs in a large house, belonging probably to one
of the great men of Hermupolis, is fumisiied b}' a letter from
an agent to his master, enumerating his expenditure for
a certain time. Most of the items are connected with requi-
sitions and bribes or regular payments to the soldiers, for
example ‘ price of Knidian wine to the soldier in the house
of Demetrius the tarsicarius ’ ( 1 . 12) ; ‘ Phition the henejkiarius
of the prefect demanding anncma, two spadia of wine ’ (1. 15) ;
‘ to his servant lest he should inform the .soldier tliat the
praepositus is here ’ (1. 18) ; ‘ price of wood for heating for the
praepositus of the legion’ ( 1 . 27), &c. The tone of the post-
script to the letter is one of sheer despair : the manager asks
for a speedy reply and for directions.-"
The predominant features of Egyptian life in the third
century were the gradual depopulation of the land, the decay
of the irrigation system, and the increase of waste and un-
productive land. The papyrus of Theadelphia, for instance,
which contains the correspondence of a certain Sakaon dating
between the years a. d. 280-342, shows that in the territory
of this once flourishing village the land was in a very poor
state. At the beginning of the fourth century the amount
of cultivable, and therefore taxable, land was no more than
500 arourae, of which only 200 were cultivated.® Conditions
were no better in Philadelphia, another large and flourishing
village. Three rich landowners, who owned numerous parcels
of land in its territory, complained to the decaproioi that the
vpayfiariKo? (the accountant) of the village had overestimated
the size and the quality of the parcels owned by them. This
over-estimate was probably due to the fact that in the books
the parcels were listed as larger and more fertile than they
really were. The difference on a total of 80®/, , arourae of
taxed land was 33*73* ai'ourae, which were probably wholly
unproductive. Besides, some land which is recognized by the
owners as forming part of their property is specified as prac-
tically unproductive or as requiring hard work. It consisted
XI The Empire during the ^Anarchy 429
partly of uninundated land, but chiefly of areas planted with
trees, which were either waste or on which the trees were
partially or totally cut.®^
This state of things was not confined to the Fayum. In
a document of the time of Gallienus {a. d. 265-6) a commission
reports to the council of Hermupolis Magna on the conditions
of some estates assigned to the Sarapieion of the city, and
leased to two of the important municipal officials. The report
states that 22 arourae of vineyards contain ‘ very few vines
still bearing fruit, and they are in a state of terrible neglect and
overgrown with rushes, while the estate is surrounded by much
uncultivated land and rushes ’ ; the wine-presses and the basins
are in very poor condition ; and most of the other parcels are
in just the same plight. It is evident that the land investigated
by the commission had been confiscated from the former
owners, who had become debtors to the state in their capacity
of city or state officials, and that the decay of the land was due
to the disappearance of private initiative and careful private
management .®'“ Waste land and state land became gradually
synonymous. The state might a.ssign the land to the com-
munities or to rich landowners, or burden them with it (the
well-known system of eVt^oXif), or it might sell it for a nominal
price to persons willing to try their luck, yet in most cases the
result was deplorable. Once flourishing vineyards and olive
groves ran wild and could not easily be restored to their
former fertility. It was, of course, mostly land which had
formerly been private that suffered this fate, uninundated
land which in the good old times had been brought under
cultivation by the efforts of private landowners and by means
of artificial irrigation. The crown land accessible to the floods
was still fertile and always found plenty of cultivators. The
deterioration of the land was due entirely to the pernicious
system of liturgies, which ruined the medium-sized and small
properties of the well-to-do bourgeoisie. The peasants and,
as we shall see later, the large landowners survived.
The immediate cause of the land going to waste was, of
course, the neglect and the consequent deterioration of the
system of dykes and canals all over the country. This deterio-
ration was injurious not only to the private landowners but
also to the state-peasants. It was due to the repeated wars
and revolutions, to bad management of the distribution of
work among the population, and to the illicit gains and bribes
DESCRIPTION OF .PLATE LVIII
1. MOSAIC. Found at Carthage, Museum of Bardo, Tunis. A, Meriin
in Buli, arch, iu Com. d. imih MsL, igzi, pp. 95 ; cp. above, Cli. VII, note 87.
Reproduced from a photograph kindly supplied by l^fr. A.
The general composition of the mosaic is quite original. It eiicleavoiirs to
combine t%vo motifs which are usuaily treated separate! y—t he four seasons (see,
e. g., our pi. XLIII, i) and life on a large estate (see, e. g., our pi. XLYII). In
the centre of the picture is shown a large villa, a combi nation of a residentlai
house and a fortress. Its dominant features are two high towers at the corners,
a massive ground floor with an arched entrance, giving access to tlie liouseliolil
apartments and probably to a large court behind, and a haiidsoiric loggia on
the first floor where the living-rooms are concentnited. Behind the main
part of the building are seen two separate b«ikliiig.s — the stable (?) or the
atrium, and a large bath with, domed roofs. The villa is^siirroiinded by a park.
On the two sides of the \d!la is depicted a hunting expedition of the master. Two
servants lead the way, a beater and a man in charge of the hoiinds ; in the
field is the object of the hunt, a hare ; while behind comes the master, riding
a beautiful horse and followed bv a third servant wdio carries a bag of pro-
visions. In the upper and lower bands of the picture art scenes of life on the
estate. Each season occupies one corner. In the upper left-hand comer it is
Winter time. A man carries two live ducks ; two boys gather olives : a woman
carries a basket full of black olives. They represent the family of a colonus
portrayed in their relation to the master : ' they l>riiig the fruits of the seiisoii
to the" lady of the villa, who is seated on aj>ehch, with a fan in her hand, in
that part of the park which formed the chicken pen : on her right a cock is
displaying its beauty, and in front of her is a chicken-house with chickens
before it. The right corner of the same band, depicting Summer, shows the
family of another coionus : in the foackgroiind is their modest house, a ' goiirbi *
(mapale),€n’ round hut, made of reeds (cp. the same tyiwof hut on the sarcophagus
of Phiiippeville, figuring in a similar scene of rustic life, S. Heinaeh, Rip, /I. rrl,,
b, p. 3, No. 5) ; in the foreground is .seen the cohnus himself, herding liis flock
of sheep and goats with the aid of his dog, and holding a shepliw'dk licirn in
his left hand. His wife or daughter brings a kid to her mistress (the? figure of
the lady serves for both scenes). In the left corner of the lower band is pictured
Spring. The lady of the villa stands in front of her duiir, elegantly dressed, aiiikl
flowers, with her pet dog in the background ; before tier stands a scrvaiit-maici
holding a necklace and a toilet box, while a lx)y deposits three fish at her f«t ;
behind her a boy-servant, or a coiomis, brings a basket lull of flowers. The remain-
ing comer represents Autumn. The m^ter of the house is seated under the trees
of his orchard, which are laden with ripe fruit ; behind him lies his vineyard.
A coionus runs through the orchard carrying two cranes and a roil inscribed
Ju{iio) dom(im), probably a complimentary address or a petition. From the
vineyard comes another pofofwir, carrying a basket of gmpm and a live hare,
which he has probably just caught among the vines. The mosaic gives pro-
minence to the part played by the coloni in the economy of the estate : the
whole life of the villa is based on their toil and their contributions. Cp. Cli. XII,
noted.
2. BAS-RELIEF OF A FUNERAL MONUMENT. Part of the sculptural
decoration of the Igel column. Igel near Trdves, E. Esp^randieu, Rec. gin.,
vi, p. 442 ; Bragendorlf and Kruger, Das GfobmM tmm Igel (1924}, Taf. 9.
Six coloni in procession bring various contributions in kind to their master's
house. They have Just enters the court of the house through ait arched gate,
and they are received before the entrance to the (^riurn (half-closed by a curtain)
by the master himself or Ms steward. The gifts, or contributions", consist of
a hare,, two %h, a kid. an eel (?), a cock, and a basket of fruit. Practically the
same scene is represented on a funeral monument of Arlon (Orolaunum vicus)
which is now lost (E. Es]^randieu» .Rm. gin., v, p. 271, No. 4102), There the
master receives his coloni seaf^ m a ohair behind a table ; the contiibutions
are a cock, fish, a basket of frhtt*: and a sue, king-pig.
I. THE ESTATE OF JULIUS
(Mosaic of Carthage)
XI The Empire during the tAnarchy 431
to which the state officials were so open. The government
tried to restore the irrigation system as far as it could, but
it followed its usual method of violence and compulsion. The
greatest effort was made by the Emperor Probus, and it was so
famous as to be mentioned even by his Latin biographer.®®
A papyrus of a. d. 278 shows in what way and by what means
the restoration was carried out. All the landholders were
mobilized. No excuses were accepted and no permission was
granted to substitute payment for personal work. Special
curators were appointed from the ranks of the municipal
magistrates and of private landowners under the super-
vision of the dioekeies, the strategoi, and the decaprotoi. The
sanction was very strict : ‘ If any one dares to attempt any-
thing of the kind [that is, to accept money instead of work]
or neglects these orders, let him assured that he will be
staking not only his money but his life for injury done to
measures intended for the salvation of the whole of Egypt.’ ^
Another document, about twenty years later (a. d. 298),
shows that the strict measures of Probus did not improve
the morals of the Egyptian officials who dealt with the dykes
and canals, nor force them to honesty. In this petition the
representatives of a village complained about the oppression
and tricks of the officials. The expressions they used are
striking ; ‘ We should find it difficult, my lord,’ the peasants
say, ‘ even when justice is shown to us in commands con-
cerning us, to accomplish our duties in full, so much so that,
if any advantage is taken of us, our weakness will make it
hopelessly impossible for us to discharge them.’ It was,
indeed, a minor affair — the unjust assignment of a work of
150 cubic measures done by one group to the credit of another
group — but it shows the rottenness of the system and its
ruinous effect on the population.®
The decline of economic prosperity in Egypt, as we have
already pointed out repeatedly, was due principally to the
baneful system of liturgies, which destroyed the work of the
early emperors in spreading the system of private ownership
of land all over the country and thereby restoring large parts
of it to their former prosperity. It has been explained in the
ninth chapter that no change was effected in the system of
liturgies by Caracalla’s grant of citizenship, which was
preceded by the introduction of municipal life into Eg3?pt.
Municipal institutions were in fact introduced into Egypt at ;
CHAP.
432 The Empire during the t^dnarchy
a time when they had everywhere lost their original meaning.
Their establishment was no longer a means of extending self-
government to parts of the ancient world which had never
shared in it ; it was now in reality a means of binding the
population to the state by ties of personal service and material
responsibility. By creating new masses of citizens, the
intention of the government was to create new masses of
burden-bearers, new 'kurovpyoi or mimenirii, organized in
groups to facilitate control. From time immemorial the
peasants and artisans of Egypt had formed professional
groups bound to their profession and to their domicile.
Hitherto the propertied classes had escaped the obligation
to perform special work for the state, and w'ere left free to
develop their economic life as they chose. Now they were
organized according to their place of residence into groups
of state servants under the glorious name of Roman citizens
and of free citizens of Greek communities. The special work
assigned to them was to bear the responsibility for the pay-
ment of the various taxes which were due to the state and to
help the state to collect them. Another aspect of the same
work was the responsibility for the discharge of compulsory
work by the population and for the income derived from
the state property, and above all for waste and abandoned
land. What in the second century was still an individual
responsibility falling on certain members of the privileged
classes became now a responsibility resting on the individual
members of definite organized groups of them, one member
replacing another in case of default. These groups w'ere
called city councils, and to them parts of the Egyptian
land with the peasants and artisans belonging to thern were
assigned.
The burdens which lay on the population and for which
responsibility fell on the cities, represented by their dignitaries
and the members of the city council, had never been so heavy
as in the third century. The severest burdens were not the
normal ones to which the population was accustomed time
out of mind, the taxes and the regular compulsory work,
but the emergency burdens — extraordinary payments, extra-
ordinary deliveries {annona), and transportation. We need
not wonder that in the minutes of the meetings of the city
councils in the second half of the century, of which we possess
some fragments {from the cities of Oxyrhynchus and Hermu-
XI
‘The Empire during the ^Anarchy 433
polls), the members of the councils and the officials speak
exclusively of liturgies — how they are to be distributed among
the richer men of the cities and who is to be chosen as the
next victim destined to be ruined and to take to flight. About
A. D. 270-5, in the reign of Aurelian, the senate of Oxyrhyn-
chus had a warm debate about the money to be spent for the
crowns which were to be offered to the emperor in memory
of his recent victory.^® As the second half of the third century
was crowded with wars and movements of troops, one of the
greatest worries of the city councils was the collection and
delivery of food supplies for the soldiers {minona). In a. d. 265
measures were taken by the president (prytanis) for the
collection of the supply of corn for the legions.®’ In the same
year foodstuffs were delivered to the soldiers who accompanied
the prefect Claudius Firmus.®® In 281 bread was furnished
to ‘ the soldiers and sailors on the march ’ (rots
crT/jaTtaSrais koI i/avrais).®® In 299 chaff was given ‘ for
delivery to the most noble soldiers marching through the
city.’ ^ To the reign of Diocletian and Maximianus belongs
a long account of the delivery of evBTjpiaKd {species anno-
nariae), which were destined for the soldiers.*^ Whereas in the
second century the annona was an emergency addition to the
taxes collected, and the supplies delivered were probably
supposed to be paid for by the government, in the third
century it was a pure requisition, an additional tax levied
from landowners and lessees of the public and imperial land.
The city councils were responsible for its delivery, and indi-
viduals were specially appointed by them to supervise the
collection of foodstuffs and forage, their transportation to
the harbours or to the city, and their delivery to the repre-
sentatives of the troops.*® What terror the annona inspired
both in the collectors and in the taxpayers is shown by a private
letter of the end of the third century. The writer explains
that his letter is an appeal for help sent at the request of
a yvcoaT-qp, a person whose duty it was to suggest names of
people who should be appointed to bear liturgies, and who
found himself in difficulties. He proceeds :
‘ He [the yt-coo-rjjp] says, " I gave Mm great help in the matter of the
annona." He says also that the annona is now being claimed. If then
you can again get him off yourself, good luck to you ; but if not, give
instructions as to what preparations you wish to be made. Do not
neglect this, for they [the collectors of the annona ?] have not yet gone
23S4'2 F f
CHAP.
434 The Empire during the ^Anarchy
away. If you are strong enough to get him^ off, it will be a great
achiCTement, since we have no cattle nor pigs.’
Another difficult problem which faced the city councils
was the transportation of the annona and of the taxes in kind
to the landing-places on the Nile and to Alexandria. The
transport by land was carried out, under the supervision of
special agents appointed by the council (KaraTro/xTroi or
TrapawoiiwoC, pYOSccutores), by guilds of owners of draught
cattle, for whom either the municipal decaprotoi or the great
landowners and the farmers-general of the imperial land were
responsible. The river transport was in the hands of special
associations of shipowners or lessees of ships which belonged
to the government.'” And again special agents of the councils
had the duty of watching over the shipments, and were
responsible for the safety of the transported goods. These
men were supposed to accompany a caravan of river vessels
and to be present at the delivery of the freight in Alexandria.
The liturgy of the prosemtio annonae was one of the heaviest
and the most dangerous. It was no wonder that in the time
of Diocletian two sons of senators, who had been appointed
' to forward down the river ’ wine and barley, both took to
flight and disappeared. The members of the council were
busy finding substitutes for the fugitives. At a meeting of
the council ‘ the members of the council said, “ Don’t press
the matter, lest they [the substitutes] run away” Mean-
while the sureties of the fugitives were seized.” The hard-
ships which a prosecutor annonae had to endure are described
in a papyrus of the fourth century, and there is no doubt that
experiences were similar in the third century. It seems
(though the matter is not quite clear) that the wretched
prosecutor or KaraTrofiTros was driven out of the ship on which
he sailed, and was cheated, beaten, and injured by a certain
Aurelius Claudianus and by the commander of the fleet, the
stolarch.”
The system of requisitions and the responsibility laid
upon the city magistrates, the members of the city councils,
and rich citizens in general, affected the organization of in-
dustry and brought back the conditions which had prevailed
during the Ptolemaic period. Industry, which had become to
a certain extent emancipated in the second century, was
d^ain subjected to state control, which was exercised in the
manner peculiar to Ptolemaic times. In the cloth industry
,XI
’The Empire during the Anarchy 435
the reason for its re-establishment was the heavy demand
of the state for soldiers’ clothing. A glimpse into the organi-
zation of this branch of industry is afforded by a papyrus
which records the proceedings of a meeting of the council of
Oxyrhynchus in a. d. 270-5. The question debated was
the delivery of linen vestments for the temple. It appears
from the debate that both manufacture and delivery were
organized on Ptolemaic models. Yarn was collected by the
city from the peasants and given to the weavers ; if there
was a deficiency of material, it was bought by the city on the
market. The weavers were obliged to work for the city at
a fixed price and to deliver as many clothes as it ordered. The
surplus was probably sold to dealers and private customers.'*'
The same return to the Ptolemaic system is noticeable in
the organization of some branches of industry and retail trade
which were vital for the supply of the cities, for example,
the manufacture and sale of oil. We meet with concession-
aires who were granted a monopoly of the retail trade, and
who appear as lessees of oil factories connected with the
temples. It is worthy of note that the same development is
to be found in the organization of supplies for the city of
Rome carried out by Alexander Severus and Aurelian, which
we have already described.®
The municipal bourgeoisie of Egypt, organized for the first
time by Septimius, was therefore as badly off as the bourgeoisie
of other parts of the Roman world. Everj'' day they were
threatened not only with ruin by losing their property but
also with degradation, which meant that they would cease to
belong to the class of honestiores and would be ranked with the
humiliores. This involved liability to imprisonment and to
corporal punishment at the hands of state officials, which
was a common feature of life in the fourth century, as we
know from Libanius. At the beginning of the third century,
indeed, those who renounced their property were exempted
from corporal punishment in accordance with imperial orders.
This is explicitly stated in a rescript of Severus : ‘ Your
citizenship, however, will in no way be prejudiced thereby,
nor will you be subjected to corporal punishment.’ These
rescripts were in force as late as a, d. 250. In a document
of this period a certain Hermophilus quotes them in renouncing
his property. Practice, however, was different. Otherwise
Aurelius Hermias would not, in giving up his property,
Pf2
CHAP.
436 The Empire during the ^Anarchy
humbly beg the procurator to abstain from corpora! punish-
ment. ‘ Perforce,’ he says, ‘ I throw myself at your feet . . .
and beg that my person be not harshly treated and outraged,
so that I may by your humanity remain undisturbed in my
native land.’ '’® Evidently corporal punishment very often
followed financial ruin, and the only way to escape it was to
flee from one’s domicile. Such flights were an e\-er>'day
occurrence in Egypt in the third century. The reader will
recollect the questions to the oracle quoted at the beginning
of this chapter. A striking private letter from Oxyrhynchus
may also be quoted. Charmus writes to his brother Sopatrus :
‘ The prefect has sent an amnesty here, and there is no longer
any fear at all ; so, if you will, come boldly ; for w’e are no
longer able to stay indoors. For Annoe is much w'om out
with her journey, and we await your presence, that we may
not withdraw without reason ; for she considers herself to
be keeping hou.se here alone.’ The enigmatic sentences,
comprehensible to the addressee, remind me of many letters
which I receive from Soviet Russia. The system of terrorism
gives rise to the same phenomena everywhere and at all
times.®
The instruments of oppression and exaction were soldiers,
in accordance with the regular administrative practice of the
third century. They were a real terror to the population
and were much used for the most various purposes. Some
time after a. d. 242 a stationarius was ordered by a centurion
to find, arrest, and send to the centurion the heirs of an
unfortunate decaprotos who had been responsible for the
payments of an imperial estate and whose default was
threatening the success of the that is, the shipment
of com to Alexandria (and Rome) or to the troops of occupa-
tion in Egypt. Orders addressed to soldiers to arrest
decurions and to send them to higher military officials are
quite common in Egypt in the third and fourth centuries.®^
In the correspondence of Heroninus, of which we shall speak
presently, the soldiers play a not unimportant part. When
one of the magnates, in whose service Heroninus was, is at
the end of his wits to know how to enforce his orders on a
recalcitrant (j>povTi<rn)<s (manager) or some other subordinates,
he always resorts to the threat of sending soldiers : ‘ Do it
at once,’ says Aljqpius, * lest you should be forced to do it
by a soldier ’ ; ‘ do not be negligent about it lest a soldier
XI
7 he Empire during the itAnarchy 437
should be sent against them [those who did not pay the
arrears] ’ ; and he adds ‘ a soldier was about to be sent
against them. It was I that stopped him.’ One sees what
the sending of a soldier meant to the population of a village.
As a fact, the soldiery was now master of the situation in
Egypt. Even in disputes among themselves, the peasants
and the landowners resorted, not to the regular administration,
but to the omnipotent centurion.®®
Under conditions like these we are not surprised to find
that life was far from safe in Egypt and that the land was
infested by robbers. Those who took to flight, ‘ anachorets’
as they were called, were bound to take to robbery to avoid
starvation. Hence mention is often made in the third century
of men specially appointed by the villages to catch robbers,
the so-called krftrroTrtacrTai As might be expected, this service
was a liturgy, and it was not very efficient. It is no mere
accident that all the documents referring to robber-hunting
which Wilcken collects in his Chrestomafhy belong to the third
or fourth century. It is typical, too, of the conditions of this
time that the regular policemen were not equal to the task
of suppressing robbery and had to be supplemented by such
auxiliaries. One of the documents is particularly striking.
The strategos writes : ‘ Notice has been given to the robber-
hunters (krjaTOTnao-Tai) listed below to join the village police
and find the malefactors who are being sought for. If they
neglect to do so, let them be sent in fetters to his Excellency
the Prefect.’ The five men on the list are natives, who cer-
tainly had never been trained for the job of finding and catch-
ing robbers. How large were the numbers of homeless people
who were searched for by the administration, is shown by
a document of Gordian’s time, where a regular chief of village
police (dpx#oSos) swears to the two municipal chief con-
stables for the nome of Hermupolis {€tpr}vdpxa.t .) — a new
liturgical office introduced into Egypt from Asia Minor with
the municipal system in general — ^that four men of another
village whom the administration was looking for were not
hiding in his village.®*
Naturally the main sufferers from the system of requisi-
tions and of compulsory responsibility were those who
belonged to the class of wefl-to-do, but not very rich, men
and those who were comparatively honest. Such men lost
their property, were degraded, and took to flight, living in
CHAP.
43 S The Empire during the tA?wrchy
hiding all over the country.*® Better off were the rich and
unscrupulous men who had the means and the cunning to
bribe the officials and to found their prosperity on the mis-
fortune of their poorer and more honest colleagues. In these
circumstances it is not surprising that large estates nourished
again and that new ouo-iat came into being. The amount of con-
fiscated property increased daily. The cities were (jverburdened
with such land,” for which they bore collective respt)nsibility.
Confiscated land was mostly uninundated, and required
special care.®® The same was true of the parcels of land
belonging to the category of 777 ovorta/07 (that is, imperial land),
for which the state tried hard to find suitable lessees. Both
the state and the cities resorted to various measures to save
waste land from complete neglect. The ancient practice of
selling it to soldiers and veterans for a nominal price was
revived. Some veterans tried their luck, for instance, a hcnc-
ficiarius of the prefect in a. d. 246, and the three Philadelphian
farmers of the Wisconsin papyrus quoted abo\'e. It seems
that Philip was specially energetic in trying the method of
nominal purchase to restore the prosperity of Egypt, and that
his prefect and KaBokmo^ {rationalis) issued a special order
with this purpose. The experience of the Philadelphian
farmers was, however, not very encouraging. By means of
eVtySoXTj, that is, by adding unproductive land to the pro-
ductive, or by means of false and exaggerated measurements,
the administration tried to force the new landowners to pay
for more land than they intended to, and the result was
probably in most cases the ruin of the new landowners.®’ It
is not a mere coincidence that in the same year, a. d. 246, the
prytanis of Oxyrhynchus was going on an embassy to Alex-
andria to appeal against an iwtfiokr) rov iepov arroTaKTov,
that is, an increase of the rent of state-land which had been
imposed on the nome and for which, of course, the landowners
of the nome had to pay.®®
Another way of securing the cultivation of the imperial
land and the land for which the cities were responsible was
to find rich lessees and let the land to them on attractive
conditions. The best method was to find somebody who was
willing to do the work, but it seems that from time to time,
especially in the case of the cities, compulsion was used in
one form or another. Such managers of large tracts of land,
rich men and women, appear frequently in the third century.
XI
The Rmpire during the ^dnarchy 439
They are at the same time owners of parcels of land, which
they probably bought from the state, and lessees of imperial
land. The best known is Alypius, whose correspondence with
Heroninus, his manager in the village of Thraso,
has been brought to light through the discovery of portions
of the archives of the latter in the ruins of the village of
Theadelphia. Among the other correspondents of Heroninus
were similar rich and influential holders of extensive estates,
especially Appian, a former exegetes at Alexandria. It is
evident that all these men were lessees of large blocks of
imperial land. They organized their enterprise on a very
great scale and probably invested considerable sums of money
in their properties. Unfortunately we know very little of their
relations to the state. We are even ignorant of the actual
functions of a j>povTi(jrri<s. It looks as if he were not a private
employee of the great landholder but a nominee of the
state, subordinate to the magnate who was responsible to
the imperial administration for the land assigned to him . How
long these landholders and half-officials held their land or
their office we do not know. It is possible that their tenure
was a kind of emphyteusis, of lease without any fixed term
{locatio perpetua), and that gradually they became practical
owners of the large ovcriai which are so frequently mentioned
in Egypt in the fourth century.®®
In point of fact Alypius and Appian were both exceedingly
influential persons in close relations with the administration
of the nome and also of the province : we have seen that
they had military force at their disposal. On the other hand,
the tone of the letters written to their subordinates plainly
indicates that they were accustomed to give orders and to
be obeyed. It is to be noted that most of the land which they
cultivated was of the type held by private owners : it con-
sisted to a very large extent of vineyards formerly in the
possession of private people. Almost the whole economy of
the great landlords was based on wine, and it is highly
characteristic of the time that wine was the chief currency
on the estate of Alypius, money being very little used. Such
an economically progressive land as Egypt was gradually
reverting to the conditions of natural economy. The other
large estates of the third century were apparently run on the
same lines, as is shown,- for example, by the numerous papyri
of Oxyrhynchus which deal with the separate portions of the
440 The Empire during the ^dnarchy chap .
extensive estate of a certain Aurelius Serenus, alias Sarapion,
who seems to have flourished about A. D. 270-80. Whether he
was a lessee of ova-taic^ we do not know. He certainly
increased his property by purchases of land from the state at
a nominal price ; “ and his chief interest seems to lie in
vineyards and orchards. Many rich women also were land-
holders of the same type, such as Claudia Isidora ^ diiokoyo)-
rdry], alias Apia (about a . d . 222), and Aurelia Thennutha-
rion, alias Herais (about A. D. 261).®^ Clearly, then, in Egypt
the third century was an opportune time for the display
of certain qualities which helped a few men not only to keep
but also to increase their fortunes, while others suffered the
greatest hardships. Along with some Alexandrian magnates
we frequently find members of the militarized bureaucracy
using their opportunities to acquire and increase their holdings
and so to obtain a prominent place among the provincial
aristocracy. Many such ex-soldiers have already been
mentioned : we may add to the list a certain Publius Vibius,
a former soldier and officialis of the prefect of Egypt, later
a decurion of Alexandria and a large landowner, whose affairs
were managed after his death by a Trpaygareurjj? or actor on
bi^alf of his heirs (a. d. 268/6).®^
Incomplete as it is, the picture which we have drawn
shows very clearly the chaos and misery that reigned through-
out the Roman Empire in the third century and especially
in the second half of it. We have endeavoured to show how
the Empire gradually reached this pitiful state. It was due
to a combination of constant civil war and fierce attacks by
external foes. The situation was aggravated by the policy
of terror and compulsion which the government adopted
towards the population, using the army as its instrument.
The key to the situation lies, therefore, in the civil strife which
provoked and made possible the onslaughts of neighbouring
enemies, weakened the Empire’s powers of resistance, and
forced the emperors, in dealing with the population, to have
constant recourse to methods of terror and compulsion,
which gradually developed into a more or less logically
organized system of administration. In the policy of the
emperors we failed to discover any systematic plan. It was
a gradual yielding to the aspirations of the army and to the
necessity of maintaining the existence of the Empire and
preserving its unity. Most of the emperors of this troubled
XI
The Rmpire during the Anarchy 441
period were not ambitious men who were ready to sacrifice
the interests of the community to their personal aspirations :
they did not seek power for the sake of power. The best of
them were forced to assume power, and they did it partly
from a natural sense of self-preservation, partly as a conscious
sacrifice of their own lives to the noble task of maintaining and
safeguarding the Empire. If the state was transformed by
the emperors on the lines described above, on the lines of
a general levelling, by destroying the part played in the life
of the Empire by the privileged and educated classes, by
subjecting the people to a cruel and foolish system of adminis-
tration based on terror and compulsion, and by creating
a new aristocracy which sprang up from the rank and file of
the army, and if this policy gradually produced a slave state
with a small ruling minority headed by an autocratic monarch,
who was commander of an army of mercenaries and of a
militia compulsorily levied, it was not because such was the
ideal of the emperors but because it was the silent desire of the
army, with which they had to comply unless the state were
to be destroyed and civil strife indefinitely prolonged. ^
If it was not the ambition of the emperors that drew the
state ever deeper into the gulf of ruin, and threatened to
destroy the very foundations of the Empire, what was the
immanent cause which induced the army constantly to change
the emperors, to slay those whom they had just proclaimed,
and to fight their brothers with a fury that hardly finds a
parallel in the history of mankind ? Was it a ‘mass psychosis’
that seized the soldiers and drove them forward on the path of
destruction ? Would it not be strange that such a mental
disease should last for at least half a century ? The usual
explanation given by modem scholars suggests that the
violent convulsions of the third century were the accom-
paniment of the natural and necessary transformation of the
Roman state into an absolute monarchy. The crisis (it is said)
was a political • one ; it was created by the endeavour of the
emperors to eliminate the senate politically and to trans-
form the Augustan diarchy into a pure monarchy ; in striving
towards this goal the emperors leaned on the army, comipted
it, and provoked the state of amarchy, which formed a tran-
sitional phase that led to the establishment of the Oriental
despotism of the fourth century. We have endeavoured to
show that such an explanation does not stand the test of facts.
CHAP,
442 The Empire during the t^dnafrhy
The senate, as such, had no political importance whatsoever
in the time of the enlightened monarchy. Its social prestige
was high, for it represented the educated and propertied
classes of the Empire, but its direct political participation
in state affairs was very small. In order to establish the
autocratic system of government there was not the slightest
necessity to pass through a period of destruction and anarchy.
Monarchy was established in actual fact by the Antonines
without shedding a drop of blood. The real fight was not
between the emperor and the senate. As we have shown by
the striking example of the time of Maximinus, and by analys-
ing some features of the rule of the Seven , the struggle was
between the army and the privileged classes, between the
soldiers and the city aristocracy or the city bourgeoisie. The
emperors were not aiwuys on the side of the army. Many of
them endeavoured to save the bourgeoisie and the system
of government which the enlightened monarchy based on it,
but these attempts were futile because that class, opposed
by the army, was unable to giye the emperors any real support,
and the army, the only organized force in the Empire, was
determined to break for ever with the rule of the privileged
classes.
Such was the real meaning of the civil war of the third
century. The army fought the privileged classes, and did
not cease fighting until these classes had lost all their
social prestige and lay powerless and prostrate under the feet
of the half-barbarian soldiery. Can we, however, say thair
the soldiery fought out this fight for its own sake, with the
definite plan of creating a sort of tyranny or dictatorship of
the army over the rest of the population ? There is not the
slightest evidence in support of such a view. An elemental
upheaval was taking place and developing. Its final goal
may be comprehensiWe to us, but was not understood even by
contemporaries and still less by the actors in the terrible
tragedy. The driving forces were envy and hatred, and those
who sought to destroy the rule of the bourgeois class had no
positive programme. The constructive work was gradually
done by the emperors, who built on the ruins of a destroyed
social order as weU, or as badly, as it could be done and not
in the least in the spirit of destroyers. The old privileged
class was replaced by another, mid the ma^s, far from being
better off than they had been before, became much poorer
XI
The Empire during the tAnarchj 443
and much more miserable. The only difference was that the
ranks of the sufferers were swelled, and that the ancient
civilized condition of the Empire had vanished for ever.
If the army acted as the destroyer of the existing social
order, it was not because as an army it hated that order. The
position of the army was not bad even from the social point
of view, since it was the natural source of recruits for the
municipal bourgeoisie. It acted as a powerful destructive and
levelling agent because it represented, at the end of the second
century and during the third, those large masses of the popu-
lation that had no share in the brilliant civilized life of the
Empire. We have shown that the army of M. Aurelius and
of Commodus was almost wholly an army of peasants, a class
excluded from the advantages of urban civilization, and that
this rural class formed the majority of the population of the
Empire. Some of these peasants were small landowners,
some were tenants or serfs of the great landlords or of the
state ; as a mass they were the subjects, while the members
of the city aristocracy were the rulers ; they formed the class
of humiliores as contrasted with the honesHores of the towns,
the class of dediticii as compared with the burgesses of the
cities. In short, they were a special caste separated by a deep
gulf from the privileged classes, a caste whose duty it was to
support the high civilization of the cities by their toil and work,
by their taxes and rents. The endeavours of the enlightened
monarchy and of the Severi to raise this class, to elevate it
into a village bourgeoisie, to assimilate as large a portion of it
as possible to the privileged classes, and to treat the rest as
well as possible, awakened in the minds of the humiliores the
consciousness of their humble position and strengthened their
allegiance to the emperors, but they failed to achieve their
main aim. In truth, the power of the enlightened monarchy
was based on the city bourgeoisie, and it was not the aim of
the bourgeoisie to enlarge their ranks indefinitely and to share
their privileges with large numbers of new-comers.
The result was that the dull submissiveness which had for
centuries been the typical mood of the humiliores was gradually
transformed into a sharp feeling of hatred and envy towards
the privileged classes. These feelings were naturally reflected
in the rank and file of the army, which now consisted ex-
clusively of peasants. When, after the usurpation of Septimius,
the army became gradually aware of its power and influence
witn tlie emperors, ana wnen tne emperors oi nis aynasty
repeatedly emphasized their allegiance to it and their sym-
pathy with the peasants, and treated the city bourgeoisie
harshly, it gradually yielded to its feelings and began to exert
a half-conscious pressure on the emperors, reacting violently
against the concessions made by some of them to the hated
class. The bourgeoisie attempted to assert its influence and
to save its privileges, and the result was open war from time
to time and a ruthie.ss extermination of the pri\ i]eged class.
Violent outbreaks took place after the reign of Ale.xander,
whose ideals were those of the enlightened monarchy, and
more especially after the short period of restoration which
followed the reaction of Maximinus. It was this restoration
that was ultimately responsible for the dreadful experiences
of the reign of Gallienus; and the policy consequently adopted
by that emperor and most of his successors finally set aside the
plan of restoring the rule of the cities, and met the wishes
of the peasant army. This policy, although it was a policy of
despair, at least saved the fabric of the Empire. The victory of
the peasants over the city bourgeoisie was thus complete, and
the period of the domination of city over country .seemed to
have ended. A new state based on a new foundation was
built up by the successors of Gallienus, with only occasional
reversions to the ideals of the enlightened monarchy.
It is, of course, not easy to prove our thesis that the
antagonism between the city and the country was the main
driving force of the social revolution of the third centuryc*®
But the reader will recollect the picture we have drawn of
Maximinus’ policy, of his extermination of the city bourgeoisie,
of the support given him by the African army of peasants
against the city landowners ; and he will bear in mind the
violent outbreaks of military anarchy after the reign of
Pupienus and Balbinus, of Gordian III, and of Philip. Many
other facts testify to the same antagonism between country and
city. It is remarkable how easily the soldiers could be induced
to pillage and murder in the cities of the Roman Empire. We
have already spoken of the destruction of Lyons by the
soldiery after the victory of Septimius over Albums, of
the Alexandrian massacre of Caracalla, of the demand of the
soldiers of Elagabal to loot the city of Antioch. We have
alluded to the repeated outbreaks of civil war between the
population of Rome and the ^Idiers. The fate of Byzantium,
XI.
The Empire during the ^Anarchy 445
pillaged by its own garrison in the time of Galiienus, is typical.
Still more characteristic of the mood both of the peasants and
of the soldiers is the destruction of Augustodunum (Autun)
in the time of Tetricus aiid Claudius in a. d. 269. When the
city recognized Claudius, Tetricus sent a detachment of his
army against the ‘ rebels It was joined by gangs of robbers
and peasants. They cut olf the water-supply and finally took
the flourishing city and destroyed it so utterly that it never
revived. The two greatest creations of the period of urbani-
zation in Gaul — Lyons and Autun — were thus laid in ruins by
enraged soldiers and peasants.** One of the richest cities of
Asia Minor, Tyana, was in danger of suffering the same fate
in the time of Aurelian. It was saved by the emperor, and
the words he used to persuade the soldiers not to destroy it
are interesting : ‘ We are carrying on war to free these cities ;
if we are to pillage them, they will trust us no more. Let us
seek the spoil of the barbarians and spare these men as our
own people.’ It was evidently not easy to convince the
soldiers that the cities of the Empire were not their chief
enemies.** The attitude of the soldiers towards them was
like that of the plundering Goths, as described by Petrus
Patricius. His words certainly expressed the feelings of many
Roman soldiers. ‘ The Scythians jeered at those who were
shut up in the cities, saying, They live a life not of men but of
birds sitting in their nests aloft ; they leave the earth which
nourishes them and choose barren cities ; they put their trust
in lifeless things rather than in themselves.’ **
We have frequently noted also the close relations existing
between the peasants and the soldiers. It was through soldiers
that the peasants forwarded their petitions to the emperor in
the time of Commodus and Septimius as well as in that of
Philip and Gordian. In fact, most of the soldiers had no
knowledge nor understanding of the cities, but they kept up
their relations with their native- villages, and the villagers
regarded their soldiers as their natural patrons and protectors,
and looked on the emperor as their emperor and not as the
emperor of the cities. In the sixth and seventh chapters we
described the important part played during the third century
by soldiers and ex-soldiers in the life of the villages of the
Balkan peninsula and Syria, the lands of free peasant posses-
sores, as contrasted with the lands of tenants or coloni, and
we pointed out that they formed the real aristocracy of the
CHAP*
446 The Empire during the fAnarchy
villages and served as intermediaries between the village and
the administrative authorities. We showed how large was the
infiltration of former soldiers into the country parts of Africa
in the same century ; and in describing the conditi(ms of
Egypt during that period we repeatedly drew attentictn to
the large part played in the economic life of the land 1)\- active
and retired soldiers. All this serves to .show that the tics
between the villages and the army w'ere never broken, and
that it was natural that the army should .share tlie aspirations
of the villages and regard the dweller.s in the cities as aliens
and enemies.
Despite the changed conditions at the end of thi' fourth
century, the relations between the army and the villages
remained exactly as they had been in the third. The cities
still existed, and the municipal aristocracy 'vas .ctill used by
the government to collect the taxes and exact compulsory
work from the inhabitants of the villages. It was no wonder
that, even after the cities almost completely lost their political
and social influence, the feelings of the peasants towards them
did not change. For the villages the cities were still the
oppressors and exploiters. Occasionally such feelings are
expre.ssed by writers of the fourth century, both Western
(chiefly African) and Eastern, especially the lattei'. Our
information is unusually good for Syria, and ])artirularly for
the neighbourhood of Antioch, thanks to Libanius and John
Chryso.stom. One of the leading themes which we find in
both writers is the antagonism between citj' and country.
In this constant strife the government had no definite policy,
but the soldiers sided with the peasants against the great
men from the cities. The sympathies of the soldiers are
sufficiently shown by the famous passage in Libanius’ speech
De patrociniis, where he describes the support which they gave
to certain large villages inhabited by free peasants, the
excesses in which the villagers indulged, and the miserable
situation of the city aristocracy, which was unable to collect
any taxes from the peasants and was maltreated both by
them and by the soldiers. Libanius, being himself a civilian
and a large landowner, experienced all the discomfort of this
entente cmdiale between soldiery and peasants. The tenants
on one of his own estates, .perhaps in Judaea, who for four
generations had not shown any sign of insubordination,
became restless and tried, with the help of a higher officer.
XI
The Empire during the Anarchy 447
who was their patron, to dictate their own conditions of work
to the landowner. Naturally Libanius is full of resentment
and bitterness towards the soldiers and the officers. On the
other hand, the support given by the troops to the villagers
cannot be explained merely by greed. The soldiers in the
provinces were still themselves peasants, and their officers
were of the same origin. They were therefore in real sympathy
with the peasants and were ready to help them against the
despised inhabitants of the cities.®^
Some scattered evidence on the sharp antagonism between
the peasants and the landowners of the cities may be found
also in Egypt. In a typical document of the year a. d. 320
a magnate of the city of Hermupolis, a gymnasiarch and
a member of the municipal council, Aurelius Adelphius, makes
a complaint to the strategus of the nome. He was a hereditary
lessee {ifi(j)VTevT'ijg)* of oixTiaKij, a man who had cultivated
his estate all his life long and had inherited it from his father.
He had invested money in the land and improved its culti-
vation. When harvest-time arrived, the peasants of the village
to the territory of which the estate belonged, ‘ with the usual
insolence of villagers’ {KmfjirjTiKy avdahia ■xprfa-o.^evoi) , tried to
prevent him from gathering in the crop. The expression
quoted shows how deep was the antagonism between city and
country. It also shows that, in endeavouring to interfere
with the activities of the landowner, the peasants reckoned
on some support from outside. They may have been justi-
fied : the proprietor may have been a land-grabber who had
deprived them of plots of land which they used to cultivate ;
but the point is the deep-rooted mutual hostility between
the peasants and the landowners which the story reveals.®®
I feel no doubt, therefore, that the crisis of the third
century was not political but definitely social in character.
The city bourgeoisie had gradually replaced the aristocracy
of Roman citizens, the senatorial and the equestrian class.
It was now attacked in turn by the masses of the peasants.
In both cases the process was carried out by the army under
the leadership of the emperors. The first act ended with the
short but bloody revolution of a. d. 69-70, but it did not
affect the foundations of the prosperity of the Empire, since the
change was not a radical one. The second act, which had
a much wider bearing, started the prolonged and calamitous
• Compare pp. 439, 475.
CHAP.„XI
448 The Empire during the ^Anarchy
crisis of the third century. Did this crisis end in a com-
plete victory of the peasants over the city bourgeoisie and in
the creation of a brand-new state ? There is no question that
the city bourgeoisie, as such, was crushed and lost the indirect
influence on state affairs which it had exerted through the
senate in the second century. Yet it did not disappear. The
new ruling bureaucracy very soon establi.shed close social
relations with the surviving remnant of this class, and the
strongest and richest section of it still formed an important
element of the imperial aristocracy. The class which was
disappearing was the middle class, the active and thrifty
citizens of the thousands of cities in the Empire, who formed
the link between the lower and the upper classes. Of this
class we hear very little after the catastrophe of the third
century, save for the part which it played, as cnriales of the
cities, in the collection of taxes by the imperial government.
It became more and more oppressed and steadily reduced
in numbers. Those who survived learnt by bitter experience
how to divert the pressure on to the shoulders of the lower
classes.
While the bourgeoisie underwent the change we have
described, can it be said that the situation of the peasants
improved in consequence of their temporary victory ? There
is no shadow of doubt that in the end there were no victors
in the terrible class war of this century. If the bourgeoisie
suffered heavily, the peasants gained nothing. Any one who
reads the complaints of the peasants of Asia Minor and
Thrace which have been quoted above, or the speeches of
Libanius and the sermons of John Chrysostom and Salvian,
or even the ‘ constitutions ’ of the Codices of Theodosius and
Justinian, will realize that in the fourth century the peasants
were much worse off than they had been in the second. A
movement which was started by envy and hatred, and carried
on by murder and destruction, ended in such depression of
spirit that any stable conditions seemed to the people prefer-
able to unending anarchy. They therefore willingly accepted
the stabilization brought about by Diocletian, regardless of
the fact that it meant no improvement in the condition of the
mass of the population of the Roman Empire.
XII
V
THE ORIENTAL DESPOTISM AND THE PROBLEM
OF THE DECAY OF ANCIENT CIVILIZATION
At the end of the third century, after a bloody and cruel
civil and social war which had lasted for scores of years, the
general situation was very similar to what it had been at the
end of the civil war of the first century b. c. The people,
including a large part of the soldiers, were wearied and dis-
gusted and craved for peace and order ; the fighting temper
of large groups of the population had passed away and every-
one was ready to accept, or to submit to, any conditions that
should guarantee the security of life and the possibility of
resuming daily work without the daily apprehension of a new
convulsion, a new wave of war and destruction. But the
Roman Empire of the third century a. d. was very different
from the Roman Empire of the first century b. c. The civil
war of the first century was ultimately a fight against the
domination of a small group of families, and an attempt to
remodel the structure of the state in accordance with the
changed conditions of its life, to adapt the constitution of the
city-state of Rome to the needs of the Roman Empire. After a
period of transition, inaugurated by the .reforms of Augustus —
a period when the struggle against the old senatorial class,
representing the ancient ruling families of Rome, was brought
to a close and the new structure of the state was gradually
consolidated and accepted by the population (as was shown
in the crisis of 69) — the constitutional Empire of Rome, based
on the cities and on the city bourgeoisie, enjoyed a period of
calm and of peaceful development. The civil war and its
sequel, the military tyranny, did not affect the most vital
forces of the Empire and of the ancient world in general. It
left intact the most important institution of the ancient world,
with which ancient civilization stood and fell — the city-state.
It seemed as if, after long efforts, a constitutional arrangement
had been found by which the city-state was made the basis of a
2354-2 G g
DESCRIPTIO-N OF PLATE LIX
1, «. GOLD MEDALLION OF DIOCLETIAN. Bibiiotlicqiic Nationale,
Paris, CoheB^^vi, p. 441, No. 264 ; 'F. Gnecchi, J medagikmi Romani, i, p. ii,
No. 5, pL IV, No. 12. - :
Oby./iMP. c. c. VAL. DiO'CLETiANVS P. F. AVG. Head of Diocletian, bare, to i%
Rev. lovi CONSERVATOR! ALE. (Alexandria), J iipiter seated to I . , with thiiiide rboi t
and sceptre. Near Mm, the eagle.
, 5 .. GOLD MEDALLION OF DIOCLETIAN. Bibiiotheqiie Nationale, Paris.
Cohen, vi, p. 421, No. 50 ; F. Gnecchi, L L, p. ii, No. 2, pL IV, No. 9 (A, D. 296).
Obv. Same inscription. Bust of Diocletian, draped, to r, with laurel crown.
Rev.„coNSVL VI p. P. p'ROCOS. s. M. A. (Antioch).' ' Diocletian to L in consular dress,
with a globe and the short consular sceptre.
GOLD MEDALLION OF DIOCLETIAN.^ British Museum. Xum, (hr.,
1900, p. 32 ,* F. Gnecchi, 1 . 1 ., p. ii, No. 7, pL IV, No. 14.
Obv. Same inscription. Head of Diocletian to r. with solar crown. Rev.
PERPETVA FELiciTAS AVGG. p. R. (Rome). Jupiter standing to 1.,^ witlpthiinclerbolt
and sceptre, trampling on a conquered barbarian. Before him Victory to r.,
offering him a globe.
2,, a. GOLD MEDALLION OF CONSTANTINE. Bibiiotheqiie Nationale,
Paris. Cohen, vii, p. 288, No. 502 ; J. Maurice, Ntimismaiiqite Constantin iemie,
igti, ii, p. 468 ; xix, pi. XIV, No. 14 (a. d. 326).
Obv, D'. N. coNSTANTiNvs MAX. AVG. Bust of Constaiitii'ie to r. with laurel
crown, dressed in the rich and heavy Oriental imperial cloak, holding a sceptre
with an eagle and a globe. Rev. sekatvs s. m. t. s. (Thessalonica) . I'he luiiperor
standing to 1. in consular dress, with a globe and the short consular sceptre.
' ' b. AUREUS 0 ¥MAXmiANllS, British Museum. Cohen, vi,p. 5 19, Hex 271:.
Obv. MAXiMiANUS p. F. AVG.' Bust of ' Maxiiuianus to r. with laurel crown.
Rev. HERCVLi PACiFERO p. R.' (Rome). ■ Hercules naked, holding in his rigtit fiand
a laurel branch, in his left the club and the lion’s skin,
c. AUREUS OF GALERIUS. British Museum. Cp. Cohen, vii, p. 113,
No. 121. ■
Obv. Same inscription. Head of Gaierius to r. with laurel crown. Rev. lovi
coNSERVAT(ori) AVGG. ET cAEss. p. R. (Rome), J upi ter Seated to I., with thunder-
bolt and sceptre.
d. AUREUS OF LICINIUS. British Museum. Cohen, vii, p. 205, No. 167.
Obv. LICINIVS p. F. AVG. Bust of LiciMus to r. with laurel crown. Rev.
VBIQVE VICTORES p. T. R. (Trdves) . Lidnius in military dress to r., with a spear and
a globe, standing between two conquered barbarians.
Note the reverence paid by Diocletian and his co-rulers to the gods Hercules
and Jupiter, the great deities of the German soldiers in a Roman disguise ; the
military character of tMs group of emperors, the last emperors of the period
of the great civil war ; and the Oriental aspect of the figure of Constantine in
his heavy Persian mantle. The selection of coins and the casts I owe to the
courtesy of M, Jean Babelon (Bibliothdque Nationale, Paris) and Mr. H. Mat-
tingly (British Museum).
C. GALERIUS d. XICINIUS
LIX. DIOCLETIAXP AND CONSTANTINE
XII
The Oriental TOespotism 451
world-empire. That arrangement was the enlightened constitu-
tional monarchy, assisted by an influential and well-trained
body of experts, the Roman senate and the Roman knights,
and by thousands of similar bodies all over the Empire, the
municipal councils.
So long as the Empire was not faced by grave external
dangers, so long as the awe which Roman arms, Roman
organization, and ancient civilization inspired in the neigh-
bours of the Empire endured, the fabric of the new Roman
state remained firm. When, however, the feeling of awe
gradually vanished and Rome’s neighbours renewed their
attacks, the structure of the state began to show dangerous
signs of yielding. It became clear that the Empire, based on
the propertied classes alone, could not stand the strain of
foreign wars, and that an enlargement of the basis was
necessary to keep the structure erect and firm. The city
Imtrgeoisie, whose economic life had for centuries rested on
the work and toil of the lower classes, and especially of the
class that tilled the soil, appeared unwilling and unable to
shoulder the burden of defending the Empire against foreign
enemies. The attempts to revive the bourgeoisie, to increase
its numbers, and to restore its military spirit, which were
made over and over again by all the emperors of the dynasty
of the Antonines and of the Severi, proved futile. For the
defence of the state the emperors were forced to resort to
the tillers of the soil, on whom the economic prosperity of the
Empire rested and whose toil and travail never brought them
any share either in the civilized life of the cities or in the
m^agement of local affairs. The Roman army gradually
became an army of peasants, led and commanded by members
of the ruling classes, and indeed an army of the poorer
peasants, of peasant-proletarians, since they were the only men
who would volunteer or would be sent by a village community
when a compulsory levy was ordered. As regards its social
(though not its racial and political) composition, the army of
the second half of the second century was thus no different
from the armies of Marius and Sulla, Pompey and Caesar,
Antony and Octavian.
It was natural, then, that this army should in the end
seek to realize the ambitions of the lower classes of the Empire,
Just as the armies of the first century b. c. had expressed
the desires of the poorer Roman citizens of Italy. The
&g2
452 T^he Oriental despotism chap.
instruments through which it tried to realize them were, of
course, its leaders, the emperors, whom it appointed and
supported. As its aspirations were never clearly formulated
and its programme was more negative than positive, the pro-
cess assumed very chaotic forms. Moreover, the bourgeoisie
gradually became aware of the danger which threatened it
and strove repeatedly through the same military leaders, the
emperors, to save its privileged position and to prevent the
overthrow of the structure of the state as it was in the second
century. Hence the renewed outbreaks of civil war which
raged all over the Empire and brought it to the verge of utter
destruction. The watchword of the army was ‘ Away with
the privileges of the higher classes ’ . What it wanted was
an equal share in the management of the Empire, a thorough
levelling. As far as this negative side of its programme was
concerned, the struggle was crowned with succes.s. The
bourgeoisie was terrified and decimated ; the cities were brought
to the verge of ruin ; the new rulers, both emperors and officials,
sprang mostly from the peasant class.
Gradually, however, as in the first century b. c., it became
evident that the civil war was disastrous to the state as a
whole, and that its main result was the political and economic
ruin of the Empire. On the other hand, as we have said, the
masses of the people became weary of the strife and longed
for peace at any price. It became evident, too, that the
chief task of the moment was the restoration of the fabric
of the state, the preservation of the Empire. As soon as this
task was achieved by the strenuous efforts of the army itself
and of its great leaders, a reorganization of the state in accord-
ance with the changed conditions, stabilizing and systematiz-
ing them, became imperative and did not brook "delay. It
was the same situation as in the time of Augustus. "Here
again the main lines of reconstruction were dictated by the
social and economic conditions, and were laid down by the
practice of the leaders in the civil war and the partial reforms
which they carried out. To the activity of Marius, Sulla,
Pompey, and Caesar corresponded that of Septimius, Gallienus,
and Aurelian ; and the great work of Augustus, Vespasian,
and the Antonines was paralleled by the reorganization of
the state effected by Diocletian and Constantine and their
successors. The chief reform needed was one which would,
above all, stabilize the state and organize it in a manner that
xn The Oriental TOespotism 453
would accord with the changed conditions, economic, social,
political, and psychological. Levelling and equalization were
dictated as the basis of the reform by the imperative desire
of the people, and it was evident that in the new state there
was no place for the leading role which the cities and the city
bourgeoisie had played in the state of Augustus and of the
Antonines. The state had now to be based on the country
and the peasants. On the other hand, a simplification of its
structure was a necessary consequence of the changed econo-
mic and cultural conditions.
Thus arose the state of Diocletian and Constantine. In
organizing it the emperors did not have a free hand. They took
over a heavy heritage from the third century, to which they
had to conform. In this heritage there was almost nothing
positive except the fact of the existence of the Empire with
all its natural resources. The men who inhabited it had
utterly lost their balance. Hatred and envy reigned every-
where : the peasants hated the landowners and the officials, the
city proletariate hated the city bourgeoisie, the army was hated
by everybody, even by the peasants. The Christians were
abhorred and persecuted by the heathens, who regarded them
as a gang of criminals bent on undermining the state. Work
was disorganized and productivity was declining ; commerce
was ruined by the insecurity of the sea and the roads ; in-
dustry could not prosper, since the market for industrial
products was steadily contracting and the purchasing powder
of the population diminishing ; agriculture passed through
a terrible crisis, for the decay of commerce and industry
deprived it of the capital which it needed, and the heavy
demands of the state robbed it of labour and of the largest part
of its products. Prices constantly rose, and the value of the
currency depreciated at an unprecedented rate. The ancient
system of taxation had been shattered and no new system
was devised. The relations between the state and the taxpayer
were based on more or less organized robbery : forced work,
forced deliveries, forced loans or gifts were the order of the
day. The administration was corrupt and demoralized. A
chaotic mass of new government officials was growing up,
superimposed on and superseding the former administrative
personnel. The old officials still existed but, foreseeing their
doom, strove to avail themselves to the full of their last
opportunities. The city bourgeoisie was tracked out and perse-
CHAP,
454 The Oriental TOespotism
cuted, cheated, and maltreated. The municipal aristocracy
was decimated by .systematic persecution and ruined b}'
repeated confiscations and by the responsibility imposed on
it of ensuring the success of the organized raids of the govern-
ment on the people. The most terrible chaos thus reigned
throughout the ruined Empire. In such circumstances the
task of any reformer would be to reduce the chaos to some
sort of stable order, and the simpler and more primitive the
methods, the better. The more refined system of the past
was utterly destroyed and beyond restoration. What existed
was the brutal practice of the third century, rude and violent
as it was. That practice was to a certain extent created by the
situation, and the simplest way out of the chaos w^as to fix
and stabilize it, reducing it to a system and making the
system as simple and as primitive as possible. The reform
of Diocletian and Constantine was the legitimate offspring
of the social revolution of the third century, and was bound
to follow in the main the same lines. In their task those
emperors had as little freedom as Augustus. For both of
them the goal was the restoration of the state. By his genius
Augustus succeeded in restoring not only the state but also
the prosperity of the people. Diocletian and Constantine
sacrificed, certainly against their will, the interests of the
people to the preservation and the salvation of the state.
The chief object of this volume has been to investigate the
social and economic conditions of the early Roman Empire,
to trace the evolution which gradually resulted in the sup-
pression of the leading |part played by the cities in the history
of the ancient world. I The new state based on the peasants
and the country was a new phenomenon in history, and its
progressive development requires as careful an examination
as we have endeavoured to make of the history of its genesis.’
The reader will, therefore, not expect a detailed analysis of its
growth in this book. Another volume of the same size, and
written from the same point of view, would be necessary for
a study of the social and economic conditions of the late
Roman Empire. No such book has yet been written. Never-
theless a short sketch of the main lines which the reforms of
Diocletian and Constantine followed, as well as a general picture
of the social and economic conditions, may be desirable here to
convey some idea of the new regime and its relation to the
world of the early Roman Empire.*
XII 'The Oriental TOespotism 455
The problems which Diocletian and his successors had to
face were manifold. | One of the most important was that
relating to the central power, the fower of the emperor. There
was no question of eliminating that power. If there was one
thing that held together the fabric of the Empire and guaran-
teed its existence, if there was any institution popular among
the masses, it was the imperial power and the personality
of the reigning emperor. Everything else was discredited.
Despite the convulsions through which the Empire had passed,
the idea of the imperial power stood intact. If there was any
salvation for the Roman Empire — such was the general belief
of the people — it must come from above. There was a deeply
rooted feeling among all its inhabitants that without an
emperor Rome could not and would not exist. And the
bitter facts of the third century showed the truth of this
belief. 'The only question was how to stabilize and organize
the supreme power so that the emperor would no longer be
a puppet in the hands of the soldiery. The conception of the
imperial power formed in the first two centuries was too
subtle, too complicated and refined, to be understood by
the masses of the peasants on whom it was based. It
was a creation of the high culture of the privileged classes.
These classes were decimated and demoralized, and even
their standard had become degraded and simplified. The
idea of the ruler as first magistrate of the Roman citizens,
whose authority was based on the conception of duty and on
consecration by the great Divine Power ruling the universe,
was one which did not reach, and was not comprehensible to,
the mass of semi-barbarians and barbarians who now formed
the staff of officials, the army, and the class which supplied both
— the peasant population of the Empire. A simpler conception
was urgently needed, a broader and plainer idea which would
be intelligible to every one. Diocletian himself still adhered
to the old idea of the ruler as the supreme magistrate, of the
imperial power as vested in the best man or the best men, the
princeps or principes. He emphasized, however, the super-
natural and sacred character of his power, which was expressed
in the identification of the emperor with God and in the
Oriental ceremonial introduced at court. | The cult of the
emperor, which had been impersonal in the second century,
became attached to the person of the emperor, who was
the incarnation of God on earth. The doctrine introduced by
456 The Oriental T^espotism chap.
Diocletian was not new.j Many attempts had been made to
establish it — by Caligula and Nero, by Domitian and Commo-
dus, by Elagabal and Aurelian, They had failed because the
doctrine had been either not specific enough for one part of
the population or too specific for the other. Apollo and
Hercules were vague conceptions which made no general
appeal ; the Syrian Sol, Mithra, the amalgamation of Jupiter
and Donar, appealed to a minority but did not satisfy the
masses. The prominent feature of the spiritual life of the
Empire was the increase of religiosity. Religion was graduall}’
becoming paramount for almost everybody. The more
religious society grew, the sharper became the divisions
between the various groups. A believer in Mithra would not
accept an emperor who was the incarnation of the German
Donar, an adherent of the Egyptian cults would not devote his
soul to the incarnation of such a vague deity as the Stoic
Hercules, and so forth. Moreover, the Christians would reso-
lutely reject them all and refuse to accept a living incarnation
of God in a mortal man. It was futile to persecute them :
every persecution made their cohesion closer and the organi-
zation of the church more solid. In the third century the
Christian church acquired enormous strength. As a state
within the state, its organization steadily improved in pro-
portion as that of the state deteriorated. Oppression, com-
pulsion, persecution were the mottoes of the .state; love,
compassion, consolation were the maxims of the church. The
church, unique in this respect among the other religious
communities, not only administered spiritual relief but
promised and gave practical help in the miseries of actual life,
while the state oppressed and persecuted the helper.
But the Christians, increasing in numbers and in strength,
grew’ tired of being outcasts and of fighting the state. The
time was ripe for a reconciliation of state and church, each of
which needed the other. It was a stroke of genius in Constan-
tine to realize this and act upon it. He offered peace to the
church, provided that she would recognize the state and
support the imperial power. The church — to her detriment,
as many scholars believe — accepted the offer. For the first
time the imperial power became firmly established on a
solid basis, but it lost almost completely, save for some
irrelevant formulae, the last remnants of its constitutional
character as the supreme magistrature of the people of the
I*
XU The Oriental ‘Despotism 457
Empire. It now resembled the Persian monarchy of the
Sassanidae and its predecessors in the East, the Oriental
monarchies of Babylonia, Assyria, Egypt, and the rest. It
was based at once on force and compulsion and on religion.
Individual emperors might fall victims to military con-
spiracies and court-plots. The imperial power was eternal
like the church, which supported it, and it was a world-power
as the church was a world-church. The work of simplification
was thus accomplished and the new supreme power was
acceptable at least to that part of the population which was
prepared resolutely to reject any other solution. Gradually
the Christian minority became, with the help of the state,
a strong majority and imposed itself on those who never were
able nor prepared to fight and to make sacrifices for their
religious creed. Even to them Christianity brought in the
main a satisfactory solution of their religious aspirations.'^
I Second in importance to the question of the imperial power,
and intimately connected with it, wa^ the problem of the
reorganization of the imperial army\ Our last chapter
showed how critical this problem was for the Empire. In
view of the grave foreign wars and the repeated inroads of the
tribes bordering on the Empire, the army had to be increased
in numbers and its discipline and technique maintained at the
level reached under Trajan, Hadrian, and M. Aurelius. On
the other hand, an army levied, as the existing army was, by
conscription from the ranks of the peasants — a militia composed
of the poorer peasants with a long term of service — was an
instrument both inefficient and dangerous. The only way out
of this difficulty was to return to the more primitive and
simpler military system of the Hellenistic and the Oriental
monarchies. 1
The first keps towards a reorganization of the army were
taken by Diocletian. Realizing, as no emperor before him
had done, the necessity of permanent reserves for the frontier
armies of the provinces, he increased the military forces
on a large scale ; but, while augmenting the number of
effectives, he introduced no new methods of recruiting nor
did he change the military system. These reforms were
reserved for Constantine. The main military force of the
Empire, as Constantine saw, could only be an enlarged prae-
torian guard, a strong army of horse and foot, stationed near
the residence of the emperor, or the residences of the
CHAP.
458 The Oriental TOespotism
co-emperors, and always ready to march against the enemy.
This field army, like the armies of the Hellenistic kings (with
the exception of the Antigonids of Macedonia), had to be a
mercenary one, consisting mostly of barbarians, recruited
among the allied and vassal German and Sarmatian tribes
and among those of the same stock who lived within the
Empire. It was composed of different corps, some of them
strictly belonging to the emperor’s body-guard, but the most
important were the palatini and the comitaienses, which
formed a really well- trained and well-organized field army.
The armies which garrisoned the provinces, and whose duty
it was to suppress revolts within their borders and to meet
the first onslaughts of external foes, were organized on the
pattern of the reserves of the Hellenistic kings. The soldiers
of the provincial armies were conscribed from among the
men who were settled on the frontiers with the obligation
of hereditary military service. These military settlers were
largely barbarians, Germans and Sarmatians, while some
were descendants of the active soldiers and veterans who
had received land from the emperors of the third century
in the border districts. If more troops were needed, they
were obtained by the enrolment of volunteers and by com-
pulsory enlistment among the population of the Empire,
mostly the rural population of the more warlike provinces,
Thrace, Syria, Britain, and the two Mauretanias. The
emphasis was laid on the auxilia, the barbarian units, while
the legions, the regiments of Roman citizens, played but
a subsidiary part. The leading idea of the Roman Republic
and of the early Empire, obligatory military service for all
the inhabitants of the Empire, was not dropped. But in
practice the obligation of service was transformed into a tax,
the aumm tironicum, levied from the landownets and expended
in meeting part of the cost of the mercenary army and in
finding sufficient recruits among men who were not attached
to a special profession or to a plot of land within the Empire
(vagi). In no case was the staff of officers for these types of
troops drawn from any sf^cial class. The senatorial class was
barred from military service, the equestrian class disappeared.
Every one who showed military capacity could hope to rise
gradually from the position of non-commissioned officer to
that of an officer (iribunm), commanding a detachment
or a legion or an auxiliary r^ment, and then to the post of
XII ^ he Oriental T^espotism 459
commander of an army {dux) or even commander-in-chief of
the cavalry or infantry {magister equitum or peditum). Such
at least was the theory and sometimes the practice. Naturally
the families of higher officers became in course of time the
main source of supply of officers in general, and thus a new
military aristocracy was formed, which, however, never
became a closed caste.®
■ In remodelling the administration of the Empire, the policy
of the emperors of the fourth and fifth centuries was to increase
the number of officials, to simplify and standardize their
duties, and to a certain extent to give the hierarchy a quasi-
military character. While the governing bodies of the cities,
the municipal councils, lost one after another almost all their
rights of self-government, and were reduced to the position
of unpaid agents of the state, responsible for the repartition
and the collection of taxes, as well as for the apportionment
of compulsory work and other burdens lying on the population
of the city and the territory attached to the city, the staff of
state officials, alike in the capital and in the provinces, grew
in numbers and importance In the early Empire the bureau-
cratic system was slowly replacing the system of city govern-
ment in the capital, but was more or less adjusted to, and
co-ordinated with, the principle of local self-government in
the provinces and in Italy. Now it was systematically de-
veloped and extended to every field of administration. We
cannot trace here the gradual growth of the organization of
the all-powerful bureaucracy of the late Roman Empire, and
its successive modifications. It was a sphere in which almost
all the emperors endeavoured to introduce some changes and
some improvements — a feature which is common to all
bureaucratic governments, reforms being here both easy and
in appearance efficient. Suffice it to say that from the time
of Diocletian and Constantine the aim of the central govern-
ment was to build up a well-organized bureaucratic machinery
which, under central direction, would be equal to the task of
managing all the affairs of an immense state. Compared with
the delicate and complicated system of the early Empire, in
which stress was laid on the self-government of the cities,
while the bureaucracy was a subsidiary organ and an organ
of control, the system of the late Empire, despite its apparent
complexity, was much simpler, much more primitive, and
infinitely more brutal. Being supreme and omnipotent, and
CHAP*
460 The Oriental TOespotism
not subject to any control exercised in one way or another
by those who were the life-blood of the state, the bureaucracy
gradually became utterly corrupt and dishonest and at the
same time comparatively inefficient, in spite of the high
professional training of its members. Bribes and illicit gains
were the order of the day, and it was idle to seek to put an end
to them by means of a vast system of espionage and of mutual
control exercised by officials over each other. Every addition
to the army of officials, every addition to the host of super-
visors, served to increase the number of those who lived on
bribery and corruption. The worst were the thousands of
secret police agents, the agentes in rehus, who were the suc-
cessors of the frumentarii and whose duty it was to keep an
eye on the population and on the host of imperial officials.
Corruption and inefficiency is the fate of all bureaucracies
which are not checked by wide powers of self-go\-ernment
vested in the people, whether they are created in the name of
autocracy or of communism. Manifestly a highly elaborate
system of bureaucratic government was incompatible with
the fusion of military and civil government in the hands of the
higher officials ; and the two departments, which there had
always been a tendency to manage separately, were now
sharply divided and highly specialized. Manifestly, also, the
host of officials must be recruited not from a special class but
from the ranks of those who seemed to be the most suitable.
Yet, in view of the privileges attaching to the position of a
government officer, official posts naturally tended to become the
hereditary privilege of a special caste. The higher posts were
distributed among the candidates by the emperors personally,
and many new men obtained them in this way. But by force
of circumstances a new aristocracy of higher bureaucrats
arose, and this aristocracy had practically a monopoly of all
the higher offices of the Empire. It is easy to understand
why the emperors replaced the old system of administration
by the new. The social revolution of the third century had
been directed against the cities and the self-government of
the cities, which had practically been concentrated in the
hands of the city bourgeoisie. It was much easier and much
safer for the central government, instead of remodelling
municipal self-government on new and more democratic lines
—-which required a great deal of creative initiative — to
accept existing conditions and to kill the whole idea of self-
XII
The Oriental Despottsm 461
government by making all the members of the city com-
munity responsible to the state, and by piling up duties on
.. them without any corresponding rights. The self-govern-
ment of the cities being thus destroyed, the functions of control
had to be performed by somebody else, and supervisors had
to be appointed to watch and coerce the municipal councils ;
the natural candidates for this office were the officials of the
central government, who had hitherto played a modest part
in the life of the provinces. It is futile to maintain that this
reform was gradually and systematically built up by the
early Empire because of the bankruptcy of the cities, which
had demonstrated their utter incapacity to manage properly
municipal affairs. The bureaucracy of the early Empire was
different in principle from that of the late Empire. It
managed, as was natural, the affairs of the state and interfered
very little with the affairs of the cities. If it did interfere, it
was to help the cities to develop a more efficient management
of their own affairs. The change was brought about by the
revolution of the third century. The self-government of
the cities was destroyed by the army in the name of the lower
classes. Instead of restoring it on new lines, the late Empire
left things as they were, and put the cities, not under the
control, but under the command of the agents of the central
government, made them the servants and the slaves of the
state, and reduced their role to that which they had played
in the Oriental monarchies, save for their responsibility for
the payment of taxes. The reform was carried out not for the
sake of the people but for the sake of simplifying the govern-
ment’s task. The interests of the people were sacrificed to
what seemed to be the interests of the state. The germs of self-
government, which had developed in the village communities
in the second century and even in the third, were involved in
the common ruin and disappeared.* ^
*1 Closely connected with the reform of the administration
was the momentous and pernicious reform of taxation. We
have often insisted on the fact that the taxation of the early
Empire, highly differentiated as it* was and based on the
traditions prevailing in the various parts of the Empire, was
not very oppressive. The stress was laid on the indirect
taxes and on the income derived by the state and the emperor
from the land and other real estate owned by them. The
direct taxes — the land-tax and the poll-tax — were paid in
462 The Oriental TOespotism chap.
the various provinces in accordance with their traditions.
Of their amount we have no knowledge except for the pro-
vince of Egypt. But we know that many parts of the Empire
were partly or completely (as in the case of Italy) exempt
from these taxes, and that this exemption was rather extended
than limited. If the provinces complained of their burdens,
it was not because of the taxes. What bore heavily on them
was the extraordinary payments, the provisioning of the
armies and of the officials by means of compulsory deli\'eries,
the war requisitions, the spasmodic confiscations, and the
forced work. The responsibility for the assessment and the
collection of the taxes was not resented as a \'er\' heavy
burden by the municipal aristocracy. What they complained
of was the responsibility for the extraordinary burdens
imposed on the population, and compulsory payments like
the crown gold. It was the chaotic manner in which the
extraordinary payments were exacted that ruined the city
bourgeoisie and the working classes alike. In the troubled
times of the third century these extraordinary })ayments
became the main revenue of the state. The state was living
not on its normal .income but on a .system of more or less
organized robbery.!
The Roman state had never had a regular budget, and when
it was faced with financial difficulties, it had no fixed and
stable reserve to draw upon. From time to time thrifty
emperors had accumulated some money, but it was easily
squandered by spendthrifts who happened to occupy the
throne, and it never represented capital well managed and
invested in good securities. In case of emergency, therefore,
the emperors had no reserve to resort to, nor did they ever
seek to increase the regular income by a gradual increase in
taxation ; the usual way of getting the money, according
to the principles of the city-state, was to demand it from the
population either by means of extraordinary taxation or by
means of requisitions and confiscations. It is not surprising
that in the difficult times of the third century the ordinary
taxes were rather neglected, and that greater store was set
by the extraordinary taxes (especially the crown gold) and
by extraordinary deliveries of foodstuffs, raw material, and
manufactured goods. This and the general insecurity of the
times led to the disorganization of trade and industry, and
therefore to an enormous decrease in the yield of indirect
XII The Oriental TOespotism 463
taxes. The foolish policy of the emperors in systematically
depreciating the currency and the general economic conditions,
as well as the system of organized pillage (the liturgies),
produced violent and spasmodic fluctuations of prices which
did not keep pace with the steady depreciation of the cur-
rency. Such were the conditions inherited by the emperors
of the fourth century from their predecessors. So long as
they lasted, there was no hope of restoring economic stability
and of placing the currency on a sound basis. All attempts
in this direction failed. The most notorious failure was that
of Diocletian, both in respect of the currency and in regard to
stabilization of prices. His well-known edict of 301, by which
fixed prices were established for the various products, was
no novelty. The same expedient had often been tried before
him and was often tried after him. As a temporary measure
in a critical time, it might be of some use. As a general
measure intended to last, it was certain to do great harm
and to cause terrible bloodshed, without bringing any relief.
Diocletian shared the pernicious belief of the ancient world
in the omnipotence of the state, a belief which many modern
theorists continue to share with him and with it.
After the civil war had quieted down a little, it became
evident to every one that the time had come to settle the
burning question of the mode of taxation. Two courses were
open to Diocletian. He might go back to the traditions of the
Antonines, cancel the emergency measures which had accumu-
lated like a deposit over the system of the early Empire, and,
in doing so, take account of the peculiarities of economic life
in the various provinces. This, of course, was the more
difficult and the more painful path. To restore the prosperity
of the Empire years of quiet development were required — as
many years of peace and of orderly government as were
granted to the Roman Empire by Augustus, who had faced
almost the same difficulties after the end of the civil wars.
Diocletian was unwilling, and probably unable, to wait. Cir-:
cumstances were not such as to allow him patiently to lead
the Empire back to normal conditions. On the frontiers
enemies were ready to attack, the internal situation was far
from quiet, and the increased and reorganized army absorbed
enormous sums of money. Thus, Diocletian and his successors
never thought of restoring the ancient complicated and
individual system of taxation. They followed the other course
CHAP.
464 The Oriental ‘Despotism
which was open to them : to take for granted the practice of
the third century, to transform the emergency measures into
a system, and to simplify and generalize that system as far
as possible by applying it to all the provinces without taking
into consideration the peculiarities of their economic life and
social structure. As the currency was debased and unstable,
the system of taxation could not be a monetary one. In place
of money-taxes the emperors of the third century had invented
or revived the primitive system o*f taxes in kind, under the
form of repeated emergency collections of foodstuffs for the
use of the army, the city of Rome, and the agents of the state ;
in addition thereto, raw material and manufactured goods
were collected in the same way. This was the famous annona.
What was easier than to transform these emergency deliveries
into a regular tax ? The needs of the army, the capitals,
the court, and the officials would be covered, and the other
expenditure of the .state might be met as before from the
old taxes, which were not abolished, and from the swstematized
e.xtraordinary payments of the third century, ft was not,
however, easy to foresee what the needs of the. state would be
in the future ; they might increase or decrease, according to
circumstances. That was the reason why the annona retained
its aspect of an emergency delivery. Every year the emperor
fixed the amount of payments required for the current year.
The annona was thus stabilized, but stabilized in the worst
possible form. In the third century men still hoped that the
day might dawn when taxation would become regular and
fixed. By the organization of Diocletian that hope was turned
into a dream. Nobody could know in advance what he w'ould
have to pay in the next year ; no calculations were possible
until the state had announced the amount of its demands
for that year.
Once more, therefore, the state chose the easiest way of
reaching its goal without regard to the interests of the people.
Yet by the establishment of the annona as a permanent
institution the problem of taxation was far from settled. The
most important question was that of a fair and just assess-
ment. In the third century this question had been settled
differently for the different provinces. In Egypt it was based
on the elaborate register of cultivated land, in the urbanized
provinces o^n the data of the census and on the paying capacity
of the various cities and other, large units of taxation {the
XII
T'he Orie?2tal T)espotism 465
imperial and senatorial estates, and the land belonging to the
temples and to vassal princes). This system was too compli-
cated and elaborate for Diocletian . It depended in most of the
provinces on the activity of the cities, and it was not easy to
grasp at once in all its details. . It was much simpler to leave
aside the work of centuries and to introduce the most rough
and primitive system of assessment which had ever existed.
Every soldier could understand it, although any fool could see
that in this case what was simple was not fair and just. The
cultivated land, whether arable or planted, was divided into
iuga or teams of oxen. The size of the iugum varied according
as the land was situated in a plain or on a mountain slope,
and according as it produced grain or wine or olive-oil. No
further differentiation was attempted. No local conditions
were taken into account. It was the effort of a soldier, a half-
barbarian, to solve a delicate problem by ignoring its delicacy.
It may be that our idea of the reform of Diocletian, incom-
pletely known as it is, exaggerates its simplicity. Perhaps
the system was less rigid than it appears, and varied in different
places. However, its main lines are beyond doubt and they
show a tendency to simplify the problem of taxation, even if
it be to the detriment of the taxpayer. It may be also that
the intention was to establish a system adapted to the intelli-
gence of the peasants, on which it depended. The iugum may
have been familiar to Diocletian from his own experience,
and may have been used as a unit of taxation among the
Illyrians and Thracians who still lived under the conditions
of tribal economy.
The division into iuga — the iugatio — was, however, only one
side of Diocletian’s system. A plot of land without labour
is a lifeless thing ; a iugum presupposes a cafut — a head, a man
who cultivates it. The question of labour had grown acute in
the third century. The population of the Empire became
more and more shifting. Oppressed in one place, the tillers
of the soil would try another. We have quoted many docu-
ments in which the final argument of the peasants is a firm
threat to take to flight and seek another home if their
desires are not granted. The ancient world grew up in the
fixed belief that a man belonged to a particular place, his
origo or Ihta. But only the serfs of the old Oriental monar-
chies were bound to their place of residence. Ever since the
Roman Empire had united the civilized world, all others had
2354.3 H h
466 The Oriental T>espotism chap.
been free to move as they liked. Such freedom was prejudicial
to the success of the primitive iugatio of Diocletian. A piece
of land might be cultivated one year and left waste the next :
the peasant might migrate and settle somewhere else, or he
might drop his profession altogether and become a proletarian
in one of the cities. The yield of the large estates was propor-
tionate not only to the number of iuga which it contained but,
above all, to the number of capita. The gradual depopulation
of the Empire, and especially the decrease in the number of
peasant cultivators, made the unit of taxation not so much
the iugum as the caput. Hence the taxable unit after Dio-
cletian was a combination of both. Every one who cultivated
a piece of land was supposed to make a declaration of the land
which he cultivated and of the number of capita employed on
it, including the animals. This declaration made the man
responsible for his land and his capita : where\'er he was, he
was bound to pay the tax assessed upon it. As he formed with
the land a single unit, he lost his liberty of movement, he
became bound to his land and to his work, exactly like his
predeces.sors the ‘ royal pea.sants ’ of the Oriental and Hellen-
istic kings. There was nothing new in this system for Egypt
and some parts of Asia Minor, nor perhaps for .some Celtic
lands ; the novelty lay in the revival and general application of
a system which in the time of Hadrian seemed to have been
doomed to disappear for ever.
The same primitive system of assessment was applied
to other taxes, none of which was new. While in respect of
foodstuffs and certain raw materials the needs of the state were
met by the landowners, the money and manufactured goods
required had to be found chiefly by the cities and their inhabi-
tants. The artisans and the shopowners were expected to pay
a uniform tax. How it was assessed, we do not know. They
were also expected to deliver a certain amount of manufac-
tured goods to the state or to the city at a special price. The
large landed proprietors, the senators, paid a special tax in
money for their estates {collatio gkhedis). Finally, the artisans,
the cities, and the senators had to pay the traditional crown
gold (under different names) once every five years, and
additional money when a new emperor came to the throne.
The reorganization of taxation brought no improvement in
the matter of compulsory exactions in cases of emergency.
In time of war, requisitions and robbery reigned as before,
XII
The Oriental T)espotism 467
and in the long list of the obligations of the people there still
figured compulsory work and deliveries of draught cattle
for transport [ayyap^iai). How heavy the latter burden was,
is shown by the ‘ constitutions ’ of the Codex Theodosianus and
by the speech of Libanius Hepl rSv ayyapemv. Everywhere,
then, we meet with the same policy of simplification coupled
with a policy of brutal compulsion, to which the ancient world
had become accustomed in the dark days of the third century.
The mode of collecting the taxes has already been spoken
of. The system of the city-state, which used the services of
tax-farmers, was to a large extent gradually superseded under
the early Empire, and in those branches of taxation where it
was retained (the customs and the collection of the payments
in kind and money-taxes assessed on the imperial estates) it
was very effectively improved. A highly specialized army
of state-officials was created to check the attempts of the tax-
farmers to cheat both the Treasury and the taxpayers. Most
of the taxes, however, apart from a few which were managed
directly by the state (the inheritance tax, the taxes on manu-
mission and auctions, and the customs-duties), were collected
by the cities and paid by their representatives into the treasury
of a given province. How they were collected inside the city,
was a matter of indifference to the state. The co-operation
of the agents of the state — the governors of the provinces and
their staffs and the imperial procurators — with the city magis-
trates was limited to a joint settlement of the amount of the
taxes to be paid by the city, which was based on the municipal
census and on a similar census carried out for the whole
province by the central government. In giving a free hand
to the cities, the emperors insisted upon two main points,
that the assessment must be fair and just, and that the taxes
must be paid in full without arrears. For this the muni-
cipal administration was responsible. In actual fact arrears
accumulated in difficult times, and the emperors very often
cancelled them completely or partially. To make the collec-
tion of the taxes more methodical and to guarantee the state
against arrears, the emperors appointed (in addition to the
governors and the procurators) special agents of high standing
to assist the cities in managing their financial affairs. From
the time of Hadrian they tried to check the accumulation of
arrears by making the richest members of the community
responsible for them, especially for those connected with
Khz
468 TMe Oriental Despotism chap.
the departments of emergency deliveries and supplementary
taxation. In the third century, when the burdens of collecting
the taxes, securing transport for the state, and provisioning
the armies became excessively heavy, imperial pressure on the
municipal bourgeoisie steadily increased and its responsi-
bility to the state was more and more minutely regulated.
Compulsion was freely used as the bourgeoisie became more
impoverished and reduced in numbers, and as the paying
capacity of the taxpayers decreased. Some of the essential
rights of free men and citizens of Rome, as the municipal
bourgeois were from the legal point of view, were curtailed.
The government became harsh and sometimes violent. iVnd
yet the bourgeoisie remained the privileged class of the pro-
vincial population and still enjoyed some of its old privileges.
Diocletian made no effort to change the conditions which
he inherited from the military anarchy of the third century.
He never thought either of reducing the city bourgeoisie to the
level of the rest of the population of the city territory by making
every member of it a mere taxable unit, or of restoring the past
glory of the cities. He took over the legislation of his prede-
cessors, which tended to transform the bourgeoisie into a group
of unpaid hereditary servants of the state, and developed it
in the same spirit. The cmiales {those who were eligible for
the municipal council and the magistracies) formed a group
of richer citizens (with a minimal census of 25 iitgera of land)
responsible to the state through the magistrates and the
council both for the welfare, peace, and order of the city and
for the fulfilment by the population of all its obligations
towards the state. Like the tillers of the soil, each of the
curiales personally formed a single unit for purposes of taxation,
and the whole of the curiales formed one large unit, repre-
senting the amount of tax and of compulsory work demanded
from the population of the city. It was natural that every
curialis and the group as a whole should be treated in the same
way as the individual tillers of the soil. Their responsibility
was not only material but personal. Thus they had strictly to
observe the rule of origo, to remain in their city and not seek
to escape to another place of residence, and in dying they had
to substitute for themselves another taxable and responsible
unit in the person of their children. An army of officials was
on the spot to keep clcse watch on them, and to use compulsion
and violence if any of them tried to break away from the
xii The Orient 469
enchanted circle in which he was included. Have we not here
the plainest proof of Diocletian’s utter incapacity to invent
anything new or so to adapt existing institutions to the con-
ditions of his time as to safeguard as far as possible the rights
and the prosperity of the people ? Like the rest of his reforms,
his reorganization of municipal life appears to nie to be a
striking testimonium paupertatis, typical of an age devoid of all
creative power and helplessly submitting to current practice,
which owed its origin to a period of revolution and anarchy.
Augustus had faced the same difficulties, for the time of the civil
wars had been a time of oppression and of legalized robbery ;
but he never dreamt of legalizing robbery and oppression
in his turn and making them permanent. In the mind of
Diocletian the state meant compulsion, and organization
meant organized violence. We cannot say that his hand was
forced by the will of the army. The peasants and the army
hated the bourgeoisie as their oppressors. Diocletian never
thought of eliminating the antagonism between city and
country by transferring the responsibility for taxation and
compulsory work from the city councils to state officials. He
kept the antagonism alive, with the result that in the fourth
and fifth centuries the country hated the city as cordially
as it had done in the third ; witness Salvian and his attacks
on the tyrants from the cities. We cannot say, then, that
Diocletian had no other course open to him. Many were open
to him, but he took the old beaten track which led directly
to ruin and slavery."
It is no wonder, therefore, that the reforms of Diocletian
and of Constantine, who worked out the main ideas of his
predecessor, brought no relief to the people of the Empire
and did not lead to any revival of economic life and restoration
of prosperity. No Augustan golden age followed the disas-
trous times of the second civil war. Oppressive and unjust
taxation based on the enslavement alike of the tillers of the
soil and of the city artisans ; the immobilization of economic
life, which was hampered in its free development by the chains
which bound every individual ; the cruel annihilation,
consciously pursued and gradually effected, of the most active
and the most educated class of the Roman Empire, the
city bourgeoisie ; the steady growth of dishonesty and of
violence among the members of the imperial administration,
both high and low ; the impotence of the emperors, despite
470 The Oriental T)espotism chap.
the best intentions, to check lawlessness and corruption, and
their boundless conservatism as regards the fundamental prin-
ciples of the reforms of Diocletian and Constantine — all these
factors did not fail to produce their natural effect. The spirit
of the population remained as crushed as it had been in the
times of the civil war. The only difference was that a wave
of resignation spread over the Roman Empire. It was usele.ss
to fight, better to submit and bear silently the burden of life
with the hope of finding a better life — after death. The feeling
was natural, for the best efforts of honest men were bound to
fail, and the more one produced, the more would be taken by
the state. If a peasant succeeded in improving his land and
adding to it, he knew that his fate was to be promoted to the
position of a cunalis, which meant slavery, oppression, and
in the last resort ruin. Better to produce enough to support
his family and not make useless efforts to better his position.
A soldier knew very well that, so long as he was a soldier and
so long as he condemned his children to the sanre life, he
might be comparatively prosperous. As soon as he tried to
break the spell, he knew that his fate, too, or at least the fate
of his children, would be to join the citria and exchange bad
for worse. The tenant of a large landowner was content to
perform his duties and to enjoy the protection, and the
oppression, of his master. The fate of his neighbour, the free
peasant, was not attractive enough to induce him to strive
to become one. The same was true of the artisans of the cities
and the unfortunate curiales. In moments of despair the indi-
vidual might try by desperate means to ameliorate his lot : the
colonus and the peasant might seek to enter the army or to
turn to robbery, the soldier to desert the army, the curialis
to become anything — an official, a soldier, a colonus, or a
peasant. It was all in vain. If they succeeded, their situation
was every whit as bad. Thus the reigning mood was resig-
nation, and resignation never leads to prosperity.
jThe salient trait of the economic life of the late Roman
Empire was gradual impoverishment. The poorer the people
became, the more primitive grew the economic life of the
Empire. Commerce decayed, not only because of piracy and
barbarian inroads, but mainly because customers disappeared.
The best clients, the city bourgeoisie, decreased constantly in
numbers and in purchasing power. The peasants lived in
extreme poverty and reverted to an almost pure ‘ house-
XII
‘The Oriental ^Despotism 471
economy ’ , each home producing for itself what it needed. The
only customers left were the members of the privileged classes,
the officials, the soldiers, and the large landed proprietors,
and they were provided for, as far as the necessities of life
were concerned, either by the state (their salary being paid in
kind) or by the produce of their own estates. Thus the first
branch of commerce to suffer decay was the most important
one, commerce in articles of prime necessity within a province
and between provinces. Local retail-trade still lingered on,
and trade in luxuries even prospered. This accounts, for
instance, for the revival of the commerce with the East.
The commercial class as such, however, remained unpro-
gressive and despised. There was no chance to develop any
large commercial enterprise. As soon as a man tried to do so,
as soon as he bought ships or established commercial relations,
he was made a member of one of the corporations, the navi-
culafii or mefcator&s, and was forced to work for the state, to
transport goods on its behalf, and for a miserable remuneration,
or to give the state the first offer of what he had to sell, i Thus
the situation of the merchants and shipowners was as bad as
that of the curiales, and compulsion was employed to keep
the members of these groups bound to their profession and
to keep the number of the groups complete by enrolment of
fresh members. Like the ownership of land, commerce and
transportation became a hereditary burden from which there
was no escape. The same held good of industry. Customers
were few, the market became more and more restricted, and
the state more and more oppressive. Apart from the pro-
duction of some standardized articles for the masses and some
luxuries for the few rich, industry lived on the orders of the
state. But the state was a selfish and a brutal customer : it
fixed the prices and, if we take into consideration the profits
of the officials, fixed them ruinously low for the artisans.
Naturally the large industrial concerns gradually disappeared.
As the state needed them, especially for the army, for the
court, and for the officials, many industrial establishments
were transformed into state factories, which were managed
on Egyptian and Oriental patterns, with a staff of workmen
bound to their profession and bearing a hereditary burden.
In the preceding chapters we have endeavoured to show
that the social crisis of the third century had been, to a large
extent, brought about by a revolutionary movement of the
472 'The Oriental T)espons7n chap.
masses of the population which aimed at a general levelling.
Was this aim achieved by the reforms of Diocletian and
Constantine ? Can we say that the late Roman Empire was
more democratic than the Empire of the Julio-Claudians,
the Flavians, and the Antonines ? It is true that one privi-
leged class of the past, the equestrian, disappeared. It is
true that for a time advancement in the army and in the civil
service was open to everybody, especially in the third century.
But in actual fact the late Roman Empire, though it was a
democracy of slaves, was less democratic than the early Empire.
There were no castes in the early Empire. An active and
clever man could easily, by increasing his fortune, rise from
the position of peasant to that of landowner, and as such
he could join the ranks of the municipal aristocracy, receive
the Roman citizenship, become a knight, and finally a member
of the senatorial aristocracy. We have seen that such an
advance was easily accomplished in two or three generations.
Even in the army promotion from the rank of private to the
high post of first centurion was normal, although the advance
of a common soldier to the equestrian or senatorial posts in
the army was rare and exceptional. So it was in the civil
service. Even slaves were no exception to the general rule.
Emancipated slaves had brilliant opportunities of becoming
procurators of high standing, and there was nothing to prevent
them or their children from entering the ranks of the municipal
aristocracy.
The situation was different after the reforms of Diocletian
and Constantine. There was no legal way of advancing from
the position of a colonm even to that of a free peasant or a city
proletarian, not to speak of other classes. A colonus might
exceptionally become a soldier, but it was a very rare excep-
tion. The reform of taxation by Diocletian and the edicts
of later emperors made the colonus a serf, bound to his
domicile and to his master ; he became a member of a close
hereditary caste. The same was true of the free small land-
owner, who was a member of a village community : he was tied
to his land, to his village, to his profession. The only possible
advance was to the position of a curialis, which in fact was
a move downwards. Some might serve in the army, particu-
larly if they happened to live in military provinces ; but, as
the legislation against deserters shows, this was not regarded
as an enviable privilege. The municipal landowners, the
XII 7 he Oriental T^espotis 473
cmiales, were in the same position. They were less free than
even the small landowners, and they formed a close and very
select class, select because everybody dreaded the very idea
of entering it. The rest of the city population — the ship-
owners, the merchants, the artisans, the workmen — were all
gradually bound, to their profession and to their place of
residence. Onef privileged class was that of the workless
proletarians and beggars in the city and in the country, for
whom the Christian church was supposed to care. They at least
were free — to starve and to riot. Another free and privileged
class was the robbers, who steadily increased in numbers on
sea and land. The class of officials was not indeed hereditary,
at any rate not legally. It was a privilege to be an official,
and the emperor was free to recruit his officials from the best
men in the country. But his freedom was limited. A curialis
could not become an official, and if one of them succeeded in
evading the rule, he might expect every moment to be sent
back to his curia. Nor were merchants and shipowners
eligible. The peasants and the city proletariate do not come
into consideration. The military career was sharply separated
from the civil, and a soldier was not eligible for a civil office.
Thus by force of circumstances officials were recruited from the
families of officials, and the official class became practically,
though not legally, a close caste. The same description
applies to the new senatorial aristocracy. It was an aris-
tocracy of service, admission to which was granted by the
emperors to the higher civil and military officers, and member-
.ship was hereditary. Gradually it became also an aristocracy
of birth and education, for the intellectual traditions of the
class were jealously guarded.
‘ From the social point of view, then, there was no levelling
and no equalization. In the late Roman Empire society was
subdivided not into classes, but into real castes, each as close
as possible, in some cases because of the privileges connected
with the caste, in others because of the burdens and hard-
ships, which prevented anybody from desiring to be admitted
and made membership hereditary and compulsory. Nor
was there even equality in the common slavery to the stat4
There was indeed equality of a negative kind, for no political
freedom was tolerated, no remnant of self-government was
left, no freedom of speech, thought, or conscience was per-
mitted, especially after the victory of Christianity ; but even
474 Orientai Despotism chap,
this equality of slavery was superficial and relative. The
great landed proprietors were slaves of the emperor but
masters of the tenant-serfs who lived on their estates. The
c Ilf tales w'ere slaves of the administration and were treated
by it as such, but they were masters not only of the tenants
of their estates, but also of the population of the city and the
city territory, inasmuch as they apportioned and collected
the taxes and supervised the compulsory w'ork ; and by these
they were regarded and hated as masters who were them-
selves unfree and could not protect but only cheat their own
slaves. Little wonder if these slaves appealed for protection
to senators, officials, and soldiers, and were ready to pay any
price for it and to deprive themselves of the little money and
the little liberty which they still had. The working class of
the cities stood in the same relation to the members of the
various corporations, the owners of ships, shops, and factories.
The last were in truth much more like minor super\'isors of
their own concerns on behalf of the state than their owners ;
they were themselves in bondage to the officials of the various
departments and of the commanders of the various military
units. Lastly, the officials and the soldiers of various ranks,
though wielding an enormous power over thousands of men,
were subjected to an iron discipline of a servile type and
were practically slaves of each other and of the agents of the
secret police. General servitude was, indeed, the distinctive
feature of the age, but while there were different grades
and shades of bondage, there was no equality. Slavery and
equality are incompatible, a fact which should not be
forgotten by the many modem defenders of the principle of
equality.®
^bove all, there was no equality whatsoever in the distri-
bution of property. The senators, the knights, the municipal
aristocracy, the petty bourgeoisie of the early Empire were,
of course, ruined and degraded. Their patient and creative
work, by which they had accumulated their fortunes and built
up the civilized life of the cities, had disappeared for ever.
But the old propertied classes were replaced by new ones,
which even from the economic point of view were much worse
than their predecessors. / The fortunes of the early Empire
were the result of the growing prosperity of the Empire in
general. They were derived from commerce and industry,
and the capital acquired was invested in land, improving its
xii The Oriental TOespotism 475
cultivation and the types of crop produced. The wars of
the second century undermined these fortunes and retarded
or even arrested economic development. Yet they did not
work ruin, and a recovery under more normal conditions
was possible. The catastrophe of the third century dealt
a severe blow to the prosperity of the Empire and weakened
the creative energies of the better part of the population. The
reforms of Diocletian and Constantine, by giving permanence
to the policy of organized robbery on the part of the state,
made all productive economic activity impossible. But it did
not stop the formation of large fortunes, rather it contributed
to their formation, while altering their character. The founda-
tion of the new fortunes was no longer the creative energy
of men, nor the discovery and exploitation of new sources of
wealth, nor the improvement and development of commercial,
industrial, and agricultural enterprises ; it was in the main the
skilful use of a privileged position in the state to cheat and
exploit the state and the people alike. Public officials, both
high and low, grew rich on bribery and corruption. The
.senatorial class, being free from municipal burdens, invested
their spoil in land and used their influence, the influence of
their caste — which in this respect was more powerful than
the emperors and nullified all their good intentions — to divert
the burdens of taxation on to the other classes, to cheat the
Treasury directly, and to enslave ever larger numbers of work-
men. We cannot here discuss how and under what title they
grabbed large tracts of fertile land, both private and crown
property ^ We have seen them at work in Egypt in the third
century. In the fourth they proceeded farther on the same
path. Purchase, lease, patronage, lease without term,
hereditary lease with the obligation to cultivate {emphyteusis)
were all used to make the senatorial class the class of large
landed proprietors par excellence, and to form vast estates
scattered all over the provinces and resembling small princi-
palities. Few of the members of the senatorial class lived in
the capital or in the cities. The majority of them built large
and beautiful fortified villas in the country and dwelt there,
surrounded by their family, their slaves, a real retinue of armed
clients, and thousands of rural serfs and dependants. We
are well acquainted with their mode of life from the descrip-
tions of Ausonius, Paulinus of Pella, Sidonius Apollinaris, and
Salvian, from the numerous ruins of their villas, and from
DESCRIPTION OF PLATE LX
1. FRAGMENT OF A MOSAIC. Found at Ronie near tiie diiircli of
St. Bibbiana. Aiitiqiiarlum Comunale, Rome. Bulk Com,, 32 (1904), p. 375 ;
Helbig-Aiiiehmg, Filhrer, i, p. 603, Mos. 1072-1074.
One of three fragments of a large mosaic, showing a man on horseback
hunting a wild boar in a forest with the help of a large and fierce Molossiaii dog.
The man is bearded and dressed in the late-Homan fashion ; Ids saddle and
horse-trappings are richly adorned. The other two fragments pjrtra}^ other
hunting scenes— netting antelopes and capturing bears with a wooden trap.
Stylistically, our mosaic must be compared with the recently discovered mosaics
of the palace of Theodoric at Ravenna, and it certainly belongs to the same time ;
see G. Ghirardini in Mon. mii. 4 . Acc. dei Lined, 24 {1918), pi. V {an almost
identical hunting scene). The noble Roman of our fragment is imdoubtediy a
Gotho- Roman.
2. PART OF A MOSAIC, Found at Carthage at the foot of the hill Bordp
Djedid. British Museum, I-nv. d. mos., ii. i (Tiiiiisie}, No, 763, cp. No. 880,
citing A. W. Franks in Afchaeologia, 38 . (i860), p. 225, No, 5 ; N. Davis,
Carthage and her Remains, 1861, pp. 531 ff. ; Morgan, Rcmiano-British Paremenis,
pp. 272 if,, quoting BuiMer, xlii (1882), pp. ' 757 if . ; British Mmeum Guide
to the Graecih Roman Sculptures, ii (1876), Part II, pp, 80 ff. Our fragment has
not, so far as I know, been reprociuced. The building whidi is depicted on it
has been described and reproduced {a.s a part of the* walls of (Carthage !) by
A. Graham, Roman Africa, 1902, p; 24 and plate. '
The mosaic is one of the latest replicas of the typical African exanifiles with
hunting scenes (cp, pi. LVIll). .On the portion figured here t!ie owner of an
estate is seen riding' in the hilly country around !iis villa, which he iias just
left. With his right hand he makes a gesture of greeting. His ilress, the style
of his horse-trappings, and his facial type suggest a Vandal or a Homan Alrkan
of the Vandaiic or Byzantine period. The mark on the horse’s haunch, con-
sisting of three reeds and a crescent forming a cross, is a charm to avert evil.
Our fragment is part of the irst band of the mosaic. In the seamd band
the same man (on the same horse) is seen hunting tw^o gazelles (im, d. mos.,
No. 763), while another man is catching a stag by means of a lasso {ibid., No. 886).
Other fragments show a boar and a dog, a hare, &c. The mosaic had at least
two, perhaps three, bands.
On hunting scenes in late-Roman art, especially on sarcophagi, see G. Roden-
waldt in Rdm. Miith., 36/37 {1921-2), pp. 58ff.,*who, however, unfortunately
ignores the mosaics of Africa and Raveima.
ITS OWNER IN AFRICA.
THE TIME OF THE LATE HOMAN EMPIRE
XII T*he *Decaj of tAncimt iJiviif%at$on 477
some mosaics which portrayed on their floom the beauty of
their chateaux in town and country. The class was large and
influential. Every successful ‘new’ man tried hard to become
a member of it, and many succeeded. They were good
patriots, they possessed a genuine love of Rome and the
Empire, they were faithful servants of the emperors, and they
appreciated civilization and culture very highly. Their
political outlook was narrow, their servility was unbounded.
But their external appearance was majestic, and their grand
air impre.ssed even the barbarians who gradually became
masters of the Empire. For the other classes they had neither
sympathy nor understanding. They regarded them as far
inferior beings, in this respect resembling the aristocracy of
Rome in the iirst century b. c. and the first century a. d. The
senators of the second century were not nearly so exclusive
or St) self-confident. Thus, more than ever before, stHriet}'
was divided into two classes ; those who became steadily
poorer and more destitute, and those who built up their
prosperity on the sjwils of the ruined Empire — real drones,
who never made any contribution to economic life but lived
on the toil and travail of other classes.
\The social revolution of the third century, which destroyed
the foundations of the economic, social, and intellectual life
of the ancient world, could not jjroduce any positive acliiev'c-
ment. On the ruins of a prosp<Tous and well-organized state,
based on the age-old classical civilization and on the sclf-
gov'emment of the cities, it built up a state whicli was based
on general ignorance, on compulsion and violence, on slavery
and servility, on briber}’ and dishonesty. Have we the right
to accuse the emperors of the fourth century of having
deliberately and of their own choice built up such a state,
while they might have taken another path and have constructed,
not the slave-state of the late Roman Empire, but one free from
the mistakes of the early Empire and yet not enshrining the
brutal practice of the revolutionary period ? It is idle to ask
such a cjuestion. The emperors of the fourth century, and
above all Diocletian, grew up in the atmosphere of violence
and compulsion. They never saw anything else, they never
came across any other method. Their education was m^erate,
and their training exclusively military. They took their duties
seriousl}’, -and they were animated by the’ sincerest love of
tiieir countrw Their aim was to save the Roman Empire,
CHAP.
478 ’The T}ecay of ^Ancient Civilization
and they achieved it. To this end they used, with the best
intentions, the means which were familiar to them, violence
and compulsion. They never asked whether it was worth
while to save the Roman Empire in, order to make it a vast
prison for scores of millions of men. /
Every reader of a volume devoted to the Roman Empire
will expect the author to express his opinion on what is
generally, since Gibbon, called the decline and fall of the
Roman Empire, or rather of ancient civilization in general. •
I shall therefore briefly state my own view on this problem, y
after defining what I take the problem to be. \The decline
and fall of the Roman Empire, that is to say, of ancient
civilization as a whole, has two aspects : the political, social,
and economic on the one hand, and the intellectual and
spiritual on the other. In the sphere of politics we witne.ss
a gradual barbarization of the Empire from within, especially
in the West. The foreign, German, elements play the leading
part both in the government and in the army, and settling
in ma.sses displace the Roman population, which disa])pear.s
from the fields. A related phenomenon, which indeed was
a neces.sary consequence of this barbarization from within,
was the gradual disintegration of the Western Roman Ihnpire ;
the ruling classes in the former Roman provinces wen*
replaced first by Germans and Sarmatians, and later l)y
Germans alone, either through peaceful penetration or by
conquest. In the East we observe a gradual Orientalization
of the Byzantine Empire, which leads ultimately to the
establishment, on the ruins of the Roman Empire, of strong
half-Oriental and purely Oriental states, the Caliphate of
Arabia, and the Persian and Turkish empires. From the
social and economic point of view, we mean by decline the
gradual relapse of the ancient world to very primitive forms
of economic life, into an almost pure ‘ house-economy ’ . ' The
cities, which had created and sustained the higher forms of
economic life, gradually decayed, and the majority of them
practically disappeared from the face of the earth. A few,
especially those that had been great centres of commerce
and industry, still lingered on.^ The complicated and refined
social system of the ancient Empire follows the same down-
ward path and becomes reduced to its primitive elements :
the King, his court and retinue, the big feudal landowners,
the clergy, the mass of rural sdrifs, and small groups" of artisans
xii ‘The T)ecay of tAncient Civiltzatio?i 479
and merchants. Such is the political, social, and economic
aspect of the problem.
From the intellectual and spiritual point of view the main
phenomenon is the decline of ancient civilization, of the city
civilization of the Greco-Roman world. The Oriental civiliza-
tions were more stable : blended with some elements of the
Greek city civilization, they persisted and even witne.ssed
a brilliant revival in the Caliphate of Arabia and in Per.siu,
not to speak of India and China. Here again there arc t^^•o
aspects of the evolution. The first is the exhaustion of the
creative forces of Greek civilization in the domains where its
great triumphs had been achieved, in the exact sciences, in
technique, in literature and art. The decline began as early
as the second century b. c. There followed a temporary
revival of creative forces in the cities of Italy, and later in
those of the Eastern and Western provinces of the Empire.
The progressive movement stopped almost completely in the
second century a. d. and, after a period of .stagnation, a
steady and rapid decline set in again. Parallel to it, we notice a
progressive w'eakening of the assimilativeforcesof Greco- Roman
civilization. The cities no longer absorb— that i.s to say, no
longer Hellenize or Romanize — the nias.scs of the country
jxrpulation. The rever.se is the case. The barbarism of the
country begins to engulf the city papulation. Only small
islands of civilized life are left, the senatorial aristocracy of
the late Empire and the clergy ; but both, save for a section
of the clergy, are gradually swallowed up by the ad\-ancing
tide of barbarism.
ji Another aspect of the same phenomenon is the develop-
ment of a new mentality among the masses of the population.
It was the mentality of the low’er classes, based exclusively on
religion and not only indifferent but hostile to the intellectual
achievements of the higher classes. This new attitude of
mind gradually dominates the upper classes, or at least the
larger part of them. It is revealed by the spread among them
of the various mystic religions, partly Oriental, partly Grgek.
The climax was reached in the triumph of Christianity.| In
this field the creative power of the ancient world was still
alive, as is shown by such momentous achievements as the
creation of the Christian church, the adaptation of Christian
theology to the mental level of the higher classes, the creation
of a powerful Christian literature and of a new Christian art.
CHAP.
480 The ‘Decay of tAncient Civiiization
The new intellectual efforts aimed chiefly at influencing the
mass of the population and therefore represented a lowering
of the high standards of city civilization, at least from the
point of view of literary forms.®
We may say, then, that there is one prominent feature
in the development of the ancient world during the imperial
age, alike in the political, social, and economic and in the
intellectual field. It is a gradual absorption of the higher
classes by the lower, accompanied by a gradual le'celling down
of standards. This levelling was accomplished in many
ways. There was a slow penetration of the lower classes
into the higher, which were unable to assimilate the new
elements. There were violent outbreaks of civil strife:
the lead was taken by the Greek cities, and there followed
the civil war of the first century B. c. which involved the whole
civilized world. In these struggles the upper classes and the
city civilization remained victorious on the whole. Two
centuries later, a new outbreak of civil war ended in the
victory of the lower classes and dealt a mortal blow to the
Greco-Roman civilization of the cities. Finally, that civiliza-
tion was completely engulfed by the inflow of barbarous
elements from outside, partly by penetration, partly by
conquest, and in its dying condition it was unable to assimilate
even a small part of them.
The main problem, therefore, which we have to solve is
this. Why was the city civilization of Greece and Italy
unable to assimilate the masses, why did it remain a civiliza-
tion of the elite, why was it incapable of creating conditions
which should secure for the ancient world a continuous,
uninterrupted movement along the same path which our
modem world is traversing again ? Various explanations
have been suggested, and each of them claims to have finally
solved the problem. Let us then review the most important
of thenp They may be divided into four classes.®
{i)\/rhe political solution is advocated by many distin-
guished scholars. For Beloch the decay of ancient civiliza-
tion was caused by the ab.sorption of the Greek city-states by
the Roman Empire, by the formation of a world-state which
prevented the creative forces of Greece from developing and
consolidating the great achievements of civilized life./ There
is some truth in this view. It is evident that the creation
of the Roman Empire was a step forward in the process* of
.XII
The T)ecay of tAncient Civilisation 481
levelling, and that it facilitated the final absorption of the
higher classes- We must, however, take into consideration
that class war was a common feature of Greek life, and that
we have not the least justification for supposing that the
Greek city-community would have found a solution of the
social and economic problems which produced ci\il war in
the various communities. Further, this view suggests that
there was only one creative race in the ancient world, which is
notoriously false. Another explanation, tending in the same
direction, has been put forward by Kornemann.” He regards
as the main cause of the decay of the Roman Empire the fact
that Augustus reduced the armed forces of the Empire, and
that this reduction was maintained by his successors. The
suggestion lays the whole emphasis on the military side of the
problem, and is therefore a return to the antiquated idea
that ancient civilization was destroyed by the barbarian
invasions, an idea which was dropped long ago by the best
scholars and cannot be resuscitated. Besides, the maintenance
of a comparatively small army was imperati\'ely imposed by
the economic weakness of the Empire, a fact which was
understood by all the emperors. Still less convincing is the
idea of Ferrero^^, that the collapse of the Empire was due to
a disastrous event, to an accident w’hich had the gravest
consequences. He holds that by transmitting his power to his
son Commodus instead of to a man chosen by the senate,
M. Aurelius undermined the senate’s authority on which the
whole fabric of the Roman state rested ; that the murder of
Commodus led to the usurpation of Septimius and to the civil
war of the third century ; and that the usurpation and the war
destroyed the authority of the senate and deprived the imperial
power of its only legitimacy in the eyes of the population w'hich
was its main support. Ferrero forgets that legally the power of
the emperors in the third century was still derived from the
senate and people of Rome, that it was so even in the time of Dio-
cletian, and that the same idea still survived under Constan-
tine and his successors. He also forgets that the subtle
formula of Augustus, Vespasi^, and the Antonines was in-
comprehensible to the mass of the people of the Empire, and
was a creation of the upper classes, completely outside the
range of popular conceptions. Finally, he fails to understand
the true character of the crisis of the third century. The
struggle was not between the senate and the emperor, but
CHAP.
482 'The T)ecay of tAncient Civilization
between the cities and the army — that is to say, the masses of
peasants — as is shown by the fact that the lead in the fight
was taken not by Rome but by the cities of the province of
Africa. A deeper explanation is offered by Heitland.^* He
suggests that the ancient world decayed because it was
unable to give the masses a share in the government, and even
gradually restricted the numbers of those who participated
in the life of the state, ultimately reducing them to the
emperor himself, his court, and the imperial bureaucracy. I
regard this point as only one aspect of the great phenomenon
which I have described above. Have we the right to suppose
that the emperors would not have tried the plan of represen-
tative government if they had known of it and believed in it ?
They tried many other plans and failed. If the idea of repre-
sentative government was foreign to the ancient world (and
as a matter of fact it was not), why did the ancient world
not evolve the idea, which is not a very difficult one ?
Moreover, the question arises, Can we be sure that representa-
tive government is the cause of the brilliant development of
our civilization and not one of its aspects, just as was the Greek
city-state ? Have we the slightest reason to believe that
modern democracy is a guarantee of continuous and un-
interrupted progress, and is capable of preventing civil war
from breaking out under the fostering influence of hatred and
envy ? Let us not forget that the most modern political and
social theories suggest that democracy is an antiquated
institution, that it is rotten and corrupt, being the offspring
of capitalism, and that the only just form of government is
the dictatorship of the proletariate. Did not the peasants of
the Roman Empire act subconsciously on the same principle ?
(2) The economic explanation of the decay of the ancient
world must be rejected completely. In speaking of the de-
velopment of industry in the ancient world,” I have dealt
with the theory of the Marxians, as. adapted to our problem by
K. Bucher, M. Weber, and G. Salvioli. If the theory fails to
explain even this minor point, much less will it serve to explain
the general phenomenon. The Marxians forget that the ancient
world went through many cycles of evolution, and that in
these cycles there occur long periods of progress and other
long periods of return to more primitive conditions, to the
phase of economic life which is generally described as ‘ house-
economy’. It is true that the ancient world never reached
the economic stage in which we live, the stage of industrial
XII
The T)ecay of Ancient Civilization 483
capitalism. But in the history of the ancient world we have
many epochs of high economic development : certain periods
in the history of many Oriental monarchies, particularly
Egypt, Babylonia, and Persia ; the age of the highest develop-
ment of the city-states, especially the fourth century B. c. ;
the period of the Hellenistic monarchies, where the climax
was reached in the third century b. c. ; the period of the late
Roman Republic and of the early Roman Empire. All the-se
periods show different aspects of economic life and different
aspects of capitalism. In none of them did the forms of house-
economy prevail. We may compare the economic aspect of
life during these periods to that of many European countries
in the time of the Renaissance and later, although in no case
would the comparison be perfect, as there is no identity
between the economic development of the modern and that of
the ancient world. According to the different economic condi-
tions of these several periods in the history of the ancient world,
the relations between house-economy and capitalistic economy
varied, and they frequently varied not only in the different
periods but also in different parts of the ancient world during
the same period. The ancient world was in thi.s re.spect not
unlike the niodern world. In the industrial countries of Europe,
such as England and some parts of Clcrmany and I' ranee, eco-
nomic life nowadays is by no means the .same as it is in tlie
agricultural countries, like Russia and the Balkan ptniinsula
and large parts of the Near East. The economic life of the
United States of America is not in the least identical witli
the economic life of Europe or of the various parts of South
America, not to speak of China, Japan, and India. So it was
in the ancient world. While Egypt and Babylonia had
a complex economic life, with a highly developed industry
and wide commercial relations, other parts of the Near East
lived a quite different and much more primitive life. While
Athens, Corinth, Rhodes, Syracuse, Tyre, and Sidon in the
fourth century b. c. were centres of a developed commercial
capitalism, other Creek cities lived an almost purely agri-
cultural life. In the Hellenistic and Roman periods it was ju.st
the same. The main fact which has to be explained is why
capitalistic development, which started at many times and
in many places, and prevailed in large portions of the ancient
world for comparatively long peric^s, yielded ultimately to
more'primitivc forms of economic life. Even in our own times
lia
CHAP.
484 The T)ecay of ^Ancient Civilization
it has not completely ousted those forms. It is evident that
the problem cannot be solved by affirming that the ancient
world lived throughout under the forms of primitive house-
economy. The statement is manifestly wrong. We might
say exactly the same of large areas of the modern world, and
we are not at all sure that a violent catastrophe might not
bring the modern capitalistic world back to the primitive
phase of house-economy, as has happened in Russia since the
Bolshevik revolution.
To sum up what I have said, the economic simplification
of ancient life was not the cause of what we call the decline
of the ancient world, but one of the aspects of the more general
phenomenon which I am trying to explain. Here, just as in
the other spheres of human life, the political, social, intellectual,
and religious, the more primitive forms of life among the
masses were not absorbed by the higher forms but triumphed
over them in the end. We may select one of these pheno-
mena and declare it to be the ultimate cause ; but it would
be an arbitrary assumption which would not convince any
one. The problem remains. Why was the victorious advance
of capitalism stopped ? Why was machinery not invented ?
Why were the business systems not perfected ? Wliy were
the primal forces of primitive economy not overcome ? They
were gradually disappearing ; why did they not disappear
completely ? To say that they were quantitatively stronger
than in our own times does not help us to explain the main
phenomenon. That is why many economists, who are aware
that the usual explanation only touches the surface and does
not probe the problem to the bottom, endeavour to save the
economic explanation, and the materialistic conception of
historical evolution in general, by producing some potent
physical factor as the cause of the weakness of the higher
forms of economic life in the ancient world. Such a factor
has been found by some scholars in the general exhaustion
of the soil all over the ancient world, which reached its climax
in the late Roman Empire and ruined the ancient world. I
have dealt with this theory above.* There are no facts to
support it. All the facts about the economic development of
the ancient world speak against it. Agriculture decayed in the
ancient world Just in the same way and from the same causes
as the other branches of economic life. As soon as the
political and social conditibns improved in the various parts
* See p. 339-
xii The “Decay of jlncient Civilizatmi 485
of the Empire, the fields and gardens began to yield the same
harvests as before. Witness the flourishing state of Gaul in
the time of Ausonius and of Sidonius Apollinaris ; witness the
fact that in Egypt, where the soil is inexhaustible and those
parts of it which are not flooded are very easily improved by
the most primitive methods, agriculture decayed in the third
and fourth centuries, just as in the other provinces. It is
plain that the economic explanation does not help us, and that
the investigations of the economists reveal, not the cause of
the decline of the ancient world, but merely one of its aspects.
(3)1 The rapid progress of medicine and td' ])iologica!
.science has had its influence on the problem of the deca\' (jf
ancient civilization. A biological solution has been often
suggested, and the theories of degeneration and race-suicidt*
have been applied to the ancient world. The biological theoiy
supplies us with an apparently exhaustive explanation of
the decline of the assimilative forces of the civilized upper
classes. | |They gradually degenerated and had not the power
to assimilate the lower classes but were absorbed by them.
According to Seeck,*® the cause of their degeneration and of
their numerical decline was the ‘ extermination of tlie best * b}'
foreign and civil wars. Others, like Tenney Frank,’" think of
the contamination of higher races by an admixture of the
blood of inferior races. Others, again, regard degeneration
as a natural process common to all civilized communities :
the best are neither exterminated nor contaminated, but they
commit systematic suicide by not reproducing and by letting
the inferior type of mankind breed freely.” I am not compe-
tent to sit in judgement on the problem of degeneratit>n
from the biological and physiological point of view. From
the historical point of view, I v'enture to remark against
Seeck that in wars and revolutions it is not only the best
that are exterminated. On the other hand, revolutions do
not always prevent the succeeding period from being a period
of great bloom. Against Frank I may suggest that I see no
criterion for distinguishing between inferior and superior
races. Why are the Greek and Latin races considered the
only superior races in the Roman Empire ? Some of the races
which ‘ contaminated ’ the ruling races, for instance, the
pre-Indo-European and pre-Semitic race or races of the
Mediterranean, had created great civilizations in the past
(the Egyptian, the Minoan, the Iberian, the Etruscan, the
civilizations of Asia Minor), and the same is true of the Semitic
1 ;
CHAP.
486 The T)ecay of ^Ancient Civilization
and of the Iranian civilizations. Why did the admixture of
the blood of these races contaminate and deteriorate the blood
of the Greeks and the Romans ? On the other hand, the Celts
and the Germans belonged to the same stock as the Greeks
and the Romans. The Celts had a high material civilization
of their own. The Germans were destined to develop a high
civilized life in the future. Why did the admixture of their
blood corrupt and not regenerate their fellow Aryans, the
Greeks and the Romans ? The theory of a natural decay of
civilization by race-suicide states the same general pheno-
menon of which we have been speaking, the gradual absorp-
tion of the upper classes by the lower and the lack of assimi-
lative power shown by the upper. It states the fact, but
gives no explanation. The problem this theory has to solve
is, Why do the best not reproduce their kind ? It may be
solved in different ways : we may suggest an economic, or
a physiological, or a psychological explanation. But none of
these explanations is convincing.
(4)i /Christianity is very often made responsible for the
decay of ancient civilization. This is, of course, a \’ery narrow
point of view. Christianity is but one side of the general
change in the mentality of the ancient world. Can we say
that this change is the ultimate cause of the decay of ancient
civilization ? It is not easy to discriminate betw'een causes
and symptoms, and one of the urgent tasks in the field of
ancient history is a further investigation of this change of
mentality. The change, no doubt, was one of the most potent
factors in the gradual decay of the civilization of the city-
state and in the rise of a new conception of the world and of
a new civilization. 1/ But how are we to explain the change ?
Is it a problem of individual and mass psychology ?
None of the existing theories fully explains the problem
of the decay of ancient civilization, if we can apply the word
‘ decay ’ to the complex phenomenon which I have endeavoured
to describe. Each of them, however, has contributed much to
the clearing of the ground, and has helped us to perceive that
the main phenomenon which underlies the process of decline
is the gradual absorption of the educated classes by the masses
and the consequent simplification of all the functions of
political, social, economic, and intellectual life, which we call
thd barbarization of the ancient world.
(iThe evolution of the ancient world has a lesson and a
warning for us. Our civilization will not last unless it be
XII
The T}ecay of ^Ancient Civilization 487
a civilization not of one class, but of the masses. The Oriental
civilizations were more stable and lasting than the Greco-
Roman, because, being chiefly based on religion, they were
nearer to the masses. Another lesson is that violent attempts
at levelling have never helped to uplift the masses. They
have destroyed the upper classes, and resulted in accelerating
the process of barbarization. But the ultimate problem
remains like a ghost, ever present and unlaid ; Is it possible
to extend a higher civilization to the lower classes without
debasing its standard and diluting its qualit}’ to the vani.shing
point ? Is not every civilization bound to decay as soon as
it begins to penetrate the masses ?
NOTES
I. Italy and the Civil JCars.
^ On the economic conditions of Greece in the 5th and .|th cent, b.c., and
especially of Athens, see G. Glotz, Le imvaii dam la Grice^ umifiimy ' 1920 :
J. Belocli, GrkeMscke 'GescMc/ile, ed. 2, voL ili, 1922, p. 313 IT. ^ IX Abschnitt, ‘ Die
wirtschaftliche Entwickelimg seit dein Peloponnesischen Kriegeb-
- This important topic will be dealt with at length in niv fonhcoiiiing book :
The Heiiepdsiic Period, Soeiai ami Ecommk Deveiopaient Polybius' descripticni
of the wars of the end of the 3rd .and the beginning of the 2nd cent., \caged in
Greece Proper, on the islands, and In Asia Minor, is a mine of inforinatiyii 011
this subject.
Demosth., Kora TifiOKp,^ I49 (p. 7461 .* mSl rmr wi* Bmr iimmomn idBi
fipaBairpior '*h 0 tiva'mp oM* oiKim^ cf, Dilleiibcrgerj cii- [^‘€ yX'l
fii^a^acTjww ouSf mBi | [oliKCwc'IcuF fdSi XP^l^p fijfiroKair]«i? ?roir|crft). and Isocf.,
Pamtkj (12% 259 |p.'287bi. In the person of Ccrddas (fr. i, see_J. lA Pcnvell
and E. A. Barker. AVea C/iaplers in l/ie Hisio^ of Greek Liifnduref Oxford. 1921 ;
cp. A. D. Knox, The Plrsi Greek JalhoiogLd, Cambridge, 1^31 we have now
one of the political and social preachers ' and reformers of the 3rd^ cent who,
though belonging to the bourgeois class, were forced to accept
and djraicorrA' as a preventive measure against social rc\c*lniii>ni. CfJ. R. von
Fohliiiann, Gesckifkle der smialm Frage ami firs Sa^ialif a ns /;i f/mfwMfii IfV//,
j, 1912, p. 416 If. and W. W, Tarn, *The Social Question in the 11 iirc:i Cfuiiury ’ in
Tki Ileiimisiw vige, Cambridge, 1923, p.
* W. S* Ferguson, iielkmslk Alhems, 19.1.1.
The problem of Hellenistic economic and social hfe will be Ireatedpn the
book quoted in note 2. A siiiuniaiy of the conditions has been given by J. I’klocli,
Griedi. Gesdi,^ vol. lii, in 1903. andfby W. S. Ferguson, Greek hnpfrmiism, in 1913.
Since that time our inaterial has steadil}" Increased, especially for Egypt, and
the subject needs separate treatment Sec meanwhile on Ftoleriiaic Egypt
M. Rostovtzeff, *The Foundations of Social and Economic Life in Egypt Jii the
Hellenistic Period,’ in Jonm, of Eg. Arck.. 1920; idem, A Large Eslak hi m
ike Third Cent B.C.^ Madison iWis.), 1921 ; U. Wiicken, ‘ Alexximier dcr Gitosc
und die hellenistiche WIrtscliaft/ in Schmaiiers Jakrk fiir Gesekgrhmg^ 45,
2, p. 349 (451 ff. On the Pergamene kingdom, see niy artitic in rhuiidsm
Sftidies preseniid to Sir IF. M, Manchester, 1923, which discusses the
evidence we possess on scientific and capitalistic agriculture in the llcllcnktlc
kingdoms. An abundant source of informalion Is furnislicd by the papyri con-
taining the correspondence of Zenon, the manager of a large estate of Apollonius,
the dmikeks of Ptolemy Philadelphiis, for which see If, Rostovtzetf, A Largr
Esfsii^ p. 49 Icorn-gi'owingl, p. 93 if. (viticijltiirel, p, 107 ff, |stock 4 irecdingt, p. 117 tl
fhorses); Rolf johaniieseii, *Fi0lefiiy Philadelphus ana Scieiiiific Agriculture/
in Oms. F/iiX, 18 (1923)5, p, 156 ff. Interesting new evidence has been rcc€*ntly
published % C. Ed^ar, * Miscellanea/ In Bail Arch. dAkxmdrit^ 19
p. 6 {1171 in, an effort of Zenon to acellmilke Sicilian swine in Egypt The
fact that Theophrastus was read in HelleniMlc Egypt is atlesleci by tlie recent
discovery of a fragment of mpl i 4 ^p in a MS, or the ist cent 11. c. in Egypt
H. J. Milne, in Ciass, /tVi?.,36 (1922!, p* 66£
® A fine characterizatiofi of the Hellenistic monarchies |tho«gli exaggerated m
regards the negative side) is given by Aelius Aristides In his %vo!iderttil speech
490 Notes: Chapter I
Mis 'FmpLfiv- (xxiv Kj xiv d), 27 : OVK «p Mme^odai OklC ov liawikevttpres
eKdoTToi mcriTip ^ tppoi^pol paXkop rmp. Tt^Xtmp koItSp )((i>pmp opt€s ^ apx^PtfS^ umcrruTni rtvfs
^amXiis ovx wo tow p€ydXov ^acrtXfW, «XX* imjrmv awroi yeyevfip€Pm^ n ouw re
eimipy araTpawai eprfpoi fiaeriXms* miToi t^p tmavrrfv mTatrramP fthrepop pfulXmf rj
^aeriXeli} irpo(r£OLK€Pai <f>ri(ropep ;
' ^ The' best treatme,nt of the important problem of Rome’s first attempts to
create a world state^an Imperium Rommmm, is to be found in Tenney frank,
Romm Impertaiismy 1913 (cp. idem, A History of Roiney 1923, p. i36ffi|, and
especially M. Holleaux, Rome^ la Grece ei les monarchies heilrnisiiqnfs mi
stick amnf J, C. (273-205), in Bibl des j£c»y 124, 1921, and G, de Sanctis, Siaria dfi
Rommt y Vot iv, fLa fondazione dellTmpero/ 1922, p. iff. ^On the economic
revival of Greece in the second half of the 2nd cent b.c., A. Wilhcliii, ' Urkiinden
aus Messenef 'in Jakresh, 17 (1914), p. 8411’ On the exactions of the Roman
revolutionary leaders, especially Sulla in the East, the same^ article, p. 97 ff,
cpf R. O. Jollife, Phases of Corruption in Roman Administration in the last Century
of the Roman ReptiMic, Chicago, 1919. New evidence on the robberies of the
pirates in the Mediterranean, is supplied by the inscription of Delphi — a trans-
lation into Greek of one of the laws which gave extraordinary powers to a
general for operations against them. The date of the inscription is^stili^a subject
of controversy, see Pomtow, in AT/rn, 17 (1917'!, p,. 171 ff. ; E. Gum in C\R, . 4 cad,
Imcr,y 1923, p. 129 ff.; M. A. Levi in ihv. Fit, 52 (1924), p. Son.: G. Colin in
B, C H,y 48 {1924 1, p, 58 ff. ; J. Colin in Rev. Arch.y 18 (19231, p. 289 ff ; E.^Ciiq,
ibid., 19 (.1924), p. 208 ft. The dates assigned to the law are loi b.c. fG, Colin,
M. Levi), 74 'B.c. (J. Colin), and 67 b.c. (E. Ciiq). Cp. also H. A. Ormerod,
Piracy in the Ancient IVorldy 1924.
® Tenney Frank, An Ecomtnic History of Rome to the Fhui o[ ikf Repiibitty
Baltimore, 1920, gives a very good survey of the chief phenomena of the ecnnoniic
life of Rome and Italy in the Republican period* The economic development of
the provinces in the same period is left aside ; in some cfmpters the autlHur
includes in his treatment the economic evolution of the Einpire. My views
coincide with his in the most important points ; in the following notes I shall
indicate the points in which we disagree. Cp. T. Rice Holmes, The Roman
Republic and the Founder of the Empire y 1923, vol. i, p. 65 ff., and the good survey
given by H. Nissen, Itaiische Landeskitndey voi. ii, 1902. p. 80 ff. The conditions
of Southern Italy (the Greek cities), Etruria, and Sicily in the archaic and the
classical periods nave never been investigated from the economic and social point
of view- The well-known work of A. Holm, Geschkhte Skilims in AlkrUrnty
vols. i-iii, 1878-98, contains no ch^ter in the first two volumes devoted to these
problems. We may hope that E. rais in his recently announced %vorks : Storia
deW Italia aniica (in course of publication) and Storia aelta Sardegna e delta Corsica.
Le origini ed il dominio di Cariagine (in course of publication) will collect the
material for, and illustrate the development of, the pre- Roman economic life of
Italy, Sicily, and Sardinia. For the early period of the economic history of Rome
see, besides the works quoted above, L Greaves, Essays on the History of Roman
Land-tenure (in Russian), 1899, p. 496 ff.; cp. E. Kornemann in Pauly- Wissowa,
Suppl IV, p. 84 ff. and p. 238 ff. (art. ‘ Bauernstand’ and * Domaneii *), and Orth,
ibid., xii, p. 624 ff. (art. ‘ Landwirtschaft ’). I am not as confident as Frank seems
to be, and as W. Soltau (in his recent articles in Philologus) is, about the trustworthi-
ness of our sources in regard to the constitutional and the economic evolution of
theyarly Roman Republic. The annals were obviously a splendid field for many
politicians^ of the and^and ist cent b.c. to fight out a political battle on the basis
of economic issues, using as weapons supposed historical facts of the remote past*
Even such facts as the dates of the foundation of the early colonies (e.g, Ostia)
appear in the light of new discoveries to be mere inventions. In dealing with the
economic evolution of early Republican Rome, we must therefore content ourselves
with very general conclusions, based not on alleged historical facts, especially
those of' a legislative character, but on survivals, of certain institutions and on
general considerations.
Notes: Chapter I 491
® 111 my book quoted in note 2 it will be shown, that the war booty taken by
the Romans In Greece and in Asia Minor consisted mainly of men and cattle {one
of the most important texts which illuminates this subject is Plut, 14. 25,
which speaks of Asia Minor). Greece at that lime was a very poor country,
already ruined by the barbarous warfare of the end of the 3rd and the beginning
of the 2nd cent. b. c. On the poverty of Greece at that time see Polybius, ii. 62,
and the masterly article of A. Wilhelm, ‘Urkunden aus Messene,’ in Jahresh,^ 17
(1914), p. 90 £ and 107 if., cp. H. Lipsius, in Rk Mus., 71 (1916), p. i6iif Asia
Minor was richer, but still her wealth consisted mostly of cattle and men, which,
were much easier to capture and to sell than the coined money and the valuables
of the households.
There is no good treatment in modern literature of the important question
of the sources of the income of the senatorial class in general. The most recent
books on the Roman senatorial class, those of M. Gelxer, Die NobiiiMi der
schen R€pitbiil\ ,1912, and F. ,Muenzer, Rbmische Adelspartekn mui AdeisfamiUen^
1920, deal exclusively with the political and social aspect of the subject. There is
not even a good nionograp,li on such a typical representative of the new nobiliims
as Cice,ro,' whose economic life we know fair!}’’ well; see the most recent
biography of Cicero by T. Petersson, Cicero, A Biography^ Berkeley (California),
1920, p. 212 if, and his rather Incomplete bibliograph}? (he ignores, e.g., the mono-
graph of A. Lichtenberger, De Ciceronis re privaia, Paris, 1895). 1 am certain
that a close study of our sources for the Republican period would supply abundant
and instructive material on this question.
The remark made in note 10 holds for the equestrian class as a wdiole, see
my Geschichie der Siaaispachi in der rdmischen Kaiserzeiiy 1902, p, 367 ff Two good
monographs, however, have been published on the most representative member
of this class, T. Poinponius Atticus ; I. Greaves, Essays on the Hisiory of Roman
Landdennre (in Russian), voL i, St. Petersburg, 1899, V- 246!!'., and A. H. Byrne,
Titus Pomponim Atticus, Bryn Mawr, .19m It is a pity that Miss Byrne has not
used for her first chapter p’Atticus as a Man of Business') the essa}^ of Greaves,
which is much better than her own effort : she might have found Greaves's book
quoted in the well-known volume of G. Salvioli, Ii Capiialismo mi mondo antico^
IQ05, also in a French (1906) and German {1912) translation. Salvioli has some
fine, remarks on Atticus (p. 46 ff.), which are ignored by Miss Byrne.
On the large numbers of Italians in the Orient see the excellent book of
J. Hatzfeld, Les trafiquanis iialiens dans POrmit heilinique {BibL des Ac., 115),
1919, cp. T. Frank, An Economic Histoty, p. 235 ; P. Roussel, Diios^ coionie
aiMniemte iBibl des AV., 11.1), 1916, p. qzK; Ch. Picard, in B, C/f.,44 (1920),
p. 263 ff. ; M. Besnier, in Journ, Sav,, 1920, p. 263 ff. On the family of the Apustil
of Abdera, see A. \\hlhelm, in Sitsk Wien, Akml,^ 183 (1921), p. 21 ff., and
M. Holleaux, in B, C. i/., 38 (X914), p. 63 ff,, cp. G. Score, ibid., 36 (1912), p. 614.
Most of the Italian mgoimions were, of course, half-Greeks from South Italy, but
some certainly came from other parts of Italy, if not from Rome Itself, see
J. Hatzfeld, 1 1., p. 238 ff,
I need not insist on these points, which are careftilly treated by T. Frank,
Economic History, p. 84 ff. (agricultiirel and p. 16^ ff. (industry), cp* H. Gunrtmeriis,
‘ Handel und Industrie/ in Pauly-Wissowa, jx, 2, p. 1444 n. W. Heifknd,
Agrkokt, a Study of Agriculiore and Rusdc Life im the Greco^Romam World fmmfiM
Point of Fiezo of Labour, Cambridge, 1921, gives a good collection of quotations from
Greek and Roman authors in chronological order, but no new and important points
of view. His opinion that the Hellenistic world and the Roman, especiafty the
Eastern, provinces present no interest to the students of classical antiqui^, and
his consequent elimination of epigraphicai and papyrological sources, are fatal to
the scientific value of his book.
S. Gsell, Ilisioire de PAfriqne du Nord, iv, 1918, p* i f£, esp. p, 18 If. The
exploitation of the soil of the Carthagtnian territory was certainly intensiied after
492 Notes: Chapter I
tli€ Second Punic War, as it. remained, the only safe source of i,iicoine both for. the
slate and for the Carthagioian aristocracy.
The .leading part taken by the big landowners In the decision to destroy
Carthage is well illustrated by' the familiar story of the return of Cato from an
emb.a.ssy to Carthage and his appearance in the senate with his lap foil of fresh
figs. We must not forget that Cato was one of the progressive landowners of this
period, and that he strongly advocated in his manual on agriculture the planting
of vineyards, olive-trees, and orchards : see H. Gummer.us, * Der rOmische Giits-
betrieb/ &c., in iT/fo, Beiheft v, tgcS^ p. 19 ff., cp. E. Cavaignac, Popaiation ei capiM
dans k nwnde mMiierrankn antique .(Fac, des iettres de FUn. de Strasbourg!,
1923, p. 95 If. (bold generalizations based on scanty evidence], Carthage, pvith her
flourishing gardens and olive-groves, was a dangerous rival of the Italian land-
owners, especially because of her old commercial relations with the Western,
markets. 1 cannot agree with Frank, who fails to grasp the importance of this
fact for an explanation of the leading economic motives of the Roman aristocracy
of the time. Commerce in wine and olive-oil was the main source of the growing
prosperity of Italy, cp, Frank, Economic History , p, 251, and the inscriptions testi-
fying to the export of Campanian wines even to Africa (166-157 b. c,), C/£., viii,
i^37, 62; x, &5i,2o; S. Gsell, Hisioire de PAfrique du xVorS, iv, p. 150; and
Piin,, N. i?., xiv. i (in the third consulate of Pompe3^ (52 b.c.) Itaty supplied the
provinces with oil; Pliny probably has specially in mind the Oriental provinces!.
On the conditions which prevailed in Gaul before the Roman conquest see
the excellent work of C. Jullian, Histoire de la Gaide, ii, 1908, p. 330. The
importance of the Danube market is emphasized by the rapid development ol
Aquileia, the centre of the Italian trade with the Danube lands. The export of
wine and oil to these lands gradually transformed Northern Itaty from a land
of pigs, sheep, and corn into a land of vineyards; see the picture given by
Herodian for the late 2nd and the early 3rd cent. a . d. {viii. 2. 3) : 9 *AKv\i}ia .
tSoKTirep ri lji’3r6ptop ^IrciXlas im BaXacajji npoKupiPi) Kal Trph rap ’iXXuptxwj' Trdvrmf
Idpvpipt} . . . npds oipop re pdXiaTa iroXvyopop yf<ii>py(ivpT€S (i<j>0ovlap ttotov mipdx^iP
TQh tip.ir€\ov pr} ympyoww, Cp. viii. 4. 5: description of the territory' of Aquileia
entirely planted with vines ; and Strabo, iv. 207 ; v. 214; vli. 314. On Aquileia
and her commercial importance, E. liaionicay Aqm'km zur Romerzeii, G6rz,
1881; H. Nissen, Landeskunde^ ii, p. 2^If, ; Ch. Hftlsen, in Paul^^-Wissowa,
ii, p. 318 ff., cp. H. Wiliers, Neue Uniersmehungen uher die rdmische Bronzemdustrie^
1^7, p. 27 ff. ; A. Gnirs, in Jahresk^ 18 (1915), p. 143 (commerce in ivory objects) ;
H. Gummerus, in Pauly-Wissowa, ix, 2, p, 1469 ; L. FriedMnder-G. Wissowa,
Sittengeschickte Roms^ i, ed. 9-10, p. 375 ; K. Herfurth, De Aquikim commercio,
Halle, 1889. I give the bibliography here, to avoid repeating the references when
I come to spea£ of Aquileia again. Cp. Ch. II, note 33.
I cannot see why Frank persists in believing that the measure ot the Roman
senate, which dates somewhere about 154 (or 125) b . c ., was intended to protect the
viticulture of Massilia, and not that of Italy, and was therefore limited to a very
restricted region in the neighbourhood of Massilia Imperialism^ p. 280^;
Economic History^ p. 109, note 19), Cicero, De rep. iii. 6. 9, is positive in affirming
that the measure was intended to protect the interests of Italy and not those of
Massilia. Wine was imported into Gaul in large quantities in 69 b.c. The
prohibition was probably dropped later in the ist cent, b . c ., when Southern Gaul
became a land of intensive Italian colonization, practically a part of Italy; see
S. Reinach, in Rev. arch., 1901 (ii), pp. 350-74; M. Besnier, in Rev. arch., 1919 (ii),
P* 34; C. Jullian, Histoire de la Gauk, iii, p. 99; iv, p. 183 ff. There was nothing
new and nothing peculiar in this treatment of Gaul by Rome. Rome in this
respect was the heir of Carthage, which always endeavoured to prevent her
proyinces (Sicily, Sardinia, and Spain) from growing vines and olive-trees.
The provinces were for Carthage both a market for the wine and oil produced
in the territories of the Punic cities in Africa, and granaries which allowed her
to develop her culture of vines and olives. Hence her measures for the
promotion of corn-growing and the prohibition of viticulture in her provinces.
Notes: Chapter I 493
Competition in the trade in wine and olive-oil (partly imported, .partly produced
on the spot) was the main reason for the constant wars of' Carthage against
the Greek cities of Sicily and South Italy* As Etruria did not produce wine
and olive-oii, it was a natural customer, friend, and ally of the Carthaginians.
The . policy of Carthage in regard at least to Sicily and Sardinia, and later Africa
herself, was Inherited and carried on by Rome Jn the same spirit and for
the same reasons. Hence Cicero’s picture of Sicily as chiefly a corn-growing
province ; hence the .absence of vineyards and olive-groves in Sardinia until
late in the imperial period; hence also the late development of olive-growing
and viticulture In. Africa. Gaul naturally had been subject to the same policy,
and . so was Spain in Republican times. The action of Domitian in respect of
vine- planting in the provinces was a revival of this policy, see Ch. VI. On
the policy, of Carthage as regards Sardinia see E, Pais, Storm della Sardegna
€ della Corsica duraule il dominio romano, 1923, ii, p. 505!!'.; S. Gseil, Hisiolre
mtcienne de i'Afrique du Nord^ iv, p. 2off.5 and on viticulture, p. 18 Part of the
wine exported by the Carthaginians came probably from Greece, Gsell, 1 . L,,iv,
p. 152 f. On the policy of the Romans, Pais, L L, i, p. 329 ff.
J. Hatzfeld, Les trafiquanis iiaUens^ p. 212 C I have no doubt that the
Italian merchants at Delos and elsewhere did more than buy and sell the wine and
olive-oil produced in Italy, though these products were certainly exported from
Italy to the Greek East in the ist cent. b. c. : so deep was the economic decays
of Greece and Asia Minor at this time.
W. Heitland, in /. R, S., 8 (1918I, p. 38, finds that the picture given by me
in my Siudien mr Gesckichte des rdmischen Koionmtes^ p. 313, where I speak ot
armies recruited by Pompey and Domitius Ahenobarbus from the large numbers
of their slaves and colopti^ ‘ is great!}’’ overdrawn*. But the texts, especially those
of Caesar, are explicit and cannot be either eliminated or overdrawn ; cp.
J. Kromayer, in Nine Jakrb, M, Ait,^ 23/24 (1914)., p. 162; Frank, Ecommk
History^ p. 293 C ; T. Rice Holmes, TAe Roman RepuMlc^ i, pp. 106 and 56.
On the Gracchi see the excellent articles of F. Muenzer, Ti. and
C. Sempronius Gracchus, in Pauly-Wissowa, 2nd series, iv; cp. Frank, Emmmk
History, p. iigff. ; G. de Sanctis, * Rivoiuzione e reazione nelPeta del Gracchi,*
Atem e Roma, 1921, p. 209!!'. Muenzer gives an excellent bibliography, to which
I refer the reader. Cp. Frank, A History of Rome, p. 194!!'. In this book the
author appears as an enthusiastic partisan of C. Gracchus, but he is obliged
repeatedly to speak, not of what Gracchus did, but of what he intended to do--
about which, of course, we know nothing. On the lex Mumilia R&scm Peduema
Ailima Fabia, the last of the laves which liquidated the legislation of the Gracchi,
see E. Fabricius, ‘ Ueber die Lex M, R. P. A. F,,’ in Siizb. Heiddk Akad,, 1924-5, 1.
On the agrarian laws in general, cp. the recent, though antiquated and superficial,
article ofVan^ura in Pauly-Wissowa, xii (1924)# p- iisoff. On the later agrarian
laws, especially the law of Serviiius Rullus, E. G. Hardy, Some Probkms m Roman
History, 1924, p. 43 IF. ; ^ff. ; M. A. Levi in Aime e Roma, N, S., 3 (1922), p. 239 E
(history of the ager Campmms ) ; and W. Ensslin in Mem Jakrk, 54 (1924), p, 15 ff.
The new evidence on the * Social * war supplied by the well-known Inscrip-
tion of Pompeius Strabo has given rise to many valuable discussions on that
war in general and on the spread of Roman citizenship in particular* I quote
only the two last articles on this subject ; in both of them the reader will find
a good bibliography. C. Cichorius, RSmische Studku, 192a, p. 130 If. (revised text
of the inscription), and G. PI, Stevenson, in/. MS*, 9 (1919), p.95 fi*. ; cp. T, Rice
Holmes, L L, i, p. 46.
On the extraordinary military commands and their importance for the
history of the ist cent. bx. see the valuable article of A. R. Boak, in the Afmrimm
Hisiomal Review, 24 {1918-1919), p, x C Sulla endeavoured to make the extra-
ordinary command as little dangerous as possible to the rule of the senatorial class,
but it was only natural that it was the first thing to revive after his death and that
it gradually became the mainstay of the Roman state.
494
Notes: Chapter I
My views on Pompey and Caesar do not agree with the current views,
which have now found weighty support in -E. Meyer’s Caesars MomrcMe and das
Principai dis Pompeius: immp'e Geschkhk Roms von 66 bis 44 v, Ckr,y Stuttgart iind
Berlin, 1919, ed. 2; cp., however, T, Rice Holmes, The Roman Republic, iii, 1923,
p. 335. Add to the bibliography quoted by Meyer and Holmesy Frank B. Marsh,
The rounding of the Roman Epnptre^ Texas,* 1922; the article on Caesar by
P* Groebe in Pauly-Wissowa, x, i, p. 186 flf.; M. Gelzer, * Caesar der Politiker
und Staatsmann/ in Meisier der Potiiik, Stuttgart iind Berlin, 1921, and idem,
^Caesars Monarchic iiiid das Prinzipat des Pompeius,’ Vierieijahressdmfif Soz,
u. Wt'risckqfisg^ xv (1919), p. 522 ff. I regret that the purpose of this book prevents
me from discussing the problem. A renewed . investigation^ of the sources is
urgently needed. I have dealt at greater length with this period in my Russian
book, The Birth of the Roman Empire, Petrograd, 1918. The onlj^ facts which
point to monarchical tendencies on the part of Caesar are the se.nii*mvine honours
.which were bestowed on him by the senate. The general opinion is that Caesar
provoked these measures of the senate. But can we prove this ? The populace
of Rome was, of course, ready to take part in any divine honours which were
destined .for a man' who had money to give theni.^ .But was the army, on which
Caesar’s power ultimately rested, ready to deify its chief and .leader ? Caesar’s
reforms, as enumerated in our sources (only a few of them were accomplished,
the majority were merely planned for the future), testify to a real understanding oi
some of the most urgent needs of the state and of some of the most important
problems. However, I am not at all convinced that his bestowing the franchise
freely on aliens, his filling up of the senate with provincials, his sending out of
colonies to the provinces, and his urbanizing of some of the provinces attest an
elaborate plan of assimilating to the provinces and of transforming the
Roman Empire into a melting-pot of nations. All these measures can be
explained by the pressing necessities of the moment, without assuming the exis-
tence of an elaborate genera! plan. Caesar’s military task was not yet completed
when he died, and I find many reasons for supposing tliat, like Alexander, he
postponed the final settlement of the internal affairs oi the state until his return
from the Oriental expedition. Was it not because he had no genera! plan of
reforms ready and because he saw the difficulties of ruling the Roman Empire in
time of peace that he took up the military part of his task first?
I cannot quote here the immense bibliography on Augustus. The main
works are quoted in the article of the late K. Fitzler and O. Seeck, in Pauly-
Wissowa, X, I, p. 275 ff.; cp. M. Gelzer, * Caesar und Augustus,’ in Meisier der
Politik, 1922, and D. McFayden, The History of the Title Imperaior, Chicago, 1920;
id., ‘The Rise of the Princeps’ Jurisdiction within the city of Rome,’ in Washington
Univ. SLy 10 (Hum. Ser. 2), p iSilf, ; id. in Class, Phil, 16 (1921), p. 34!!*.
H. Dessau’s Geschichie der romischen Kaiserzeit^ vol. i, 1924, came into my hands
too late to be used ; he gives no bibliography, and he does not deal with the
economic and social conditions of the time of Augustus. I cannot help thinking
that the testament of Antony was a forgery of Augustus and of Antony's two
former friends, Munatius Piancus and M. Titius, who betrayed him because
of Cleopatra and fled to Rome. It was all-important for Augustus to con-
vince Italy that Antony was a slave of Cleopatra and almost a madman (Plut.,
Ant, 60; Cassius Dio, 50. 5, 3). Without the whole-hearted support of Italy
Augustus was lost, especially as the heavy taxation aroused general indignation
all over the peninsula. Little wonder if Augustus had recourse to forging
a document which nobody but a madman would have kept in Rome. The
trick was successful. If Antony protested, his protests could not be heard in
Rome and were soon drowned by the tumult of the war. Cp. V. Gardthausen,
Augustus und seine Zeit^ i, p. 349 ff. On the mood of the population at the end of
the civil wars, see my Russian book quoted in note 23.
Varro, i?. i?., i. 2. 3: ‘cum consedissemus, Agrasius : Vos, qui miiltas
perambulastis terras, ecquam cultiorem Italia vidistis? inquit. Ego vero, Agrius,
nullam arbitror esse quae tarn tota sit culta,’ Cp. 6 f. : ‘ contra quid in Italia
utensile non modo non nascitur, sed etiam non egregium fit r quod far conferam
Notes: Chapter 1 495
Campano ? quod, triticum ' Apulo ? quod vinum^ Falerno ? , quod oleum Venafro ?..
non .arboribus consita Italia, ut tota pomarium videatur? . . in qua terra mgerom
unum denos et quinos denos culleos fert vini, ut quaedam in Italia regionesr^ etc.
I have quoted this well-known text to show that there is no doubt whatever
about the fertility of Italy and its high state of cultivation in the second halt
of the rst cent. b.c. I cannot see any patriotic exaggeration in the words of
Varro, and I see no contradiction between, this picture and the words of
Gracchus describing the ^solitude Italiae’ (see J. Kroma3’'er, in Neite Jahrb, M.
Ail, 17, 1914, p. 1450. The picture of Gracchus must be limited to some
parts of Etruria. Moreover, what Gracchus had in mind was not the economic
conditions in general but the situation of the peasants throughout Italy and
especially in .Etruria. I cannot see where Frank, History of p. 329,
has found in Varro's words quoted above that ‘ Varro mentions that Italy zms
aqam acquiring the appearance of a garden’. * Was again acquiring’ is not what
X^'arro says. "Nor do I see any contradiction between the statement ot‘ X^'arro
cited above and his complaints ■ about the .necessity of Italy's inipi>rting corn
and even wine from abroad (/?. i?., ii, pr.). Varro wanted Italy to be self-
suppo.iting and was a fervent preacher of agriculture as against pasliiragc.
Hence his invectives against the Roman capitalists, who expected better re-
turns from pasturage than from corn and vine-growdog, I see not the slightest
indication of any exhaustion of the soil in Italy in the time of Varro. Complaints
about exhaustion are one of the most common topics in landowners’ discussions of
their economic situation. They do not mean anything real, and are based on some
accidental phenomena like the conditions of Papinia in Latiom (Varro, /?./?., i. gh
I shall return to the theory of the exhaustion of the soil and sh,a,ll qu.ote the
nu.merous articles and books on this subject in Ch. VIIL Here reference may be
made to the article of V. G. Sioikhovitch, Toimwdihe Understanding of Jesus, 1921,
esp. p. 99,11*. I wonder that Mr. Sim.khovit€]i has not quoted the many articles
published, in Germany on the same subject and e.x.pressing the same erroneous
view. An illuminating example of the development of Italy in the and and ist
cent. B, c. may be found in the history of Pompeii, as revealccl by the excavations
and by the historical studies of H- Nisse.n, G. Fiorelli, and A. Mau. The somewhat
small and poor Italian city of the ea.rly Samnitic period, with modest, rather small
.houses without wall-painting and with a kitchen garden befiind a rimiic atrium,
was gradually transformed in the late Samnitic period (in tlic 2nd cent. b.c.I, under
the influence of growing wealth and as a result of refined tastes, Into a splendid
city of large and beautiful buildings, both public and private, of the so-called ‘ Tufa *
period, with elaborate columns, spacious atria, .large peristyles with gardens ami
fountains and with elegant wall-painting of the so-called ffrst Pompckii, 1. c. the
common Hellenistic, style. We may realize how rapidly the wealth of the city
grew in the period after the second Punic war, and especialll* in the second
half of the 2nd century. To the same period belongs the first Industrialization
of life in Pompeii, the first shops connected with large houses (e. g. the so-called
liouse of Pansa). There is no break between this period and the time after
the establishment of Sulla's colony. The houses and some viiim rusiime (e.g. the
villa Item and the villa of Boscoreale with wall decorations of the second style)
remain, as large and as beautiful as they were before. A .new manner of. con-
struction and a new style of decoration were introduced, but these new styles
were as beautiful and as expensive as the earlier ones. There was no mch
thing as a lasting economic decay of Pompeii at this time. And so it was also
III the Augustan period, with its refined third style of painting, which certtinly
shows strong Alexandrine influence, while the second style testifies rather to
a local art influenced by Asia Minor. The change reflects the altered orienta-
tion of economic relations. Instead of Asia Minor, the Pompciari port in the
Augustan period entered into clow relations with Alexandria, and Campania
in general began to compete with Alexandria in some branches of industrial
production. The last post-Augustan period, the period of the fourth style*
was the period of the intensive industrialization of the city and of the rise ot
new rich families of farremm, some of them former slaves like the Trinitichio
of Petronius. Of this period I shall speak in my next two chapters. Tims
496 Notes: Chapter I
the' Sultan and post-Siillan period, the period of the civil wars, was in no
way a period of decay either from the economic or from the cultural point
of view. We must bear in mind that it was the time of Cicero, Catullus, Caesar,
and Varro. Pompeii and Campania do not seem to have been exceptional The
economic history of the rest of Italy, shows the same general lines of evolution.
As the wealth of Pompeii In the Republican period and in the time of Augustus
was based mainly on agriculture, especially on the production of wine (see Ch. II,
note 23K there is not the slightest reason 'for assuming any exhaustion of the
fertile Campanian soil either in the ist cent b. c. or in the ist cent, a. d.
On vitim rusUcm m general see' G. Fiorelli, ‘Ville Stabiane/ in an
Appendix to the Italian translation of the Dictionary of Rich {Dizionano alk autichitil
grecke e romam, Firenze, 1864-5, voL ii, p, 4230, and A. Mau, Pompeji in Lebem
tmd Kimst^ ed. 2, 190S, p. 382 If. Some villas were enumerated by H. F. de Cou.
Antiquities from Boscoreak in Field Museum of Natural History^ igi2 (FiiM
Museum of N. M, Public, 152, Anthropological Series, vol vii, 4), cp, Pemice in
Jakrb,, 15, Arch, Anz,^ 'P* I77-
The following villas have been excavated (the enumeration is in chronological
.order)
1-12. The villas which were excavated in the 17th cent, of which four were
carefully described by Fiorelli in his article on tfie villas of Stabiae and the
rest were published by M. Ruggiero (with plans and the diar^^ of the excava-
tions). The descriptions of Fiorelli were repeated by Ruggiero ; as for the four
villas which had been described by Fiorelli there were no diaries of ¥ega in the
archives. M. Ruggiero, Deqli scavi di Stabia dal I’jqy al ijSz^ Mapoli 1881,
pi IX~XIX.
13. The villa of Boscoreale, where the famous treasure of silver plate, now
partly in the Louvre, partly in the collection of Baron E. Rothschild, was found*
A, Hfdron de Villefosse, Plot, vol v, 1899, P* 7 ^* 5 Mau-Kelsey, P&mfek]
ch, 45 f Pasqui in Monum, Ant, vol vii (1897I
14. Boscoreale, Giuliana (F. Zuriol Not d, Scavi, 1895, p. 214 ; 1897, p. 391 ff.
15. Boscoreale, Grotta Franchini (F. Vona). Not d. Scavi, 18^, p. 41911
I'd Boscoreale, near Piazza Mercato. Owner of the villa P. Fannius Synistor.
Beautiful decorations of the early second style. Frescoes in the Metropolitan
Museum and the Museum of Naples. Agricultural implements in the Field Mus.
of Natural History at Chicago. F. Barnabei, La villa Pompeiana di P. Fannio
Sinistore, 1901.
17. Scafati, Mnregine (Maria Liguori). Not d, Scavi, 1898, p. 33 If.
18. Scafati, Muregine (Pasquale Malerba). Not d. Scavi, 1900, p. 20311
19. Scafati, Spineili {M. Acanfora). Not d. Scavi, 1899, p. 392 ff. The owner
probably was Cn. Domitius Auctus.
20. Torre Annunziata near the Porta Vesuvio of Pompei (D’Aquino-Masuccil
The owner probably was T. Siminius Stepanus. Not d, Scavi, 1897. p. 337 ff. ;
1898, p. 494 ff. ; 1899, p, 236, cp. 1900, p. 69 ff.
21. Fondo Barbatelli, near the Porta Vesuvio. Not d, Scavi, i8gg, pp. 430, 403 :
1900, pp. 30, 70, 500, 599 ; cp. 584.
22. Boscoreale, contrada Centopiedi al Tirone (P. Vitiello). Not d, Scavi, 1903,
p. 64 ff. Mural decorations in the first and the second style,
23. Boscotrecase, contrada Setari (N. Vitelli). Owner L. Arellius Successus.
Room N decorated in the first style. Not d. Scavi, 1899, p. 297 ; M. Della Corte
in Mem, d. R, Acc, di Napoli, 2 (1911), p. 191*
24. The well-known villa Item with splendid decorations of the early second
style. Not d, Scavi, 1910, p. 139 ff. and 1922, p. 480 ff.
25-30, Six villas illustrated by M. Della Corte in Not d, Scavi, 1921, p. 4156.
One of these villas (No. Ill) belonged to a certain Aseilius, whose procurator was
Th alius, another (No. V) to a member of the well-known Pompeian aristocratic
family of the Popidii (N. Popidius Floras) ; cp. M. Della Corte in Neapolis, 2, p. 173.
31. The villa in the contrada Rota (comune di Boscotrecase), excavated by
"E, Sautini in 1903-5 (now covered by the lava stream of 1906) ; see M. Della
Corte, in Not d, Scavi, 1922, p. 459 ff. The villa was certainly the property of the
Notes: Chapter / 497
last son of Agrippa, Agrippa Postumus (see A, Man, in C/A., iv, 6499 note). After
his death it passed into the possession of the successors of Augustus and became
probably an imperial estate. This fact, which was not recognized by Della Corte,
IS shown by the following documents. On four amphorae found in the villa were
written in ink Greek names of slaves or freedmen of Agrippa. One of these men has
the title of mior : C/L., iy, 6499, ^nma-loy ’Ayp(iVirou) [ac]toris ; cp. ^95-6997 where
the same Greek name is connected with the name of Agrippa and in ^^7 with
the title dio-{7r€^f^aT<»p?). In the same villa was found a tile bearing the following
stamp: Pupii(li) Agrip(pae) Tub(erone) (et) Fabio co(n)s(ulibus|—2i b . c , (On
the praenomen Pupiilus of Agrippa Postumus see C/A., vi, 18548.) In C/A., x,
924 are enumerated four slaves, the first ministri of the Pagus Augustus Felix
Suburbanus (7 b.c.). The first is Dama pup{i) Agrippae (cp. C/A., ii, 1528).
Finally, in b. graffito of the same villa we read the foilowdng sarcastic pentameter
(C/A., iv, 6893): ‘Caesaris August! femina mater erat’, which certainly refers to
Julia/ the daughter of Augustus, ^mother of Agrippa Postumus. There is no
doubt that the villa belonged originally to Agrippa rostumus and wzs probably
built by his father (see" the beautiful wall decoration partly of the second and
partly of an early third style). The two seals of Ti. Claudius Eiit^^chus Caesaris
f(ibertus), which were found in a cupboard of the villa {Not d. Scavi, 1922, p. 460),
belonged therefore not to the owner (as Della Corte suggests), but to the
manager of the villa, an agent of the emperor.
32. Some remains of a villa in the contrada S. Abbondio (comune di Scafati),
excavated in see M. Della Corte, in Not d. Scam^ 1922, p. 479.
33-36. Four villas, two near Stabiae and two near Scafati (contrada Spinelli and
coSrada Crapolla). M. Della Corte in Not. d. Smvi, 1923, p. 271 If.
The ruins of the Campanian villas have never been fully studied, especially
from the economic and historical points of view. Some of them belong, as is
shown by the style of the wall-paintings, to the late- Republican or early-Augustan
time, some may be still earlier. Useful work could be done by a scholar who
would devote a little time and care to a study of the remains of the Campanian
villm rusikae and endeavour to investigate the history of the buildings,
27 01^ Sicily, J. Carcopino, ‘ La Sidle agricoie an dernier siecle de la
fepublique romaine,’ in Vierfeljahresschrifi f, Sojz, u, Wirisckafis^,^ 4 (19061,
p. i28n. ; my Studien zur Gesch. d, rom. Koimaies, 1910, p. 229 ft;, article
‘ Frumentum/ in Pauly- Wissowa, vii, p. 1291)'.; F. H. Cowles, Cains Ferns
(Cornell Studies in Class. Phil), 1917; E. S. jenison, The Hisiopy of ike Provime
of Sicify, Boston, 1919; J- Carcopino, La hi etHiiron ei ks Pomaim^ 1919.
We are well informed about the econoinic life of Sicily in the time of Cicero
and Verres. Thereafter almost complete darkness reigns. Sicily may have
suffered heavily during the later stages of the civil wars when it was the
main source of income of Sex. Pompey. But this temporary calamity cannot
account for the supposed disappearance of Sicily from the corn-producing
and exporting countries. The mountainous parts remained, as before, grazing-
lands. But what happened to the valleys? I am inclined to think that they
gradually underwent the same transformation as Italy, especially South Italy,
and that the lowlands and hills became centres of viticulture and gardening*
■ At the same time they still produced large quantities of corn (see my article
^Frumentum’, p* 131; add to the sources quoted In that article Ael Aristides,
Em (Or,, 26, ed. Kcil), § 13, and for a still later period Casslod., 7).
I cannot believe in the theory of the complete exhaustion of the fertile Slclian
soil As regards labour employed in Sicily, I cannot help thinking that the
yempyoi of Cicero (about 12,000-13,000) vcere well-to-do landowners who worked
their estates and farms in just the same way as the landowners In Italy,
i. e. partly by means of slaves, partly through tenants and serfs of the ancient
ytmfwpm. On the KiXkvpmt^ serfs of the^yo|i<J#ro« in the 5th cent b . c ., J. Belcx:h,
Gk Gesch, i.® i, p. note 3, On Sardinia and Corsica see E. Pais, Sioria ddim
Sardegna, &c, i and ii, 1923.
“ See note 19.
2354*2 K k
498 Notes: Chapter I
. T* Frank, p. 266 ff. ■ '■ ,
^ J. Kromayer, in Nmtejahrb. kL AiL^ 17 (i9i4)s p* 2'57 ft*
E. Kornemann, Xoionia/ in Paiiiy-Wlssowa, iy, p. 575; Th. Mommsen,
^Znm rdmischen Bodenrecht^ in Hist Schr., vol. ii, p. 87; H. Nissen, liaL
Lmtdeskundi^ ii, p. 27 ff. and 32 ff. On the military colonies of tlie Roman emperors
from Augustus to Trajan, see Ritterling in Pauly-Wissowa, xii (1924'!, p. 1213 ft'.
As early as 189 b. c. and 181 b. c., when the colonies of Bonoiiia and Aqiiileia
were created, the lots assigned to the colonists ran from 50 iugera to 140, almost
,a cemfuria (H. Nissen, L I, ii, pp. 230 and 264). It is hard to suppose that plots of
this, size could have been cultivated by one family. Probably, therefore, the Roman
colonists were .landowners, who resided in the cities and cultivated the land either
through slaves or through tenants. Under these conditions it is easy to under-
stand how AquIIeia became from the very beginning a rich town of well-to-do
landowners before she developed into a commercial city.
: ® W, Heitlaiid (see note 19) does not believe in a large emigration of Italian
peasants to the provinces. His reason is that there were no peasants in Italy
in the ist cent b. c. But there is no doubt that many parts of Italy in the
ist cent. B. c. and later were still lands of peasants and some of them very poor
peasants, tenants of large landed proprietors. I have alread}^ quoted the evidence
on the large numbers of coioni in Central Italy who lived on the estates of the
Roman magnates of the ist cent. b.c. In Northern Italy the peasantry con-
sisted of the remnants of the Celtic population and of the inhabitants of the
* attributed ’ territories (see Ch, VI), We have, of course, no evidence to show that
this class of Italians emigrated to the provinces as well as the well-to-do class
of city bourgeoisie, I cannot but think, however, that the violent convulsions of
Italy in the ist cent, and the repeated redistributions of land (the territories
of whole cities were given to the veterans by Augustus after Philippi) affected
not only the city bourgeoisie but also the small landowners, both independent
peasants and tenants. Without such an assumption we could not explain the
complete Romanization of Southern Gaul, Soutliern Spain, and some parts of
Africa. And who were the colonists that were settled in Macedonia by Augustus
(Cass. Dio, 54. 4)? All of them well-to-do landowners ? It is true that, like so
many other points in ancient history, the existence of such an emigration cannot
be strictly proved. But Heitiand himself, in combating my hypothesis, has
collected good evidence in its support; cp. his Agricola^ p. 274 (with an in-
adequate note by Reid on the cities of Africa). I regret that even Kubitschek,
in dealing with the double communities of Africa (Roman citizens and natives)
in his valuable article on the cities of Palestine, did not take into consideration
the whole of our available material (^Zur Geschichte von Stadten des rdmischen
Kaiserreiches,’ in SUzb. Wien, Akad,y 177 (1916), 4, p. 97 ft'.). This question
will be treated again very soon by my pupil Rolf Johannesen: see mean-
while R. Cagnat, ‘L’annone d’Afrique,’ in Mim. de Nnst^ 40, 1916, p. 258;
cp. Ch. Vn, note 60. On the Gracchan colony in Carthage, C. Cichorius, Rdmische
Studien, 1922, p. 113 ff. It seems, judging from the examples adduced
Kubitschek, as if the system of double communities was applied by the Romans
exclusively to some ancient Phoenician cities both in Africa and in Phoenicia
(the double community of Askalon),
I may confine myself to these brief remarks on the commerce, banking,
and industry of the ancient world in the ist cent, b.c., since* this topic forms
the main subject of Frank^s book, Economic History,, p. 165 ff. (Industry at the
end of the Republic), p. 218 ff. (Capital), p. 240 ff. (Commerce), and has also been
treated with competence and learning by H. Gummerus, ‘ Industrie und Handel/
in Pauly- Wissowa, ix, 2, p. 1444 ff. On the labour employed in the Arretine
E tteries cp. M. £. Park, The Plebs in Cicero's Days, Bryn Mawr College, 1918.
teresting new evidence testifying to a large use of free labour in public works
is furnished by the important inscriptions dealing with the organization of labour
for the regulation of the river Athesis (Adige; after the battle of Actium. The
men employed may have been some of the veterans of Augustus* army and the
Notes : Chapter 1 499
measure one of the ways of occupying, this unruly element while Augustus
was looking' for lands to be given them (CJL.^ v,^26o3, and F. Barnabei in
'Not if. Scavif 12 (1915), p. 139 ; R. Cagnat and A. Besnier in Amt* ep., 1916, no. 60).
: Attention may be drawn to an important inscription of Delos, recently studied
by E.Cuq, in B* C,H., 46 {1922), p. 198 IF., which shows how some Roman leaders
(Gabiiiius and probably behind him Pompey) tried to restore the prosperity of
Delos after Pompey’s war against the pirates (58 b. c.). It is well known that
the growing prosperity of Italy, especially South Italy, and the corresponding
growth of the, beautiful harbour of Puteoli prevented Delos from regaining even
a small part of her former importance and concentrated world commerce to
a large extent (in competition with Alexandria) in Puteoli ; see Ch. Dubois,
Poiissoies antique^ igoq ; R. Cagnat, ‘ Le commerce et la propagation des re-
ligions dans ie moiide roniain’ in Conferences faites an Musee Guhmf 31, 1909 ,
p. 131 ff. (on Delos, Puteoli, and Rome) ; cp. K. Lehmann- Hartleben, ^ Die antiken
Hafenaniagen des Mittelmeersf in Klio^ Beiheft 14, 1923, p. 152 ff. J Delos 1.
p,. 163 ft: (Puteoli). It is also interesting to' follow the development of Roman
banking on Hellenistic, especially Athenian, Rhodian, and^ Delian models: see
R. Herzog, Aus der Geschichte des Bankwesens im Aiterimn* Tessmte tmmmnimiaf,,
1919 (cp. M.. Cary in /, R, S. 13 (1923), p. no IF.) ; F. Pringsheim, ‘ Zum romischen
Dankwesen,’ in IGerieijakressckrift f Sots. u. Wirischaftsg.*^ 15 11919)* p. 513 ff*;
B. Laum in Pauiy-Wissowa, SiippL iv, p. IF Although i am. not convinced
that the explanation of the so-called giadi.atorial ie^eme as ^tesserae nummii-
lariae ’ is the only possible one, I must acknowledge that the learned book of
Herzog is a real contribution to our information about Roman banking.
II. August us and the Policy of Restoration and
Reconstruction.
The best summary of the state of the controversy and a good bibliography
are given by E. Koniemann, ^ Die ro,mische Kaiserzeitf in. Gercke and Norden,
Emkihmg in die AlieriumswisseMschaft, iii, 19:12 (2 ed,, .1914), p. 2^!F I* Republik
und Monarchic *). In the recent article of R. Fitzler and O. Seeck on Aiigusliis.,
in Pauly-Wissowa, x, p. 275fr., the controversy is not even inentioiied and the
bibliography is utterly antiquated ; cp. Ch. I, note 24. Cp. also R. Reitzenslein,
‘ Die Idee des Prinzipats bei Cicero und Augustus,* in Nachr* d.gdii. Ges. d. fFAs.,
29x7, p. 399 ff. ; R. Heinze in i/w/ws, 59 (1924), p. 73 ff. : R. lieiizenslciii, ibid.,
p. 356 IF ; V. Ehrenberg in A 7 /o, 19 {1924I, p. 20a if. ; O. Th. Schulz, ^ Das Wesen
des romischen Kaisertums der ersten zwei Jahrhunderte,’ Sfudien a. Gtsek. 1#.
Knitur des Ait, voL viii, 29x5 (strongly attacked by some scholars : see the reviews
of this book by M. Gelzer in fFock.f. kLPhiL, 1916, p. 1196; Mtm. Hisi. Zeiischr.^
1917, p. 276 ff.; Hohl in BerL phiL Woch., 19x6, p. 1595 C; A. Bauer In Mi$L
Zeiisekr., 1917, p. ii ff, ; cp. M. Gelzer, ‘ Caesar und Augusliis/ J/f/s/rr dtr
PoUfik, 1922. Cp. however J. Kromayer in Lit ZmtrmiM., 1916 ; idem, Zeiisekr. i,
Sav,-SL, R. A., 1916, p. 348; R. Reitzenslein, I. I., p. 495). More recent works
on Augustus and his principate are quoted in E. Konieiimnn, Mmurnkum umi
Tatenberkhi des Augustus, 1921.
All the statements on the army of the Augustan period are conjectural We
are fairly familiar with its organization, but we are ill informed on the social
aspect of the imperial guard, the legions, the auxiliary troops, the fleet, and
the police force. What we need to know is not only the system of recruitment
of the^ Roman army but also the social standing of the soldiers of Augustus. The
masterly treatment of the problem of recruitment by Th, Mommsen f Die Coa-
scriptionsordnung der rdmischen Kaiserzeit* In Htmms, 29 (1S84), pp. 1-79;
210-234 ; Ge$. Sekn, vi, p. 20 IF) became classical, and his results are accepted by
Kka
500 , ' , ' N§tes : Chapter //■.
all the scholars who have recently dealt with Ihc same subject (a good biblio-
graphy in W. Liebenani^s article in Paniy-Wissowa, v, p. 615 £ ; cp. R. Cagnat in
Daremberg et Saglio, Diet d md ii- ^f, p, 217 ff. ; A. von Doinaszewski, Gesdu d
rom. Kaiser, voL i, p. 170 ff.; Mem, * Die Rangordnung des rdinischen. Hccres/ in
BomLjakrk, 117 (x9c^), p. 'Ritteriing in his excellent article * Legio ’ in
Pauly- Wissowa, xii (1924), p. 2213 ff. has not treated the question of the reermt-
ment of the legions). New material is contributed by R. Cagnat, Varm/e romaim
dAfrique^ 1912, p. ^7 £ ; J. Lesquier, Darmie romaim dl£f^pfe, 1918, p. 203!!:
I'he only scholar who has expressed views differing from those of Mommsen is
O. Seect, in Rh, Mus., 48 (1^3), p. 616 ff. His article, however, is very rarely
quoted and has never been used. For the time of Augustus our information is
unfortunately very scanty, and the conclusions of Mommsen are therefore very
doubtful. His theory on the recruitment of the Oriental legions from the East
and especially from Galatia is based almost exclusively on the well-known list
of Koptos (C/£., iii, 6627) and the contempora^ papyrus of Berlin (B, G. U,, 1083).
But it is not certain how many of the Galatians, Syrians, and Egyptians in the
Egyptian legions were recruited by Augustus and how many were taken over from
the ranks of Antony’s arm3^ Moreover, the practice of Augustus may have been
influenced by the tradition established by Antony and may have been of short
duration. To deduce from the list of Koptos that as early as the time of xVugiistus
the recruits for the army ^vere drawn mainly from the provinces is very hazardous,
and the statement has been challenged on good grounds by Seeck. Still more
difficult is the question of the social milieu to which the recruits belonged. The
systematic organization Augustus of the young generation of Roman freeborn
citizens both in Rome and in the Italian cities, of which I shall speak later (see
note 4), and the fact that it seems to have been confined In the time of Augustus
to Italy and perhaps to the provincial cities of cims Ronmni only, show how*'
important Augustus deemed it to educate the youth of Italy in a military, religious,
and loyal spirit. His object certainly was to fill up with these wholly reliable
elements his reformed permanent army, including both the corps of officers and
the mass of common soldiers. I am therefore inclined to think that the praetorian
cohorts and the legions of Augustus consisted almost exclusively of Roman
citizens born in Italy, wdth the sole exception of Egypt and perhaps Syria, where
the traditions of Antony lived as long as his former soldiers, I am also disposed
to believe that the idea! of Augustus was not an army of proletarians but an
army based on the propertied classes of the cities of cives RomanL It is hardly
credible, too, that the soldiers of the auxUia were recruited from the lower classes
of the population of the Roman provinces, the peregtint Here, however, all is
darkness.
® I have explained my views on this subject in a short article ^ Augustus ’ in the
Unimrsify^ of Wisconsin Studies in Language and Literature, No. 15 (1922), p. 134 ff,
from which I here reproduce one passage. It is useless to quote the immense
bibliography on the subject of the attitude of the poets of the Augustan age
towards the policy of Augustus, which may be easily consulted in the newest
editions of the Histories of Roman Literature by Teuffel and Schanz, Cp. T. Frank,
Vergil, A biography, 1922, p. 174 fi. On the religious conditions of the time oi
Augustus see now the excellent remarks of W. Weber, ‘ Der Prophet und sein
Gott,^ in Beikefte sum alien Onent no. 3, 1925, p. 28ff. ; cp. Ed. Norden, Die Ceburt
des Kindes, 1924, and F. Boll, * Sulla quarta ecloga di virgilio,’ in Memorie. d. R.
Acc- di Bologna, Sc. Mor., Sen II, vols, v~vii (1923), p. iff'. I am glad to see
that Weber comes almost to the same conclusions as I reached in the article cited
above and in my' Russian book quoted in Ch. I, note 23. On the monuments of
art of the Augustan age, see Mrs. A. Strong, Roman Sculpture from Augustus to
Constantine, 1907, and Apotheosis and After-Life, 1915; cp. Lily Ross Ta3’'lor, *The
Worship of Augustus in Italy during his Lifetime’ in Trans. Amer, Philolog,
Association, 51 (1920), p. ii6ff, and *The Altar of Manlius in the Lateran’ m
Amer, Journ. Arch , 25 {1921), p. 387 if. ; Helen Cox Bowerman, Roman Sacrificial
Altars, Bryn Mawr, 1913, and the German translation of m3'' article on Augustus
in Rom. Miffh. 1925. Cp. my article ^Le gobelet d’argent du tresor de Boscoreale
Notes: Chapter II 501
dans la collection de M. le baron E. Rothschild in Mimoires de tAcad des Imcn
et Lefires^ voh xi¥. It would be an attractive and important study to collect
and investigate all the monuments of art and of art-industry bearing on the cult
of Augustus and his family. Taken together, these monuments represent another
unwritten ‘ Res Gestae Divi August! ■*.
^ On the policy of Augustus in regard to the different classes of the population
of Italy, see in general L. FriedMnder, DarsteUungen uus der Sitiengeschtchie Roff is ^
'9th ed. (G. Wissowa), voL i, 1919, p. 114 ff. On the senatorial class, the nobility,
see especially M. Gelzer in Hermes, 50 (1915), p. jpsff.; E. Stein, ibid,, 52 (1917I,
p. ,564ff. ; W. Otto, ibid., 51 ' (1916), p. 73ff. . Th. A. Abele, Der Senai imier
AiigiisitiSj 1907 {Stud. z. Gesch. lu KulL d. Aid vol. i, 2) deals with the political
functions of the senate only. ;On the political behaviour of the senatorial class
under Augustus, G. Boissier, V opposition sous les Cisars; E. Grimm, Investiga-
tions into the History of the Development of the Imperial Power ^ Vol. I, The Roman
Imperial Power from Augustus to Nero, St. Petersburg, 1900 (in Russian K On the
equestrian class, L. Friedtender-G. Wissowa, 1. voT. i, p. 145 ff. On the * third*
class, ibid., p. 158 ff. On the organization of the younger generation in Rome and
in the Italian cities see my article *Rdmische Bleitesserae,* in Kiio, Beiheft III,
1905; cp, the article of C.Juilian/Juvenes,’ in Dareinbergand SagIio,iii, i, p. jSaff.,
and of Ziebarth in Pauly- Wissowa, x, 2, p. i357f. Fresh evidence for Pompeii
has been collected by M. Della Corte, Imunius, Arpino, 1924, cp. A. Rosenberg,
Der Staai der alien Italiker, 1913, p. 93 ff. and in Hermes, 49 11914), p. ::^7ff. ;
L. Cesano in Rassegna Numismatka, 1911, p. 51 ff. and the forthcoming article of
L.'R. Taylor, Seviri equitmn Romanorum mid Mimicipai Seviri. On the luvems
in Africa, S. Gsell, Inscriptions laiines dAlgirie, voL i, 3079 (note). On the luventas
Manlknsium at Virunum (Noricum), R. Egger, Fuhnr rnrch die Antikensmnmhmg
des Landismuseum in Kiagenfurt, 1921, p. 24, and in Jakresk., 18 {1915), p. 115.
® E. Kornemann in Pauly-Wissowa, Suppl. I, p« 315, , 1 . 5off. ; cp. A. von
Premerstein, ‘lus Italicum,’ ibid., x, i, p. 1239.
® In the reign of Augustus began the development which led towards the
suppression of the system of tax-farming. It is true that the publktMi continued
to exist under Augustus in almost every branch of tax-collection. But there is
some evidence which indicates that the way towards the gradual traiisformation
of the tax-farming system was first shown by Augustus, see my Gesck d. Stmts-
3:902 (P/iiM, Suppl, ix. 3), p. 378 ff.
On the procurators of Augustus, O. Hirschfeld, Die kaisirikhem Feiwaliumgs- '
beaniien, 1905; H, Mattingly, The Imperial Civil Service of Rome, 1910; W. T. .
Arnold, Roman Provinciai Administration, ed. 3, 1914.
® See my Studien z. Gesch. d. rom* KoL, 1910, p- 289, note i. Unfortunately
the full evidence on this point has never been collected.
® It is unnecessary to cite the well-known works on the reorganization of
Egypt by Augustus. It may suffice to mention L. Mitteis and u. Wikken,
Gmndziige und Chrestomalhie der Papyruskmnde, 1912 ; W. Schubarl, EinfMkmmg
in die Papyruskunde, 1918 ; idem, Aegypten mm Alexander dem Crosmpi bis Mte-
hammed, 1922, and especially A. Stem, UniersMckmmgin zur Geschkhii mmd Vtr-
waltung Aegypkns unier rdmtschm Herrschajl, 2915. Cp. Ch. VI L
On the reorganization of Gaul by Augustus, O. Hirschfeld, ^Die Organisation
der drei Gallien durch Augustus,* in Kii&,B p. 464 C; A 7 . Sckn, p. I12C
According to Hirschfeld, the reform of Augustus legalized the ancient cityicss
condition of the Gallic tribes. This statement of Hirschfeld led Kornemana to an
utterly misleading parallel between Gaul and Egypt (in KHo, ii, X91X, p. and
Hist, de la Gmk, iv (1914), p. 67 ft and 316 ff. On Spain, A. Schulten In Pauly-
Wissow^a, vili, 1913, p. J. J. Nostrand, The Riorgmmatmn of Spam by
502 Notes': Chapter II
Augmius, 1916; R. Knox McElderry in / R. 5 ., 8 (1918), p. pC ; E. Albertinij
Lis divisions admmisimims de I'Espagne romaim^ 1923, On Africa^ A. Schiiiten,
Das rdmiscke Afrika, 1899, and 'the forthcoming volumes of S. Gsell, Mistoin de
PAfriqtii, Cp, Ch. VI ana VI L
As regards foreign policy, the article of K, Fitzler and O, Seeck in Paiiiy-
Wissowa gives a good and careful survey of all the events of Augustus' rule. Cp.
H. Dessau, Gesch. d, rclm, KaiserBeii, voL I, p. 360 ff. ; Ritterling in Pauiy-Wissowa,
xli, p.
On the wars in Africa see R* .Cagnat, Varmk romaine dAfrique, 211 d ed.,
p. 4ff,; idem, ‘ Coniment les Romains se reiidirent raaltres de toute I’Afrique du
Nord/ in Ann* du Musie Gtiimet\ 38 {1912), p, 155 ff. On the results of the Arabian
war, see niy article in Arck fur Papyr.^ 4 (i907--8), p. 306 ff. Cp. the articles of
Kornemann and Schur quoted in Ch, III, notes 16 and 17,
OB' the private estates in Egypt see my St* z* Gesdu d, Ao/., .p, 120C The
neW' evidence is' quoted in my book A Large Estate in Egypt^ p. 145, and in P. M.
MeyerO Lehmann-Haupf s Festschrift/ 1921, p. 73 ff. On the veterans
as farmers, ’W, Westermann, ^An Egyptian farmer/ in fPiscomm Studies in
Language and Literature, 'Ho. 3, p. 171 ff. ; cp. A Large Estate in Egypf^ p. 13, note 27.
Cp, also Ch. VII, note 89.
See my articles ^Fiscus’ in De Ruggiero, Dizionarh epigrafico, and in
Pauly-Wissowa. For the Hellenistic parallels see my article on Pergamon in
Amatoiian Studies presented to Sir WiiHam Ramsay^ Manchester, 1923. Cp. A. von
Premerstein,/a^m 7 i., 15 (1912), p. 2oof. The expenditure of Augustus for state
purposes from hjs private purse is emphasized as the main point in his ^economic*
policy by M. P. Nilsson, ‘ Den ekonomiska Grundvalen for Augustus’ principat/
Erams^ 12 (1912), p. 95 ff.
i& evidence on the fortunes of the members of the family of Augustus and
of his friends and associates has never been collected and investigated. Some
hints may be found in O. Hirschfeld, ^ Der Grundbesitz der rdmischen Kaiser/ in
Kiio^ 2 (1902), and KL Schr*, p. 576 ff, and in L, Fried!inder-G. Wissowa, Siitmg*
Roms^ 9th ed., 1920, voL i, p. 121 ff. On the fortune of Maecenas, Frandsen,
C. Cilnius Maecenas, AXtonz, 1842, p. 97 ; cp, on his Egyptian estates the works
quoted in note 13 and Ch. ViL On the large estates of Agrippa see Dio, Hv. 29;
Hor., EpisL, i, 12 (extensive cattle-breeding in Sicily) ; L Greaves, Essays on ike
History of Roman LandAenure, voL i, p. 143 ff (in Russian). On C. lulius Eurycles,
one of the minor partisans of Augustus, E. Kjellberg, *C. lulius Eurykles,’ in
KHo, 17 (1920), p. 441 ff. When Horace speaks of large fortunes, he mentions
almost exclusively the big estates in Italy and in the provinces (Sardinia, Sicily,
Africa, Gaul), specifying the types of crops which were characteristic of each :
Carm. i. 31, 3 ff. ; iii. 16, 25 ff. ; i. i, 9 5 16, 33 ; Epod. i, 25 ; 4, 13 ff:
On Trimalchio, his fortune and his economic life, see the excellent article of
I . Greaves, Essays on the History of Roman L andAenure. The large House-economy in
the time of the Highest Economic Bloom of the Roman world* The Data ofPetromus on
the Agrarian History of the isi cent A.D.fmJourn* of the Mimstry of Public Education,
vol. 361 (1905), p. 42 ff: (in Russian), and the commentaries to the text of Petronius
by L. Friedlander and by Lowe in their editions and translations of Petronius’ Cena
Tnmakhionis. Trimalchio certainly began his career in the Augustan period.
Another man of the same type is the freedman owner of 1,000 iuger’-a of land in
the ager Falernus, Hor,, Epod*, 4, 13 ff. Combination of sea commerce and land-
tenure as the two main sources of wealth in Hor., Carm., i. 31, 3 ff'. : ‘ non opimae
Sardiniae segetes feraces, non aestuosae grata Calabriae armenta, non aurum aut
ebur Indicum, non rura quae Liris q^uieta mordet aqua taciturnus amiiis, premat
Calenam fake quibus dedit fortuna vitem, dives ut aureis mercator exsiccet culiillis
vina Syra reparata merce,* The emphasis laid on these two chief sources of
wealth is lypical of the poets of the Augustan age (see E. H. Brewster, Roman
Craftsmen and Tradesmen of the Early Roman Empire, 1917, p. 30 ff'.). In regard to
the character of commerce in the Augustan age, it is important to emphasize the
Notes: Chapter II 503
great part which Italy and Italian merchants played at this time in the comoiercial
life of the East: see the inscription of Puteoli set up in honour of two Calpurnii
by the ‘mercatores qui Alexandr[iai] Asiai S^miai negotianlu(r) ’ [CIL,, Xj 1797).
The Calpurnii were certainly rich merchants whose inmience predominated in the
Oriental markets. One of them was the first to build a temple to Augustus in
Puteoli (C/Z,., X, 1613). The same relations with the East (under Tiberias? are
indicated by the erection b}^ the Augustales {i. e. wealthy freedmen) of Puteoli oi
a copy or imitation of the great monument which was set up at Rome to Tiberius
by the fourteen cities of Asia Minor after the terrible earthquakes of 17, 23, and
29 A.D. (C/jL., X, 1624). There is no doubt that the action of the Augustales was
due partly to the fact that they were of Asiatic origin, and still more to their
interest in the prosperity of the Asiatic cities, i. e. in the development of their
commerce with Asia- Minor; see Ch. Dubois, Paiizsoks antique iBtbL de$
E coles, 98)5 1907, p. 77 and p. 104; V, Parvan, Die iNiiionaiitai ikr romischfn
Kanfknfe im romischm Kaisermche, 1909, p. 12 j U._ E. Paoli, ' Grossi e piccoli
com’mercianti nelle liriche di Orazio/ in Riih FiL, 52 (1924 1, p. 451!'.
” On Puteoli see note 16. On Pompeii, the material collected by M. Della
Corte, ‘ Le case ed i abitanti di Pompei ’ in NeapoHs and in the Rmsia fndo^Greco-
Italka (Napoli), vols. i-vii, 1917-1923; cp. Zottoli, *Piiblio Paquio Prociilo panet-
tiere,* Rend, Lincei, 17 11908), p. 555 fo; M. Della Corte, * Fullones/ in Volume im
onore di Mom, G, A, Galante, Napoli, 1920.
Some evidence on this point will be found in my article ‘ Caesar and the
South of Russia/ in /. R, S., 7 (19171, p- 36. Cp. the role played in the life of their
cities by Aristagoras of Istros, Dittenberger, Syii?, 708, Niceratus of Olbia, ibid.,
730, and Acornion of Dionysopolis, ibid., 762. To the same time belongs^
Chaerenion of Nysa, who was able to give to C. Cassius in 88 B.t:. a gift of
60,000 modii of barley (Ditt., SylL^, 741) and the well-k.nowm families of Asia
Minor, e.g. those of Pythodoros, Polemon, and Mithradates t,)f Pergamon and
C- Julius Eurydes of Sparta (note and Kolbe, L G,, v, 1, p. 307). Ivlore modes!
was the rich merchant of Leros (M'lchel, Recueil, 37 ^^ would be worth while
to collect the evidence on these local magnates of the East of the ist cent, b.c* and
ist cent A.D.
See the general descriptions of Italy in Strabo (book v, cp. iv and vi) and in
Pliny (book iii, 5!!'.), and cp. the short description of Pomponius Mela. A careful
reading of these sources and especially of the second volume of IL Nissen, lial
Landeskunde, 1902, as vrell as the delightful little book of A, L. Frothingham, Roman
Ciiies in Italy and Dalmatia, igio, will enable the reader to realize the accuracy of
my statement. By his careful investigation of the existing Roman remains from
the architectural point of view, Frothingham has shown how fundamental was the
work done in the cities in the Augustan age.
1 . Greaves, Essays on Ike Hisiory of Roman Lami-ieimn, vol, i, p. 94 C On
the new excavations on the sufmosed site of the villa of Horace condiicteo by the
Italian government see L. A. Constans, in Joum, des Saif», 1914, p. 255 fi', I do
not know whether the report of late A. Pasqui on these excavations has been
published. Cp. G. Lafaye’s article ‘ Villa h in Daremberg and Sagllo, v, p* 883,
note 23, J. Hammer in Class. Weekly, 17 (1924), p, 201 ff., and H. Philipps"
article ‘Sabiiium* in Pauly- Wissow^a, Zw. R,, i, p. 1590 E, with the map on p. 2554.,
'A list of the excavated Campanian milme rtisRcm is given in Cli. I, note
Some of these villas certainly belong to the late Republican or the early Augtisinn
age. It is notable that many of them, and particularly the most beautiful ones,
were built in the time of Augustus, as is shown by their decoration in the second
or third Pompeian style of wall-painting. I would ranind the reader of the villa
of Agrippa Postumus as one of the best examples. An. economic analysis of one
of these villas has been given by Frank, Emmomic History, p. 209 E; cp. History
of Rome, p. 404 ff. Not all the excavated villas, however, belong to the same
economic type. Thus far I have noticed three diferent types of Campanimn
villas: (i) a combination of a fair, sometimes even luxurious, summer residence
and of a real vilia rmtkm with rooms appropriated for the agricultural expioitatioii
504 Notes: Chapter II
of a rather large estate. Such are the two ..best preserved villas of Boscoreaie^
probably the villa Item, and Nos. Ill, V, and ¥I of the villas published by Della
Corte, as well as the villa of Agrippa Po.stumus. Some Stabian examples belong
to the same type. It must be assumed that the owners of these villas did not live
in them but resided In cities, and came to stay in the villas from time to time. The
owner of one of them at least (No, V of Della Corte), N, Popidius Florus, was
certainly a resident of Pompeii. {2) A real farm-house, modest, spacious, and clean,
built for the use of a well-to-do farmer who probably lived in his villa all the year
round. To this type belong Nos. I and I¥ of Della Corte and No. XVI of Staoiae.
Two of these sole! their own wine to the travellers who went to and from Pompeii
and Stabiae and to neighbours. In No. I of Della Corte and in No. X VI ^ of Stabiae
a large wine-shop (iraitoria) is connected with the house. (3} A third typeps
represented by No. II of Della Corte. I agree with hjm that such a house, with
no wall decorations whatever, with small and bare living-rooms, and with large
cellars and wine-presses can be explained only as an agricultural factory run by
slaves and visited from time to time by the owner. On pi. IX of this volume
will be found an illustration of one of the modest villas, almost a peasant’s house,
on pL VIII views of villas which were pure summer resorts, and on pi. X some
agricultural implements which were found in the villas of Boscoreale.
It is worth noting that almost all the villas of which the owners are known,
apart from that of Agrippa Postumus, belonged to rich or well-to-do citizens of
Pompeii. It seems that the largest part of the territories of Pompeii and Stabiae
was owned by citizens of these cities, who resided there and derived their regular
income mostly from their wine estates. Another important fact yvhich has been
already emphasized by Frank is that all the excavated yilias, without exception,
were like American farms, i.e. they were not houses of peasants but real agri-
culturai factories, producing wine and oil in bulk for sale. There is no trace of
the famous ‘ house-economy ’ in them. The volume of their production is
illustrated by the large size of the wine-presses and the huge capacity of the
court-cellars of most of the Pompeian and Stabian villas. Important testimony
is furnished by the graffiH discovered in villa No, I of Della Corte (the villa of
the rich farmer), C/£., iv, 6886 ; ^ palos acutos dcccxl qui non acuti cdlx summa
Mcce,* and in the villa of Agrippa Postumus, C/Z„,iv, 6^7: *in acervo magno
pali sunt mxxiii,’ and 6888 : ‘ in ba . . . pali quadri nov(i) * (over this graffito is
a number, ^parentiy 500); cp. the large mass of Mi discovered in the villa
No. VII of Della Corte, Not a, Scavi, 1923, p. 271 m Such large quantities of
stakes testify to quite a large vineyard; cp. H. Gummerus in Pauly- Wissowa,
ix. 2, p. 1455, 48.
For a study of the economic life of these villas we have some data which have
not been used by my predecessors. In an electoral programme (C/L., iv, 6672)
Casellius is recommended by the vindemiiores^ probably hired helpers at the time
of vintage. The kind of labour used by the owners is admirably shown by the
plan of the villa of Agrippa Postumus, The back yard was the slave-barrack and
the stables. The slaves lived in eighteen small rooms, almost identical with those
in the gladiatorial barrack of Pompeii. Near by was the ergastulum^ the prison-
house for the slaves. The iron stocks were found in this room, not in use at the
time of the catastrophe. The large stables for horses were placed between
the living-quarters of the slaves and the prison. We have seen that the managers
of the villas were themselves either slaves or freedmen. The beautiful residential
part of the villa was occupied probably by these managers, but was built for
occasional visits of the masters. An interesting account written on one of the
walls of the slave-yard mentions horse-fodder (C/L., iv, 6892, i, 5: ‘pabu(!i)
spo{rtae) xx ’ and perhaps ‘medica*, clover). The same general features and the
same accommodation for the slaves are shown by the plan of, and the finds in,
the large villa near Stabiae (no. VIII of Della Corte), Not d, Scavi, 1923, p. 275 ff.
Peculiar features of this villa are the cows kept in the stabulum and the large
cheese-factory. Thus in every detail the excavations of the villas near Pompeii
confirm and illustrate the pictures given in the treatises of Varro and Columella.
The importance of the wine-production of Pompeii is illustrated also by the
inscriptions on the wine amphorae found there. Almost all of them mention
Notes : Chapter II ■ 5^5
names of well-knowii Pompeian citizens, owners of large hoiises in the citj and
of wine estates in its territory. The inscriptions may be easily consulted in the
Supplement of C/X.jiv (A. Man). It is a pity that they have never been Investi-
gated from the economic point of view: see the collection of material by P. Remark,
De amphorarum inscripiionibus iaiinis, 1912, p. iiff., especialjy p. and 22,^ and
the remarks of M. Della Corte in his articles ‘Case ed abitand di PompeF in
Neapoiis B.nd in Rivisf a Indo-Greco-Iialica^ vols.i-vW.
I. Greaves, 1 . L, p. 133 ff- Horace often alludes to such large estates, e. g.
Epod.f i, 25 if. : ‘ non iit iuvencis inligata piuribus aratra nituntur niejs pecusve
Calabris ante sidus fervidum Lucana mutet pascuis . . Cp. Carm.^ L i, 9, He
frequently quotes estates of historical persons sometimes under fictitious names
(Epod^ iv, 13: ‘arat Falerni mille fundi lugera'), sometimes named and addressed
as , his personal friends and acquaintances, Sat, L 5, 50 (the villa of Cocceiiis
Nerva) ; Eptst, ii. 2, 160 (estate of a certain Orbius l ; Carm., ii. 16, cp. Epist,, i. 13 22
(estates 01 Pompeius Grosphus), and the Epistle itself,^ a letter to his friend
Iccius who was the manager of laiifunmtmt of Agrlppa in Sicily isee the
instructive analysis of this letter by 1 . Greaves, LL, p. 1431!). The most charac-
teristic description of the same sort by Tibullus 3, ii : ‘ nam gj'ave quid
prodest pondus mihi divitis auri arvaque si findunt pinguia mille boves : ’ ^
L Greaves, L I, p, 178 C and 164 If, ; Hor., Carm.^ ii. 18. In Sat ii. 2 (Greaves,
L 1 ., p. 173) Horace portrays an old tenant-farmer, formerly the owner of the plot
on which he now works as a tenant of a veteran.
On the commercial relations of the Roman Emigre, especially of E^^pt,
with the East see the careful study of the late M. Chwostaw,^//is'/o;j a/
Orienfal Commerce of Greco-Roman £g}pi {332 B,C,-2S4 A.D.)^ Kazan, 1^7 fin
Russian); cp. my review of this book in Arcluf Papyr.,.^ (1*^7 h p- 39 o» Cp.
Ch. HI, notes 16 and 17.
There are no special works on Roman trade within the Empire^ The best,
though in each case very short, treatment is given by L, Friedlander-G, Wlssowa,
Siitengesch. Rotns, i, p. 363!!'., and R. Cagnat-M. Besnier, article * Mcrcatura\ in
Daremberg et Saglio, iii, 2, p. 17721!.: see especially the register on p. 1778 and
the enumeration of the principal ■ inarkets in the provinces on p. 177711'.^ The
article ‘Industrie imd Hander by H. Gummerus in Pauly-Wissowa,
p. X454E, pays more attention to industry than to commerce. A special point
IS excellently treated by V. Parvan, NationalikU der Kmifkuk im r^mmcken
Kaiserreicke, 1909. The most recent book on the subject, M. P. CliarIesworth%
Trade Ron ies mm Commerce 0/ ike Roman Empire, 1924, contains a good survey
of the trade routes and of the articles which were exchanged, but fails to give
an adequate account of the or^nization of commerce and of its economic
importance, cp. my review in /. /?. S., 14 (1924). Very useful and exhaustive
is the treatment by M. Besnier of the commerce in lead, ‘Le commerce du plomb
a Fepoque romaine* in Rev. Arck, 12 (1920), p. 211 ; 13 (1921), p. and 14
(1921), p. 98 If. In the following notes 1 quote some facts which remained
unknown to Cagnat, Besnier, and Gummerus,
See Ch. I, note 27, and note 13 to this chapter. Sicilian wine Is inenlioned
as the fourth best by Pliny (N. i/., xiv. The main centres of production were
Messana and Tauromenium ; cp. the umpkar&e of Tauromenlan wine at Pompeii,
C/X., Iv, 2618, 5563-5568 ; J¥ot d Scaml 1914, p, 199, and 1915, p. 335, no. 5. It
must, however, be emphasized that Sicily in the time of Augustus and during the
whole of the ist cent, a, d. was still a fertile corn-land. To lie testimonies guoted
in my article ‘ Frumentum *, in Pauly- Wissowa {cp. Cfi. I, note 271, there is now
to be added the mosaic of Ostia with the figures of the four Western corn-
producing provinces : Spain, Sicily, Africa^ Egypt, see G. Calza in Bait Comm,
arck com,, 1952, p. 103 ff.
^ Petronks, Cma Tfim., 76 ffr, 192 Buch.) : * nemini tamen nihil satis cst.
concupivi negoiiari. ne muftis vos moner, quinque naves aedificavi, onert%i
vinum— et tunc erat contra mmm—mml Eomam, putares me hoc iussisse:
5 o 6 Notes : Chapter II
onines naves naufragarunt, factuni,- noii fabula. , ono die Heptunns trecenties
seslertium devoravit. pntatis me defedsse? non ittehercules mi haec iactnra
gnsti fuit, taniquam nihil facti. alteras feci maiores et jnel lores, et felidores— ■
oneravi rursus viimm, lardmn, fabarrij seplasium, mancipia/ Cp. C/I.., iv, 5894,
with Add.\ A. Sogliano, in Not. d Scavi\ 1905, p. 25J : ' M. Terentiy A rtritaci in
nave Cn. Senti Omeri Ti. Claudl Orpei vectia.)’— wine or gamm imported to
Pompeii by a company of shipowners (?), Cp. note 20.
Large quantities of Capuan bronze piate, along with bronze plate probably
made in Alexandria and in Asia Minor, are characteristic of the big cemeteries
of the Augustan age in the Caucasus. See, e.g., the necropolis of Bqri published
by E. Pridik in MaieHais for ike Arch, of South Rmsiu^ 34, 1914 (in Russian).
Some Cy^uan bronze vessels have been found as far away as the government of
Viatka, Compie rendu de !a Comm, arch., 1913-1915, p. 213, fig. 261 (in Russian) :
the type of one of the bronze pans is similar to the typical pans of the ist cent. a.d.
See H. Willers, Neue Untersuckmigen uber die romiscke Bn nzemdusirki p. 77 ff.
Another set of the same period was found in the government of Podolia, Compie
reudu de la Comm, arch.^ ipiS-ipiS P* ^55 (i^ Russian). In general
Capuan bronze plate is exceedingly common in South Russia, especially in the
ist cent. A.D.
® Some Aucissa pins from the river Don were published by the author in
Buil. de la Comm. arch, de Rmssie^ 65 (1917), p. 22!!'. {m Russian) ; cp. C. Julllan,
Hisioire de la Guide, v, p. 304, note 6; F, Haverfield, in Arch, jourm., 60 (1903b
p. 236, and 62 (19051, p. 265,
^ See, e.g., my Ancient Decorative Painting in South Russia, 1914, p. 206 If. (in
Russian). ' . ' ' '
See Ch. I, note 13.
See Ch, III, note 19.
On Aquileia see the works quoted in Ch. I, note 16. No investigation has
been made of the special articles produced by Aquileia. The wonderful assemblage
of amber articles in the Museum of the city and in a private collection in Udine
has never been published. These articles were exported as far as Rome,
Pompeii, the Dalmatian coast, Africa, and Belgium : see, e.g., F. Cuniont, Comment
la Belgique fut romanisie, ed. 2, 1919, p. StJfig. 20; G, Smirich, Fuhrer dutch das
K.K. Staaismuseum m Zara, 1912, p. 103. There is a large collection of Aquileian
amber articles found in South Italy in the British Museum and another in the
Museo delle Terme at Rome. A very good survey of the objects stored in the
picturesque and well-arranged Museum of Aquileia was given by E. Maionica,
Giiida ddV I. R. Museo dello Staio in Aquileia, Vienna, 1911 ; specially good are the
sections on glass (p. 87 IF.) and amber (p. 88 Ch Among the iron objects the most
conspicuous and the most interesting are the various agricultural implements, of
which large quantities were used by the Aquileians themselves (ibid., p. 97 C).
An investigation of the same implements found in Dalmatia and in the Danube
provinces would be worth while. They may have come from the factories o!
Aquileia: see the bas-relief on a funeral monument of a faber ferrarius, ibid.,
p. 56, no. 36. Natural^ we cannot expect to find in Aquileia the arms which
were fabricated there for the Danublan army. On the discovery of gold, Polybius
in Strabo, iv. 208.
See Ch. I, note 13; cp. T. Frank, A History of Rome, p. 375 ff. I cannot,
however, agree with the author that the organization of industry and trade in
Rome and in the larger cities was identical with that of Pompeii. The many
tombstones of artisans found in Rome attest the existence of small shops in Rome,
but they do not tell us anything about the organization of the larger ones. More-
over, there was a special style of tombstones, a conventional language, so to
speak, used in such monuments. They may be used for studying the technical
side of a given craft, but they are hardly specific enough to warrant conclusions
on the standing and the economic status of the buried man. The systematic
Notes: Chapter II 507
excavations, of Ostia- have shown us how utterly different were the houses of
Ostia and of Rome from those of Pompeii : see G* Calza, * La preminenza del? insula
nella edifizia romana’ in Mon. dei Lmcei, 23 (1913), p. 541 ff-; E* Guq, ^Une
statistique de locaux affect^s a I’habitation dans la Rome iraperiale ’ in Mem, Acad,
Inscr.^, II (1915), p. zigK; G. Calza, -^La statistka^delle abitazioni e il calcolo
della popolazione in Roma imperiale’ in Rend, Lincei, 26 (1917), p. sff., and Ins
reports In the Not d, Scavi ; cp. a summary of these reports by the same author in
Atene e Roma c 3 (1922), p. 229 ff. and his excellent article * Le origlne latine
deir abitazione moderna ’ in Archiietium e urii decorative.^ 3, 1923, and also J. Stutten,
Wohnhauser der rSmischen Kaiserzeit,’ in Bauami mui GemeimMebe^t, 15 (1924
p.' 146 ff We have learnt also from the same excavations what large and beauti- .
fill buildings were used not o.nl3^ by the state but also by some private dealers for ■
storing goods and carrying out the operations connected with storage isee the
articles ‘ Horrea- in Pauly- Wissowa and Dare-mberg and Saglio ; cp. P. Romanelli
in Diz, epigr., iii, 1922, p. 967 ff.), and we cannot ignore the very great danger of
speaking of large commercial and industrial cities on the basis of a study confined
to some small and provincial centres of city life. I have no doubt that Rome ^
was much more similar to ' Alexandria than to Pompeii, and that Ostia was a
Rome in miniature. Characteristic of the early imperial age (perhaps of the time
of Augustus) is the block near the forum recently excavated by G. Calza (Not, d,
Scavi, 1923,' p. i77ff, a'lid pLJVff), , Three large commercial and industrial
buildings (near the mria) present each of them a new type unknown at Pompeii. ' .
The most interesting is the big * bazaar’ (numbered C on Calza’s map, pL IV|, a
court {or kind of private square) accessible from two streets and surrounded by
large a'nd high shops very unlike the small and dark shops of Pompeii. Some of
these shops open on the street, some into the court. .[
On Alexandrian industry, W. Schubart, tmn Alexander dem Grmsm
bis Mohammed, ig22, p. 51, ff*. ; E, Breccia, Akxandrea ad Aegypimn, eel 2, 1922,
p. 41 (with bibliography). The organization of industry in toe villages and the
small towns of Egypt is fairly well known to us since the publication of the
volumes of Reil, Beitrdge zur Kenniniss des Gemerbes im hcHenistiseheH AigfpieMf
1913, and M. Chwostow, Etudes sur 1 ' organisation de tindusirie ei du conmmTe
dans lEgypie greco-romaine, voL i, Vindusirie kxtile, 1914 (in Russia ill ; cp. rny
review of the latter in the Journ. of the Min, of Pub! , £duc„ 1914 (in Russian), and
U. Wiicken, Grimdzuge, p. 2391!*.; W. Schubart, Einfuimmg, p. 41411 and 428 fil
with an enumeration of the various trades, it is, however, very dangerous to
apply this picture to Alexandria, the relation being the same as that between
Rome and' Pompeii. ■ Pompeii and the cities of Egypt worked chiefly for the local
market ; Alexandria and, to a certain extent, Rome 'for world export
On the textile industry of Asia Minor see my article on the economic
development of the Perganiene kingdom, in A$mioimn Studies presmkd to
Sir WiUimn Ramsav, Manchester, 1924. Cp. Orth in Pauly-Wissowa, xii,
p.^ff. (art * Lana
III. The Mil'tiaiy Tyranny of the Jttlii and Ciaudii.
^ The history of the Roman emperors {but not of the Roman Empire) has
been repeatedly written by many eminent modern scholars. I need not ’enu-
merate the long list of titles. It will be enough to mme the best of the most
recent works ; A. von Doniaszewski, GcMkickk d^r rSmisdun Kmmr, ed. 3, i^a ;
H. Stuart Jones, The Rammt Empire, J, B, Bury, History 0/
Empire; E. Kornemann, *Die rdmisehe Kaiserzelt* In Gcrcke and Morden,
Einkitimg m die Aitiriumswissemckaft, vol. m, ed. .2, 1914; G. .Bloch, .. . .
romain, Evoiutiopi et dieademe, 1^2. On the constitutiona! evolution see - * ' ' j
E. Grimm, Studies m the Histofy of ike Dmeiopmeni of the Roman Jmfm^iai Powit^ " ' ' ' , > J
5 o 8 IS! otes : Chapter III
vols. i-ii, 1900-1901 (in Russian); OCl\%.St^\i\Az^DmWismdesr 6 miS€henKukifimm
der irsien zw& Jmhrhunderk^ 1916; E. TS^bler, ‘Rdmisches Staatsrecht uiid
r^mische Verfassnngsgeschichte’ In Hist Zmtschr.^ i3> P- ff- ; cp. Ch. L
note 24, and Ch. If, note i. The standard works on this subject are stilly of
course, the second part of the second volume of Th. Mommsen*s Stmtsrecki and
E. Herzog, Geschkhte mid Syskm des rdmisckm Stmisnchis, vol. ii (p. 233 ff. and
332 ff. on the Roman principate as a tyranny). The dependence of the emperors
(after Tiberius) on the praetorian guard is emphasized by coins of Caligoia,
Claudius, and Nero. Caligula minted some copper with the legend *adlocut(io|
coh(ortmm)* without the usual ‘S. C.’, showing four ^aquilae* which symbolized
the praetorian cohorts (Mattingly, Coins of the R» iT., 1923, p. cxlv). Still more
explicit are the coins of Claudius with the legend ^imperlatorj recept(us) ’ and
a picture of the praetorian camp, alluding to his proclamation the praetorians.
To this type corresponds another with the legend * praetor{iani) ^recept(i)/
showing the figures of the emperor and a praetorian soldier clasping hands
{Mattingly, I L, p. clii f.). The type of Caligula was repeated by Nero {Mattingly,
L L, p. cixxvi). On the sources the most recent work is the sketch of A. Rosenberg,
Emleitungimd Oitellenkunde zur rdmiscitm Geschichie, 1921, which cannot replace
the fundamental work of H. Peter, Die geschkktliche Literatur iiber die romisclie
Kaiserzeii^ 2897. imperial cult, E. Beurlier, Le ctdte imffiaL Paris, 1891 ;
E. Kornemann, ‘Zur Geschichte der ant Herrscherkulte ’ in A 7 /o, i, pp. 51-146;
J. Toutain, Les mites paiens dans P Empire romain, voL i, 1907, p. 42 ff. ; F. Blumen-
thal, ‘Der agyptische Kaiserkult’ in Arch.f. Papyr.^ 5, p. 317 ff: A. Deissmann,
Lkhi vom Oste, 4th ed. {1923), p. 287 ff. ; H. Heinen In Klio^ ii (1191), p. 129 ff. :
L. R. Taylor in Tnms. Amer, Phil, Assoc, 51 {19^), p. 116 ff. ; W. Otto in Hermes
45 (^9Jo)j p. 448 ff.; G. Herzog-Hauser in Pauly-Wissowa, Suppl. iv, p. 820 ff
(art ‘ Kaiserkuit *). On Claudius in this respect see H, !. and Chrislimis
in Egyptj 1924, p. 5 ff On the identification of emperors with gods, especially
with Hercules, see P. Riewald, ‘ De imperatorum Romanorum cum cetens dis et
comparatione et aequatione,’ in Dks, PhiL iAi/mses, 20, 3 and m3’’ owm
article ‘ Commodus-Hercules in Britain * in /. R, S. 13 (1923), Other books and
articles will be quoted in the following notes. The part which was played in the
history of the imperial cult in and after the time of Augustus by attempts to
identify the emperors with the great gods who promoted civilization and pros-
perit37— Hercules, Mercury, Apollo, and Bacchus—and the empresses with the
correspondinggpddesses— Venus, Juno, and Minerva — is explained by the impor-
tance of these gods and goddesses in the domestic cult of Italy, the cult of the
Genius, the Lares and the Penates. Excellent illustrations may be found in the
domestic shrines of Pompeii, e.g. in the house Reg. I, ins. IX, No. i (Not d,
Saxm, 1913, p. 34 f*), where we have representations of Hercules, Mercur3%
Apollo, perhaps Bacchus and (Venus), Juno, and Minerva. Cp. Not d, Scavt\ x 8 gg^
p. 340, fig. 2 (the same series of gods), and scores of other examples. So also at
Ostia and Delos. The subject needs fresh treatment. There is no mention of
these correlations in Boehm's recent article, ‘Lares/ in Pauiy-Wissowa, xii
{1924), p. 806 ff,
® O. Hirschreid, Die kaiserlichen Verwaitungsbeamten bis auf Diocletian^ 1905 ;
idem, Kkine SchrifteHy 1913; my articles ‘ Fiscus ' in Pauly-Wissowa, vi, and ni
Ruggiero, Diz, epigr , ; M. Bang in L. Friedlander-G. Wissowa, Siitengeschkhte
Roms^ iv, ed. 10, p. 26 ff. (Ch. V and VI|. On the ager publkus and its gradual
incorporation in the imperial domains (from the administrative point of view), see
my Studien z, Gesch. d, rom, KoL^ p. 326. Claudius^ edict on the cursus pnhlkus
CIL,, hi, 7251; /. G., V, 2, p. 5 (cp. O. Hirschfeld, I I, p. 191, note i): ‘T[i].
Claudius Caesar Aug. G[ermjanicus pontif. max. trib. pot. VIlII imp, XVI p. p,
(a.d. 49”5o) dicit : cu[m] et colonias et municipia non solum Ita[lia]e verum etiam
provinciarum item civita[ti]um (/^^^ civitates) cuiusque provinciaelebare oneribu[s]
yehpculorjum praebendorum saepe tem[ptavissjem [ejt c[um satijs multa remedia
invenisse in[ihi viderer, p]otu[it ta]men nequitiae hominum [non satis per ea
occurri . . On the letter to the Alexandrians see H. 1 . Bell, Jews and Christians
m Egypt^ 1924, p. iff. New evidence on the definitive organization of thoi ftscus
Notes : Chapter III 5°9
as the imperial , financial administration by the Eniperor Claudius is given by two
inscriptions: one of Lycosiira in Arcadia mentioning the fiscus as receiving
payments from the provincial cities in 42 a.d. (/. G, v, 2, 516; Bitten berger,
Boo ; A. von Prenierstein in Jahresh,, 15 (1912), p. 203 ff.) and one of Volubilis 111
Mauretania, E. Cuq mjourn, Sav,^ 1917, p. 481 ff. and especially p. 494. ■
^ On the. distributions of corn and money see M. Rostovtzeff, *Die roiinschen
Bleitesserae/ in Kiio, Beiheft 3, 1905, p. 10 fi’. ; O. Hirschfeld, Die A Venmliungsk^
p. 23011^ ; G. Cardiiiali, ‘ Frumentatio’ in Ruggiero, Diz. epigr,^ vol. iii, p. ;
and also my articles * Fruinentum’ in Pauiy-Wissowa, vii, i, p. 172 fil, and
Congiariiim,’ ibid., vol. iv, p. 875 tfi The difficult problems of the character of
the professioms in the so-called lex Julia mimicipalis and of the character of the
law itself are now solved by the ingenious article of A, von Prenierstein, * Die
Tafei von Pleradea iind die Acta Caesaris* in Zeitschriff der Srtr.-S/./. Rechhg,^
Rdm. Abt , 43 (1923), p. 45 E (on the professiones see p. 58!!'.). Thpe is no doubt
that the professioms were intended to regulate the corn-distributions of Caesar,
Cp. T. Rice Holmes, The Roman Republic^ vol. iii, p. 553 fh, and E. G, Hardy,
Some Problems in Roman History , 1924, p. 239111 On the shows, L. Fried lit nder-G,
Wis.sowa, Sitieng. Roms, voL ii, loth ed., p. 205!!'. (Drexel, Chs, XVI-“XV!!I|;
O. Hirschfeld, 1.1., p. 285 ff.
^ On the -procurators of the provinces, O. Hirschfeld, /v Perwaitungsk,
p. 343 ff., and p. 4iof!i; my article ‘Fiscus,’ in .Pauly- Wissowa, vi, p. 2865^1^;
R. Cagnat in Daremberg and Saglio, iv, p. 662 ff. ; H. Mattingly, J7if Imperiai Cm!
Service 0/ Rome, 1910, p. 102 fi’.
® The best survey of the general development of ciU' life in the Roman
Empire Is given by Th. Mommsen in the fifth volume of fiis History of Rome
[^Eng. Trans. The Provinces 0/ the Roman Empire], A mass of material is collected
in the Corpus htscripiionum Latimrum, The general introductions to the separate
volumes which deal with the history of Italy and of the provinces and the special
introductions to the inscriptions of. the various cities are all of them so many
preparatory chapters for a history of the urbanization of the Empire. Unfortu-
nately we have nothing similar for the Greek East, except for Greetrc itself and
some of the Greek islands, which were of little importance for the Empire.
Despite the fact that a large stock of material is there collected and well prepared
for use, there are no vcorks describing the general development of the urbanizaiicm
of the Empire. The most recent book on the subject by J. S. Reid, The Mmiiek
patities of the Roman Empire, Cambridge, 1913, is disappointing, and cannot replace
the old but still indispensable volumes of E* Kuhn, Die simtisebe and biirgerlktm
Ferfassung des rbmisc/mt Reiches, vols. i and ii, 1864, 1865, especially voL ii,
cp. idem, Die Enisfelmng der Std'dte der Aiten, 1878. On the attitude of Claudius
towards the cities, see hls^ edict ^quoted in note 2, and cp. his edict on the Anauni,
CIL, V, ^50; Dessau, L L, S., 206; Bruns, Fontes, 7th ed., No. 79, p, 253
(cp. J. S. Reid, 1. L, p. i66ff.|, and his grant of citizenship to the imcokie of tlie city
of Volubilis in Mauretania, L. Chatdain in C. R. Acml Risen, 1915, p. 30;
E. Cuq in/oiir;i.. Sav., 1917, p. 4^80 and p. 538, and in C* /?, Actul Imscn, 1918, p. 227,
and 1920, p. 339 ; G. de Sanctis in Aiti d, R. Ace, di T&rhm, 53 (1918’! p. 451 E ;
E. Weiss in Zeitschn der Sap.-Sh / Rechisg,, 1921, p. 639 : R. Cagnat et L. CImtclaiii,
Inscriptions laiines tie lAfriqm, 1923, no. 634. A recently discovered inscription of
Volubilis mentions the saine grant of Claudius, L. Cliatelain in C R, Aeak Imsen,
1924, p. 77 ft'. ; *niuni(cipium5 Volub(ilitanum) Impetrata c(ivitale| R(oinaiia) ct
conubio, et onejibus remissis* I'a.d. 44I Cp. L. A. Constans in Mm, aS
I. 1924), p. 103!!'. ^On the colonies of Claudius see E* Korneraanii, *€olotitaf in
Pauly- Wissowa, iv, p. 535 ff, and Rltterling, ibid., xii, p. 1251 ff. ; cp. on Maurelatiia
E. Cuq in Journ, Sav., 1917, p, 543. On the tendency of Claudius to extend the
Roman citizenship to large numbers of provincials see {Sen.| Apokoiok, 13;
J. S. Reid, I L, p. 19c. The example of Volubilis, where the grant of citizenship
was due to special circumstances (the devastation of the city by Aedeiiion, in
connexion with the wars which followed the annexation of Mauretania by
Caligula) and was a reward for the valiant behaviour of the city, shows that the
510 Notes : Chapter III
Statement of the Apokoiokyniosis is an ex^geration in the spirit of the senatorial
opposition. In granting the franchise Claudius acted, with a circumspection
which reminds us of Augustus rather than- -of Caesar; cp. also his altitude
towards the Alexandrians and their request to: receive a city council and some
other privileges^ H. L Bell, LL The first ' emperor really to break with the
tradition of Augustus was Vespasian (on his military colonies see Rittcrling, 1 . 1 ,
p. 1273I. . ,
^ On the civil war of see B. W* Henderson, Cimi IP^nr and INbeHiou in
the Ropmn Epnpire, igc^; cp, N. Feliciani, ^Danno dei quattro imperatori/ in Rh\
di $L mtif ii (1906), p. sff. and 378 C, and the genera! works quoted in note 1.
That many Senators contemplated the possibility of doing away with the princi-
pate and restoring the ancient regime of the senate is not a just inference from
the acts of Vindex and of Verginius Rufus, from the oath taken to the * Senate
and People of Rome’ by two legions of the Upper Rhine^ after their revolt
against Galba, and from the free use in 6gf. and afterwards of the term iiherias,
a term which had been used by Augustus himself, and after his time both by the
party loyal to the emperors and by the opposition. ^For the great majorit^r of
the population of the Empire iibertas meant the constitutional principate establislied
by Augustus. To fight for Uberias against individual primcipes was to fight against
tyranny. The definition of tyranny was ready to hand in the ^writings of the
Greek philosophers, especially in those of the Middle Stoa (Panaitios) popularized
by Cicero in his De Republka (see R. Reitzenstein in GoiL gel, Nachr,, 1917,
p. 399ff.and 481 ft', and cp. R. Heinze in Hermes^ 59 (1924), p. 73 ft'., and Reitzenstein,
ibid., p. 356 ff.}. We must, however, avoid exaggeration. After Caligiilajs death
a large portion of the senate wished to put an end to the principate : see Dio, 60. 1,
I f. ; Suet. Cfi/., 60, and Clund. i;i, i^Gmperio stabilito mhii antiqiuiis diixit qiiam
id biduum, quo de mutaiido rei publicae statu haesitatum erat, memoriae eximerc.*
The idea was certainly still alive in 6g, but it was not strong enough to lead to
action. On Uberias in the early Empire, Ph. Fabia in KHo 4 (1904), p. 42 ft'.;
E. Kornemann in Gercke and is^rden, Einimiung in die Aiteriumsm,, iii, ed. 2,
p. 274 ft'. ; O. Th. Schulz, Das Wesen des rdm. Kaimriums^ p, 39. The discontent
in tbe^ provinces in the time of Hero was increased by the heavy burden of
Neronian taxation and especially by the dishonesty of the emperor’s procurators.
It is worthy of note that one of the first measures of Galba in Spain, after being
proclaimed emperor, was the abolition of a tax of aj per cent., which was probably
introduced by Hero and cannot be identical with the well-known provincial
customs-duty, which affected the people very little. * Quadragensuma remissa ’
is the legend on some coins minted by Galba in Spain. The type of these
coins shows three prisoners, marshalled by an officer, being led under some
sort of arch. I think that Mattingly is right in recognizing in the prisoners the
procurators of Nero and in referring to the execution of Obultronius Sabinus and
Cornelius Marcellas b3’' Galba (Tac., Hist i, 37) ; cp. the general attitude of Galba
towards the procurators of Nero (Plut., Gama^ 4), Mattingly, Coins vfdhe R. E.,
p. ccix. For the Spanish customs-duty {quadragesimal Ann. ep.^ 1924, no. 110.
Tac., Hist. i. 85 : ‘ non tamen quies urbi redierat : strepitus telorum et facies
belli, militibus ut nihil in commune turbantibus, ita sparsis per domes occulto
habitu et maligna cura in omnes quos nobilitas aut opes aut aliqua insignis
claritudo rumoribus obiecerat’ 11.56: ‘ceterum Italia gravius atque atro-
cius quam bello adflictabatur. dispersi per municipia et colonias Vitelliani
spoliare, rapere, vi et stupris polluere . . . ipsique milites regionum gnari refertos
agros, dites dominos in praedam aut, si repugnatum foret, ad exitiiim destina-
bant . . Cp. 62: ^exhaust! conviviorum apparatibus principes civitatum :
vastabantur ipsae civitates,’ and iv. i : ^ nec deerat egentissimus quisque e plebe
et pessimi servitiorum prodere ultro dites dominos^ alii ab amicis monstrabantiir.’
Cp. Th. Mommsen, Gesamm. Schr.^ vi, p. 38.
* It is well known that the exclusion of Italians under Vespasian from militarj^
service in the legions is a fact deduced by Mommsen from the lists of legionary
soldiers, especially those of the leg. I Admirix {Gesantm. Schr.^ vi, p. 36fif.).
Notes: Chapter III 5 *^
Thougli otir literary sources say nothing of this exclusion, one may be confident
' that Mommsen was right in supposing that the cessation of the recruitment
of the legions in Italy , was one of the most important military measures of
Vespasian. Mommsen’s view has recently been challenged by H. Dessau, Gese/i.
:d. rom, iTais., i, p. 288, who quotes some inscriptions mentioning levies in
.Northern Italy (regia Transpadana) during the reigns of Hadrian I Dessau, /. D.S.,
1068, cp. Mommsen, Staatsr.^ ii, p. 850, note 3), Marcus Aurelius (Dessau, L L. S.,
1097, los^), Alexander Severus .(Dessau, L L, S., njsh Maximinus (Dessau,
/. L. S., 487) and Gordian III (Dessau, L L, S., ii83). These inscriptions show
. that in the matter of levies the regia Transpadana {formerly Gallia Cisalpiiia; was
treated in the same way as Gallia Narbonensis and Baetica ; and in fact, so far
.as soda! and economic conditions %vere concerned, North Italy, even _in the
imperial period, bore a closer resemblance to Gaul and Spain than to Central^
and Southern Italy. On the other hand, we must not forget that the measure of
Vespasian was not a law but an administrative practice, which was not binding.
The fact that the praetorian guard was still recruited in Italy least partly, the
rest being furnished by Noricum, Spain, and Macedonia) has no bearing on the
question of the legions. It was easy to select ca.refully the few rccriiils needed
for the praetorian cohorts. How ample the opportunities for recniitment in Italy
were, is shown by the fact that in 66 or 67 Nero had no difficulty in creating
a new legion {/ lialka) of purely Italian, recruits. The social miiim to which
these .new recruits belonged is dear from Nero’s promise to the sailors to enrol
them in a new legion (I Adiuirix)^ a prom,ise which Galba was compelled to fulfil.
The same thing was done by Vespasian in the case of the // Adiutrix imder the
pressure of circumstances (Ritterling in Pauly- Wissowa, xii, pp. 1260 and 1267).
Ritterling (L 1.) suggests that even the two new legions of Vespasian were recruited
mostly in Italy, w^hich of course is pu.rely conjecturaL In the 2nd cent the
conditions remained the same. It is known that M. Aurelius was able to raise
in Italy two new legions, the II Pia and II! Conmrs^ both yurriamed Ifaika
(Ritterling, 1. L, p. 1300 f.; J. Schwendeniann, Der kisiarisekf IVeri der VUa Mam
bet den S. IT A,^ 1923, p. 43 fi". C/L. vi, 1.377 ; Dessau, /. /,. 5., 1098). Ifi then,
the Italians were willing to enter the ranks of the army, the lact^ that they
disappear almost completely from the legions after. Vespasian is significant ana
implies a special policy on the part of the emperors. It should be mentioned in
this connexion that, according to Sck Hist. Aug. , hL Aiir. ix, 7. and Ha<lr, 12, 4,
in the time of Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, and M., Aurelius the burden of recriiiimeiit
pressed most heavily, not on Italy (apart fro.m the regia Tntnspadtmajf but on
those Spaniards who already enjoyed orhad .received from Vespasian tlic rights of
Roman or Italian citizenship, i. e. on the Romanized provincials. Clearly, there-
fore, the Flavians and the Antonines, though they urgently needed Romanized
soldiers, refrained fro.m using Italy in general as a recruiting-ground, and
preferred to overburden the northern region of the peninsula and the Konianized
parts of the Western provinces, Cp. Ch. IV, note 34.
‘ ® On Petronius see the work of L Greaves quoted in Ch. 11, note 16. On
Columella, H. Gummerus, ‘ Der rdmische Gutsbetrieb,* in iT/ib, Beiheft 5, i9C^.
It is impossible to cite all the evidence on the rapid development of the pros-
perity of the Eastern provinces, but one example may be quoted, that of Pmsa In
Bithynia, the native city of Dio Chrysostom. From Dio’s Bithynian speechcsi
especially Or., 46^ we know more or less the economic history of the city as reflected
in the story of Bio’s family (cp. H. von Arnim, md Werkfdm iJia imi Pmsa,
18^, p. The rapid development of Frusa did not begin before tlic period
of the Empire. The fortune of Dio’s family, both on the mothers and the fallieris
side, w^as formed in the early ist cent a. a It went on decreasing from the lime
of Dio’s grandfather to that of his father, and then increased under his father's
and his own management It is a typical fortune of a bourgeois of the early
Empire (Or.^d bC). The basis of It was land, which in older tiroes was mostly
corn-land, under Dio’s management (the change may have dated from the time
of his father) the corn-land was almost entirely planted with vineyards. Along
with viticulture, grazing wb.s an Important source of Dio’s income. Corn-
512 Notes: Chapter III
prodwctioo was reduced to a miiiiiniim. ■ . One sees the influence of the treatises
on scientific agriculture. As a subsidiary source of income^ Dio ^ engaged In
money-lending and in building and organizing shops {ipya(iT^pm\ which certainly
formed pari o? his city houses. There is no difference, therefore, between Italy
and Asia Minor in the ist cent. a.d. as regards the typical husbandry of the city
bourgeoisie.
” It is a great mistake to speak of city life in the Western provinces as an
artificial creation of the Roman emperors. The sending out of a colony, the
grant of the rights of a Roman or Latin colony or of a Roman municipium^ were
not acts by which urban life was created ; they presupposed the existence of it
before the colony was founded or m,unicipa! privileges m^ere panted. Of such
a kind, without doubt, was the urbanization of Spain (J. $. Reid, L 1 ., p. 243);
cp. Ch. Vi* The greatest achievement of the Roman emperors was to create
economic and political conditions which made it possible to promote urban life In
countries where it had existed in germ only. In doing so, ^they certainly had
some practical purposes in mind (easier administration, recruiting, better returns
from taxes, &c.). Even in Britain the Romans found germs of urban life already
existing, and did their best to help the native population and the emigrants from
Italy and the provinces to develop those germs.
On this subject I shall speak in more detail in the next chapter.
The history of the South-Italian * terra sigillata’ in the ist cent has often
been described and need not be repeated here. It is amazing to find how* this
Gallic pottery practically killed the Italian import in Gaul, Britain, Germany, and
the Danube provinces," see H. Gummerus, in Pauly- Wissowa, lx, 2, p. i475ff.,
cp. R, Knorr, Tbpfer und'Fabriken dermrmerkr Terru-Sigiiia'a des I.Jahrhmmris^
mip. On the lamps, S. Loeschke, aus Findomssa. Ein Beitrag zur
Gesekichie mn Vimonissa und des antiken Bekuchtungswesen, 1919. A brilliant
general sketch may be found in K. Schumacher, Siedeiungs- und KuUurgeschkhie
der Rheinlande^ vol. ii, 1923, p. The most striking instance of the rapid
spread of Gallic potten* is the discovery at Pompeii of probably two boxes of the
best products 01 La Graufesenque in South Gaul and a find of identical pottery
with the same ornaments and the same factory stamps at Rottweil on the neckar
(R. Knorr, LL, p. 8).
See the books and articles quoted in Ch. II, note 25, to which should be
added the excellent collection of materia! from the Augustan and Flavian poets
by E. H. Brewster, Roman Craftsmen and Tradesmen of the Early Empire^ ^ 9 ^ 7 *
This collection shows how supreme was the importance of commerce m the life
of the ist cent. a. d. in Rome and Italy. Many men whom the poets met in
Rome and Italy were engaged in the pursuit of commercial affairs.
On the trade of Palmyra in general see L. Friedlander-G. Wissowa, Sitieng.
Roms, vol. i, ed. 9, p. 375 ; cp. M. P. Charlesworth, Trade-routes and Comnm^ce
of the R. E.f p. 48 ff. New light on the development of Palmyra and the adjacent
region has lately been thrown by the important discoveries of H. Breasted and
F. Cumont in the Hellenisticand Roman city and fort of Doura on the Euphrates,
see J. H. Breasted and F. Cumont in Syria, 3 (1922), jp. 179 ff.; F. Cumont in
Les travaux archMogiqites en Syrie de 1^20 a ig22 {Haut Commissariat de la
Rip. Fr, en Syrie ef au Liban. Service des Antiquites et des Beaux-Arts), p. 48 ff. ;
idem in C R. Acad. Inscr., 1923, p. 12 ff. ; in Syria, 4 (1923), p. 38 ft', and p. 203 ff. ,
and in the Monuments Piot, 26, 1923, p. i ff. ; J. H. Breasted, Oriental Forerunners
of Bymntme Painting, Chicago, 1924. A lively commerce between the Phoenician
cities, Egypt and Meroe on the one side and Palmyra, i.e. the Parthian kingdom,
on the other, is attested hy some peculiar articles of jewelleiy (circular brooches
inlaid with coloured stones), which were a speciality of the Partho-Sarmatian art
and of which some examples have been found in Phoenician cities and in Meroe :
see ray Iranians and Greeks in South Russia, 1922, pp. 133 and 233, and my article
in the Monuments Piot, 26, 1923, p. 61 (of the reprint) ; cp. G. A. Reisner. * The
Meroitic kingdom of Ethiopia,^ in Joum. of Eg, Arch., 9 (1923), pis. VIII and X, 2,
Notes: Chapter III 513
and idem in Museupn of Fim Arts Bulkiin, Boston, 21 (1923), p. 27 {figure). (I am
convinced that the products of jewellery found at' Mero€ were mostly imported.)
■ , .A similar circular brooch was found recently at Byblos in the temple of Egyptian
gods in a jar which contained objects of various dates, see P. Montet, in C R.Amd.
, 7^5^,1923, p. 91, fig. 3. Cp. Ch. V, note 20, and especially the words of AeL
Aristides quoted in that note, Aristides mentions the Palmyrene, i.e. Parthian,
jewels. :
The latest study of the Periplus is that of E* Korneniann, ^ Die historischen
Nachrichten des Periplus Maris Erythraei fiber Arabien,* Jmmsy 1 (1921),
■ p.' 54 ff.; ,
. Sewell in Joimt, of the R. As, Soc,, 1904, p. 591 ff., cp. M. P. Charlesworth,
L L, p. 69 and note on p. 255. The development of a sound exchange is shown
by the gradually decreasing numbers of Roman gold and silver pins found in
India. The decrease Is partly explained also by a predilection which the Indians
..showed for the coins of .Augustus and Tiberius; cp. the popularity of the coins of
Philip in Gaul, of Lysimachus in Sout.h Russia, and of the sermii and in
Germany. Cp. W. Schur, ‘Die Orientpolitik des Kaisers^ Nerof in’ Kiio,
' Beiheft 15 {1923), p. 52 ff., especially 54 0'.; K, Regliiig in Zeiisekr, f jVmwi.,
29 (1912), p. 217 ff. : B. L. Ullnian in Phiiol Quarterly^ i, p. 31 1 ff. It is possible
that the coins of Tiberius, because of their popularity with the Indians, wrere
struck as a real ‘commercial money* (Handelsmume) by his successors; compare
on this type of coins B. P.ick, Dk Mimzkunde in der Aiieriumswissenschafi^^
p. 3off. Alexandrian glass was imported to India and from there to China as
early as the Hellenistic period. A beautiful Alexandrian glass vase was jecentiy
bought by the Royal Ontario Museum at Toronto. It was found in China (In
a tomb of the province of Honan) and belongs certainly to the Hellenistic period :
see J. Pijoan in Burlingion Magazine^ 41 (1922), p. 235 ff. The glass was cast, not
blown, and is adorned "with engraved medallions (one representing the head of
Athena), which shows that it must be dated not later than the 2nd cent. b. c.
On the development of the Arabian and Indian commerce in the ist cent a. o*
see the books of M. Chwostow (quoted in Ch, II, note 26) and the articles of
' E, Kornemann (quoted in note x6| and of W. Schur (quoted in note 17);
(m. H. G. Rawlinson, Intercourse behiwen India and ike Western IForid fmm iki
Earliest Times to ike Fail of Rome, 1916, and M. P, Charlesworth, L L,
I do not think that the discbveiy of the direct route to India m’as due to the efforts
of the Roman government. It was due to Alexandrian merchants. The Roman
government helped these merchants because it was profitable for the/isnis. I see
no necessity to concentrate all the measures taken by the Roman government in
the time of Nero, who (or whose teachers and ministers, Seneca and Biirnis), It
Is supposed, carried out a consistent mercantile policy. It is possible (we have no
dates for these events) that an alliance between the Hlmyantes and the Romans
was concluded as early as the time of Au^stus, that Augustus first occupied Myos
Hormos, that the nexf step was taken oy Claudius (the enreu^pation of Adana||
another under Nero (the occupation of Syagros (?) ), and some other by the Flavians.
We must not exaggerate Ae importance of governmental measures, and we Mm
not the slightest ground for supposing the existence of any economic policy on the
part of the emperors of the ist cent. The trade with India grew naturally in the
atmosphere of a great Empire. After Aumstus very little was done to protect
It, We see no serious attempts to occupy the Arabian coast or fi^t the growing
kingdom of Axfim or even to maintam any military ieet in the Red Sea. The
trade was carried on by the merchants at their own risk.
The aspect of a prosperous medium-sked city In Campania is revealed
by the excavations in Pompeii. It is needless to repeat here the excelleni
sketch of Pompeii from the economic point of view which has been given by
T. Frank (‘The economic life of an ancient city,* Cims, Phl^ 13 (laiBl, p. 223 E;
repeated in an enlarged shape in Econ, p. 190 IE, and in msl of
p. 375 ff,}, I regret, however, that he has not u^d the splendid inalcrial furnished
' by the mural decorations of the Pompeian houses. Those in the shops give a
2354*2 L 1
514 Notes: Chapter III
true and realistic picture of what went on there (see, e. g., M. Della Corte,
* Fullones’, quoted in Ch. 11 , note Extraordinarily interesting are the shop
advertisements recently uncovered in the Strada deir Abboiidanza, one of the
most commercial and industrial streets of Pompeii (see one specimen on pi. XV) ;
these frescoes are partly published in the Noisme degii Semn from igii to 1916
(later no reproductions of the finds, and from 1919 practically even no reports,
can be found in that publication). Still more important are the mural dccoradons
in the large and rich houses of the town. Some of the owners of these houses liked
to reproduce on their walls not only mythological scenes but also scenes of daily
life, naturally replacing the actual workmen, who appear in tlie frescoes of the
shops, by attractive figures of little Cupids, and thus giving the scenes an idyllic
character w%ich is very characteristic of the tendencies of the time (cp. Vergifs
Bmoiim and the so-called * landscape bas-reliefs' of the idyllic, not the heroic,
type). I have no doubt that under this disguise the owners of the houses portrayed
on their walls their own economic life. The most famous example, though not
at all unique, is the well-known frieze of the * black' room of the House of the
Vettii {see pi XIII and XIV). The chief subject of this frieze is the production
and sale of wine. I have no doubt that Vettius owned one or many villas of the
above-described type in the territory of Pompeii. It is a pity that, owing to the
disappearance of the frescoes on the left wail of the room, the series of represen-
tations of the owner’s sources of income from the country is incomplete. What
is left deals with wine-production ; specially interesting is the fresco showing
a wholesale wine-shop and a customer tasting a special brand of wine. The wall
on the right hand is devoted to commercial and industrial concerns, probably
owned by Vettius. From his villa he brought roses and sold them in a shop in
the form of garlands. Part of the oil produced in the same villas he transformed
into perfumes and sold them in his perfume shop. Besides, he possessed a gold-
smith's shop and a large tullery. All these branches of inaiistry were well
represented in Campania, having been mostly imported thither from Alexandria
(cp. Ch. II, p. ^ and note 30). On the frieze of the house of the Vettii see
A. Mau, Fompeji in Leben und Kunst, ed. 2, p. 351 (plate), and p. 3541, figs. 186
and 187 (Eng. Trans, by F. W. Kelsey, igpa). Relations with Alexandria are
attested not only by the many important articles which were imported thence to
Pompeii but also By the pictures on the pillars which flanked the entrance to
the house Regio ii, ins. 2, No. 4 {Not d Scavi, 1914, p. 180). They represent
the divine protectors of the house and of the landlord, who are Minerva (protector
of industry) and Alexandria or Egypt. Beneath the head of Alexandria is the
figure of Mercury .
Another important point suggested by the study of the monuments of Pompeii
is the gradual industrialization of life in the city. This has been shown very
clearly by the excavations in the Strada dell Abbondanza. In the earlier period
(down to the end of the ist cent, b.c.) Pompeii was mainly a city of landowners
and of residential houses. With the establishment of the Empire industrializa-
tion sets in and reaches its climax in the period just before the destruction of the
city. In the early part of the ist cent. a.d. the Strada delP Abbondanza was still
a street of residential houses. At the time of the eruption most of the residential
houses were owned by industrialists and shop-keepers, and the street became
one of the busiest parts of Pompeii. The most important concerns were those
connected with clothing. It is no accident that the only large exchange building
was built by Eumachia for the fniiones and that this building is connected with
the Strada deli* Abbondanza. Next in importance to the production of woollen
clothes (favoured by the neighbourhood of the large grazing region of Samnium
and Apulia) was the making of perfumes (Campania was rich in flowers,
especially roses) and of fish-sauce (garum), a natural product of a city by the sea.
On Pompeii as a harbour, see M. Della Corte in Ausonia, 10 {1921), p. 83.
The industrialization of Pompeii is one of the most important features of its
economic life in the ist cent a. d. The arts and crafts at Pompeii must be studied
from the historical point of view. A careful investigation of the history of the
Pompeian buildings would certainly furnish unexpected evidence on the history
of trade and crafts in the city. The same result would follow from an historical
Notes: Chapter III 5^5
examination of the thousands of industrial products found in the town. A happy
beginning has been made by T. Frank. _ We must, however, proceed further on
the lines which he has laid down in his sketch. A collection of shop advertise-
ments and other pictures of the same kind would certainly be of great use for
such a study. The advertisements, however, must be studied not by themselves
but in connexion with the shops to which they belong, with the electoral
programmes of the various corporations which are mostl^^ grouped around the
shops of their members, with t\iQ graffiti in the shops and the houses, with the
trade-marks and other inscriptions on the amphorae and on the various products
of industry, and with the industrial products themselves.
.. The industrialization of life was in no way confined to Pompeii^ and to Cam-
pania., It was a general phenomenon: witness Aqiiileia, of which we have
spoken above. With it is connected one of the most important problems of the
economic history of the Empire. Why did industrialization not progress ? Why
did agriculture prevail over industry? We are, able to follow the economic
development of Pompeii step by step : we see how the landowners, while remain-
ing landowners, invested larger and larger sums of money jn industry, and how
capitalistic industry gradualiy prevailed, over the small artisans. Wliy did this
process stop? To this crucial problem' I shall endeavour to give an answer in
the following chapters. For Italy the time of the Julio-CIaudian emperors was
still the period of progressive industrialization,
20 CoL, .iil. 3. I ; Plin., iV. //., xiv. 3. See the chapters on Columella and Pliny
in W. Heitland, Agrkoia, p. 250 fi. and 281 ff. I see no, reason to assume a decline
in. viticulture in the time just before Columella and a revival through his influence,
as conjectured by O. Seeck, Gesch, d. Unierg. d, aniiken i, p. 371. On the
development of viticulture in Northern .Italy see Mart, iii. 56 and 57 (Ravenna)-
The low prices in Martial’s time were probably due to the wars lii the Danube!
provinces. It is unfortunate that we do not know the provenance and the date of
the interesting bas-relief nowin the .Mu sen ni. at Ince-.Bluiidell (see my article in
R6m. Mitih,^ 26 (19.11), p. 281, fig. 3). The relief represents a large storelioiise of
wine, of the same type as the storehouses in the villas of Prim|>eii : in the rigfil
corner of it the manager is seated at a counter under a special projecting rmif,
transacting his business (see pL XXVI, 2'|.
On this point see W. H.eitland, Agrkoia^ p. 25011*., chapter on Ciiliiiiiclla,
and passim.
On slaves in industry, Sen., Exc. conirov,^ ii. 7, p. 358 b; PHil, *V. //.. xxxvii.
203; on large masses of slaves in general see, e. g., Liv., vL 1:2.5; 'fac.. /Iiii#.,
xii. 65. On the tendency to increase the numbers of slaves by promoting family
life among them, cp. the well-known advice of Columella, L 8. 19, and Petr.,
Cena Tr.^ 53 (on the children born on the Cuman estate of Trimalchioi. Tfiere %vas
nothing new^ in this system ; cp. App., B. C, L 7 f2p). I cannot fully accept the
statement of Frank about Pompeii. He insists {Emm fUsl, p. 212) on the fact
that most of the shops of the city which were not connected witii the ’living-rooms
of the corresponding houses, and so were probably let to outsiders by tiic
owners of the houses, were managed by free artisans. 1 cannot help Ihinkiiig
that the shops may have been renteef to slaves (legally of course to tlieir
masters) working for their masters in individual shops. Prom ihe existence of
associations of craftsmen we cannot decide whether the cTatlsmen were sk\'cs, or
freeborn men, or freedinen. The fact that manv people bought wine and food at
small counters does not show that they were free : slave-artisans had ccrlatnly
pocket-money ; how else could they acquire a peei^iimm ? On the other Iiancl, the
facts that prostitutes, mostly slaves, recommended candidates for clectbii (see
M. Della Corte in Not //, Sam\ 1911, p. 419E and 455 ff-; tp. CIL iv, 1507,61
and that the vico-minisin were, to a lar^ extent, slaves, that a certain
freedom of action and even a certain political influence were enjoyed hf oilier
than freeborn people. The large number of slaves owned by some of the
leading families of Pompeii is shown by the inscriptions of the cemetery of Ihe
hlZ
516 Notes : Chapter III
fmfiiim (l.c. the establishment of slaves and freedmen) C)f the Epidii rccentl}^
discovered near the town (M. Della Corte in Not Semi^ 192^? p* 28^' ff.). The
cemetery was probably used by the same famiim from the Sammtic period.
There is no doubt that the Epidii themselves were not buried in this ceiiieteiy"
but in rich tombs along the roads leading to Pompeii. The modest cemetery was
reserved for the ^household’, which kept together for more than a century.
Further evidence is furnished by the villas of which I have spoken repeatedly.
In the villa of Agrippa Postumus (Notd^ Smm\ 1922, p. 459 ff.) eighteen jooms on
one side of the back-yard of the villa were reserved for the^slaves. This implies
at least eighteen slaves and probably many more. The villa of Agrippa is not
larger than many of the other excavated villas. The villa near Stabiae, similar to
that of Agrippa (No. VIII of Della Corte), has at least nineteen slave mMada and
a large er^asisfium (Not d. Smpi^ 1923, p. 277, fig. 4). We can see that the
number of slaves who worked in the vineyards of Campania was very large in
79 A.0. There Is no doubt that industry also was based on slave labour.
See note 13.
, OnJhe large estates of . favourites of the emperors in Egypt, see Ch. II,
note 13, and Ch. vll, note 42. Acte, the mistress of Nero, possessed large corn-
growing estates in Sardinia which had a tile and jar factory connected with
them ; see E. Pais, Sforia deiia Sardegna e della Corsica dnranie i! dommio
JRommto, voL i, 1923, p. 34211^; cp. p. 338. To the same type of landowners
belongs also Seneca, who possessed many estates in different parts of the Roman
Empire, especially in Egypt (ovtrta 2 €PfKtapti is often mentioned along with the
oixriat of Other imperial favourites, beginning with Maecenas). One of the large
estates of Seneca is described by Columella, lii. 3. 3. It lay near Nomenturn, and
was famous for its vineyards and their mode! management. The wonderful
achievements of Seneca in viticulture remind us of Pliny's story of Remmius
Palaernon (iV. //., xiv. 49-50). On Seneca's estate near Nomenturn, cp. Suet, De
ilL gramm,^ 23; Plin., A. //., xiy. 49-52; Sen., Epist, 104, no, and Nat. QuaesL^
iii, 7. 1, The large estates in general are depicted by Seneca in his famous eighty-
ninth letter ; cp. 90. 39 : * licet agros agris adiciat vicinum vel pretio pellens vel
iniuria.' In EpisL, 41. 7 Seneca gives a short description of a typical fortune of
a rich man: ‘familiam formosam habet et domum pulchram, muitum serit,
multum fenerat.' For him, however, the rich men par excellence are the freedmen.
Epist, 27. 5. Asa common topic of the Cynic Siarpi^ai (cp. J. Geffcken, Kynika
tmd Verwandies^ 1909? P* 42 ff'.), the existence of large properties and the moral
perversity of the system are mentioned by Seneca, Confr,, v. 5 : ‘ arata quondam
popuiis rura singulorum nunc ergastulorum sunt, latiusque viiici quam reges
imperant ’ ; Pers., iv. 26 ; Luc., i. 158-82. It is evident that large estates remained
the outstanding feature of the economic life of the Empire throughout the ist cent.
We must not forget, however, that the medium-sized property, especially in
Campania, was not dead. The growth of large estates in the provinces at the
expense of small landowners is depicted, e.g., by Dio Chrys., On, 46. 7 : etrn ixh
yap ravra iv vp€r€pa yj]' t 5 >v de ipo\ yetmaiVTcoip ovBev •sTcanoTe ovdeh
ovre dXovcrios o 0 re wepijs — ttoXXoi be Ka\ roiovrG>v fioi yeiTvmaiv —yriafraro ipe a^paipov-
pevos rivos ^ eK^nWopevos, ovre biKoltos ovre abUfof. A good parallel to the system of
land-grabbing in Roman times by rich and influential men alike in Italy and
in the provinces is afforded by the conditions which prevail at the present day
throughout the Turkish Empire. The system is vividly depicted by C. L. Woolley,
Dead Towns and Living Men, 1920, p. 222 ff. According to him, landlordism and
the ownership of land by absentee and alien proprietors are steadily growing in
Syria. A normal feature of a Syrian village is the existence, side by side with
the peasants' houses, of a large stone villa belonging to a Turk who owns half the
territory of the village and to whom the peasants ‘owe unpaid service fbr so
many months of the year, and for that period are little better than his serfs The
method of iand-grabbing is the immemorial one. The peasant is forced, not by
the amount of taxation in itself (which is more or less equivalent to the Roman
decuma) but by the system of collection and the ‘ hand in glove ' activity of the
landlord and the government officers to take one loan after another and finally
Notes: Chapter III 5*7
to 'mortgage his farm* Besides the taxes, the military levies help to enslave the
peasant population and to transform the free peasant owner into a tenant serf.
See M. Bang, ^ Die Steiiern dreier rdmischer Provinzeii’ in L, FriedlSnder-
,G. .Wissowa, Siiieng, Roms, voL iv, loth ed., p. 297 ff., and my article ^ Fninientiim '
in Pauty" Wissowa, vii, p. 150 ff.
See my article ‘ Frumentum * in Pauly- Wissowa,. vii, p. 184 ff. An excellent
illustration .of the difficulties of the corn-supply even in agricultural cities is
afforded by the disturbances at Prusa, of which we possess a good account in the
forty-sixth speech of Dio ; cp. H. von Arnim, Leden mui IVerh des Dio, p. 207 III
, O. Hirschfeld, FDer 'Grundbesitx der .rdniischen Kaiser' in A 7 ,
p. 5i6ff.
On the important changes within the senatorial class, the disappearaiicc of
the old .Republican aristocracy, both patrician and plebeian, and tlie rise i'»f iiew
families of Italian and provincial origin, see P. Willems, Lf Sinai de k rifnidkpip
romaine, 1885, ed. 2., voL i, p. 308 ff. and 427 .ffl; O. Ribbeck, Senaiores Rommii qni
fmrini idibus Mariiis mini u.c\ 710, 1899.; F. .Fischer, Semim Rommnm fni/imii
Augmsii iemponbus, 1908 ; P. Willems et J. Willems, Le Senat roniain en Tan 63
apres J. Chr.,' in Mnsie Beige, Iv-vi (and separately Louvain, 19021 : Slech.
^ Senatores Romani qui fiierint inde a Vespas.iano usque ad Traiani exitiini * in
Klio, Beiheft 10, 1912.; G. Lully, senaiorum Rommmrum patria, Rome, 1918.
It is unnecessary to reproduce the statistics given by the authors cited above,
especially those of B. Stech. It is to be regretted that nobi>dy has tried
pile similar lists of the Roman knights, a task much more complicated and
difficult, but one which promises good results ; cp. meanwhile the Prnsopiygmphm
Imperii Romani Another pressing need is a genealogical account 01 the most
prominent mu.nicipa.l families, a prosopograpkm of the cities of the Roman
provinces and of Italy.
See the books quoted in Ch. II, note 4*
On the slaves and freedmen of the impena .1 court, see L. FricdlftiKler-
G. Wissowa, Siiieng Roms, i, loth e‘d., p.34 ,ff, ; cp. voL iv, 10th ed., p. 26 ff. and 47^ C
(by M. Bang), and M. Bang, ^ Caesaris serves/ in Hermes, 54 (1919), p. 174 ff. C)ii
slaves and freedmen in general, M. Bang, * Die Herkunft der rdmischeii Sklavei]/
in /fdw. 25 (igiol, and 27 (1912); M. L. Struck, ‘Die Freigelasscmcn in
ihrer Bedeutung fdr die Gesellschaft der Alten/ in Hisi, Zeiisehnfi, iia {1914b
p. I ff. (with a good bibliography on the Institution of slavery in 'the ancient
world; the reader may be referred to this work for citations of the well-
known books on Roman slavery; cp. L. Friedi§nder-G. Wissowa, LI,, voL i,
loth ed., p. 234 ff.). The Augustales as bearers of the expense of the imperial cult :
M. Krasheninnikoff, The Augusfaies and ihe sacra! MagisieriMm, St. Petersburg, 1895
{in Russian); cp. L. R. Taylor, ‘Augustales, Seviri Augustales and Seviri/ ifi
Tram, Amen Phil Assoc,, 45 (1917), p. 231 ff. The importance in the life of a city
of the magisiri and minisiri of various cults and especially the role played in
municipal life by the ‘associations of the cross-roads’, which still play an
important part in the modern life of Southern Italy under aimosi Ihe same names-,
are illustrated by the chapels of these associations* Particularly characteristic
are the newly discovered chapels in the Strada dell* Abbondanza at Pompeii : see
M. Della Corte in Not d. Semi, 1911, p, 417 ff. and 1913, p. 478. The four mmisiri
of this compiium were slaves, like Ihe mimsiri of the other compHa of Poiiipclt,
cp. Boehm in Pauly- Wissowa, xii, p. 8ro*
T. Frank, ‘ Race Mixture in the Roman Empire/ in Amm Hisl m
(191^-161, p. dSgff. ; V. Macchioro, La bioiogia smimk e ia siorim, Cainerino, 1^5,
and m PoMisch-’anihmpoiog, Emm, 5 {1907}, p. 557 ff. ; M. R Mlhmn in HfnSias,
2 (1921), p, 370 ff. We need an investig^on not only of the racial coiiiposllioii of
the proletariate of Rome and Italy and of the praetorians and other troops
stationed in Rome, which is suppled hy Frank and Macchioro, but also and
above all an examination of the racial constitution of the city bonrgmisk, the
5 i 8 Notes: Chapter III
upper classes of tlie residents in the Italian cities. So far as niy personal investi*
gatioii of the problem goes^ * I am inclined to believe that the Italian-born
residents^ the native stock of ancient families and of the veterans of the civil
wars, gradually decreased, even in the ist cent. a. 0. Their place was taken b}’
freedmen, I believe that this process went on concomitantly with the industrializa-
tion of life in the cities and with the weakening of the class of proprietors of
medium-sized estates. It was more rapid in Campania le.g. at I\>mpeiih slower
in Northern and Central Italy, especially in the agricultural regions. Compare,
however, the large numbers of freedmen or descendants of freedmen among the
landowners in the territory of Veleia betbre and in the time of Trajan ; F, G. de
Pachtere, La fable hypotMcaire de Fekia, 1920, pp. 87 and 95. De Pachtere has
shown also how shortlived were the landowning families in the territory of
Veleia.
I V. The Rule of ike Flavians and the Enlightened Monarchy
of the Antonines.
^ The material for the history of the Flavian emperors has been carefiillv
collected by Weynand in Pauly-Wissowa, vi, 1909, p. 2623 ff. (Vespasian): p. 2^5 i!'.
(Titus) ; p. 2542 C (Domitian). I do not deal in this chapter with the constitutional
reforms of Vespasian. It Is well known that here also he appears, at least from the
formal point of view, as a restorer of the principate of Augustus, see O. Hirsehfeld,
K, Venmltimgsh,^ p. 475, against F. B. R. Heliems, Lex de imberiu Vespasimii^
Chicago, 1902; cp, the books quoted in Ch. II, note i and Ch. ill, note n
'■* On the recruitment of the Roman army under the Flavians see the books and
articles quoted in Ch. II, note 2.
® On this point see the articles quoted in Ch. II, note 10.
^ See Ch. II, note 4.
® H. von Arnim, Leben und Werke des Dio von Prma, 1898, p. 304 ffl ; L. F ran^ois,
Essai sur Dion Chysosidme,
® O. Hirschfeld, L L, p. 475 if. and 83 f.; cp. my article ‘Fisciis*, in Pauly-
Wissowa, vi, p. 2392.
^ See my Studien b. Gesek. d. r 6 m, Koionaies^ p. 379 ff.
^ See Ch. Ill, note 28.
® On the very important problem of the admission of Greek-speaking men
into the equestrian and senatorial aristocracy, see H. Dessau, ^Offiziere und
Beamte des rOmischen Kaiserreiches,’ in Hermes^ 45 (1910), p. 14 if. and p. 615!!'.;
Weynand, in Pauly-Wissowa, vi, p. 2660; L. Friedlander-G. Wissowa, Sitteng.
Roms^ voL i, Q-ioth ed., p. i<^f. ; B. Stech, Senatores Romani^ 179 ‘ff,
I agree wnth Stech against Wissowa and Dessau that Vespasian and Domitian
were very careful in selecting new members of the senate. If they admitted
men from the East, it was from special considerations. Of the four Oriental
senators of the time of Vespasian, two had helped him to the throne and two
were former kings deprived of their kingdoms. The two senators of the same
origin, admitted to the senate by Domitian, were descendants of the adlecti of
Vespasian just mentioned. The first emperors to give the Oriental municipal
families more or less equal rights with the Western in regard to military and
civil service were Trajan and still more Hadrian. It was a concession of the
emperors of the 2nd cent, to the state of feeling among the aristocracy of
the Oriental cities, which is reflected in what Plutarch says about tlie ambitions
of Greeks as regards the senate and the magistracies (riepl €v 6 vp.lasy 10, p. 470 c).
Notes: Chapter I¥ 519
The text shows, that even- under Trajan the Greeks were not fully satisfied
with what they had got, and claimed much more.
Cassius Dio, 65 (66), 12, 2 (p. 148 Boiss.) : Pairtkiim n ml ml
TiW.cTTjyVcf, cp., e. g., H. Stuart Jones, T/w Roman Empire, p. 117, The spirit^ of
the senatorial opposition was best expressed in the many books which dealt with
the victims of the Imperial persecutions, e.g, C, Fannins, Exiias occisorum aui
relegatormn a Nerone (Plin., v. 5), or Titinius Capito, Exiius iilusirimn virormn
(the victims of Domitian, Plio., Ep., viii, '12), which were probably freely used hj
Tacitus in -his historical works. See R. Reitzenstein in A^achricliim d Ges. d
Wtss. mi GoeUingen, phil.-hist. KL, 1904, p. ; Idem in Sitsb, Heideib, Akmi.,
phiL-hist KL 4" Ahh, 14, p. 52 f.; A. von Premersteiii, ^ Zii den sog.
Alexaiidrinischeii Martyrerakten/ in -SuppL, 16, 2 (1923!, p, 48 and p. 68.
We.must assume a strong influence of the Stoic and Cynic philosophers on these
pamphlets.
On Dio and his first stay at Rome see H. von Arnini, I. L, p. 142 ff.;
W. Schmid in Pau!3^“Wissowa, v, p. 848 ff. ; Chrlst-Schniid-Staldin, Osc/i. <i, gr.
Lit, vol. ii, I, ed. 6, p. 361 ff.
On the Comics in general and on those of the second half of the jst cent, aa),
ill particular, see the excellent study of J* Bernes, Lmckm mui die Kymbr, Berlin,
1879, cp. P. Wendland, ‘Die phiiosophische ■ Propaganda and die Diatribe' in
Die heilernsUsch-rmnische Kuitur, ed. 2-3, 1912,. p. 75 £ Wendland 11 11 fort in lately
disregards entirely the political character of the' C^mic propaganda in the isl and
the earlier part of the 2nd cent A. D.
The best evidence on the expulsion of the philosophers J\v Vespasian is
given by Cassius Dio, 65 |66), 13 and 13, i.a. (voL iil, p. 146 f., Boiss.), cp. 15
(p. 149, Boiss.) and Suet, Vesp., 15. The- 'death penalty iniposcd on lleras in
the year 75 shows that he attacked the emperor personafly,
Cassius Dio, 65 (66), 12 (after the speech of Helvidhis Priscusi : rrvw.l'Dhi rt «
Omcrfratriams xal SaxpiVaj? €k tov fifw'k€UTf}pim ^Mhim immmf tin
vlbs SiaS^i^Tai j) ovdw aXXos?’\ cp. Siiet, P^gsp,, 25. I caunot blit think that llelviditis
insisted in the senate that Vespasian should^ adopt the best man of the
senatorial class, taking the Stoical and Cynical point of view, Xfospasiaii refused
even to listen to such suggestions. The sense of his words is; tl'ic* jy>
establishment of the Republic than the -method suggested bv llelvidiusL rp,
Weynand, 1 . L, p. 2676 f.
From the Alexandrian speech of Dio we know that, pnibablj^ shortly
before his visit to the city, there were serious riots in Alexandria \vhich hail
been quelled by the Roman soldiers under the coininaiid ot a certain Coiiuii
(On, 32, 71-2). It is possible that these riots had been connected with a Jewish
‘pogrom ' : see the so-called * Acts of the Heathen Martyrs * of Hcrmaiscus,
P. OxyK, 1242 ; W. Weber in HermeSf ^ (^9^5h P* 47 cp. A. von Prciiiersteiri^
‘ 2 u den sog. Alexandrinischen Martyrerakten,* in P/iiM., SuppL, i6, a
There is a remarkable coincidence between the llapayf«Afmm of
Plutarch and the speeches delivered by Dio to some prominent Greek cities
of the East, especially the Alexandrians and the Tarsians and 34 L Tlic
same leading themes appear again in the Bithynian speeches of Dio, especially
those addressed to his fellow citizens of Prtisa. Plutarch preaches to the poli-
ticians of the Greek cities a better undemtanding of the real conditions 01 tlie
Greek cities, which cannot be compared with those of the glorious past (IloX,
17, p. 814 a) ; an acc|uiescence in the measure of freedom which is granted them
by the Romans (ibid., 3a, p. 824 c); an honest submission to, and Tricndly rela-
tions with, the Roman governors (ibid., 17, p. 813 e and 28, p. 814 c); and peace
between the two classes of the population, the riel and the poor fibid., 19, p. 815 a
and 32, p. 824 b). Almost identical Is the advice given oy Dio to the above-
named cities. In Tarsus a constant civil strife was going on both between the
different sections of the leading class (Dio, Or., 34, 16 1.) and between the leading
£20 Notes : Chapter
class and the proletariate (34, 21-3). There was also an unceasing strife with
the governors and the procurators 9 and 15, cp. 42). It is well known
that the conditions in the Blthynian cities both under Vespasian (On, 46) and
after Dio's return from exile (see the Bithynlan speeches) were almost identical
with those in Tarsus. Attempts at a social revolution and a bUter struggle
against the governors were the outstanding features in their life. It is unfortunate
that J. Sdich in his recent study ‘ Bithynische StMte iip Altertumf in Kiio, 19 ( 1924 1,
p. 1656', makes no reference to the economic and social problems that beset them,
A similar political and social struggle between the aristocracy and the proletariate
was going on in the ^Herodian' cities of Palestine in^Ncro% reign. We are
well informed about Tiberias,, where the proletariate consisted of viivrmmuim^ and
some peasants: see FL Josephus, Aniiq.Jud.^ xviii.. 2, 3 (,37*-B) and Vikt 9 132-6)
and 12 (^) ; cp. my Siudkn^ p. 305 and Ch. VII, note 30.
” I am glad to see that the point of view which I was the first to emphasize
(see my article *The Martyrs of Greek Civilization/ in the Russian monthly
Mir Bos^hij^ 1901), viz, that the so-called *'Acts of the Heathen Martyrs’ reflect the
political opposition of the Alexandrians to the Roman government and that
they used the prosecutions of the leaders of the Jewish ^ pogroms ' as a pretext
for expressing their anti- Roman spirit, seems to be nowadays generally accepted,
though my article is almost never quoted (* Rossica sunt, non legimtur '). See
U, Wilcken, * 2 um Alexandrinischen Antisemitismus/ in Abh. d, k. sacks. Gcs. d,
PFiss^y 27 (1909), p. 825 (45) and 836 (56) ; idem, Ckresk^ p. 14 ft’, (with a reference
to my article); A. von rremerstein, ^Zii den sog. Alexandrinischen Martyrerakten/
in PkiloL^ SuppL, 16, 2 (1923). I cannot enter here into the controversy on the
character of the so-caiied ‘Acts’, which is debated by several modern scholars.
It seems very likely that the various pamphlets under the form of which
were in circulation in Alexandria and among the Greek population of Egypt,
were codified somewhere about the end of the 2nd cent., and that most of our
fragments belong to this ‘book’ on the Alexandrian martyrs of the emperors.
I am convinced that some topics In the ‘Acts’ which remind one of the Cynic
sermons (e. g. the emphasis laid by Isidorus on the fact that he is not a slave and
that the emperor is a 7 rapa^pt>pS»v the insistence of the Alexandrians on
their nobility and on their splendid education as compared with the emperors’
lack of education, &€.), and the tone of brusque challenge to the imperial power
which is the leading feature of almost all the ‘Acts', were first introduced into
them, not at the end of the 2nd cent, (the time of the presumed codification), but
much earlier and gradually. A good parallel to the ‘ Acts ' is furnished by Macc. 11 .
6 (ed. Swete) and IV. 5, (reports of the trial of prominent Jews before the Tvpappos
Antiochos Epiphanes). Note the ever-recurnng theme of the rtpapuos and the
^aarikevs in the long, bombastic, and impertinent speeches of the prosecuted Jew^s.
A good illustration is given by the pictures drawn by Dio Chr3^sostom
of Tarsus in Cilicia and of Kelainai in Phrygia; Or., 34, 8 (Tarsus): oBev raxv
fie/fcav eyeVero rj iroXis Kal Bta ro prj ttoXvv dtekBeh top otto rJjy mBaTTip ot
pcyaki} p.€p vQort^ raxv dvaa(t>rjXnpTe9, iTretbup rvxoxtip Imvrjit t^s pera ratra
i 7 np€'k€LaSf TToXXaKLs pdXXov (leKTrjtjap and 35, 13^* (Kelainai).
Cass. Dio, 65 (66), 15 (p. 149, Boiss.).
Cass, Dio, 66, 19, 3b (p. 154, Boiss.) ; Oraa Sib.^ iv, 119, 137 ; Weynaiid, 1. h,
p. 2721.
Cass, Dio, 67, 16 and 18 (pp. 184 and 185, Boiss.).
On the measures taken by Domitian against the philosophers and on their
chronology, see W. Otto in Sd^b. bayr, Akad., 1919, 10, p. 43 ff. ; W, A. Baehrens
in HermeSi 58 (1923), p. 109 ff. ; W. Otto in Sif^b. bayr, Akad.^ 1923, 4, p. 10 ff.
See the speech of Dio, Or., 6, TtepX rvpappibo?, cp. Or., 62, irepl , 8 a(TiXHas Kal
TvpappiBos; cp. also Cass. Dio, 67 , 12 , 5 (p. 179 , Boiss,); Mdreppop de crocfHcrTrjpy on
mra rvpdpv&iv uit 4 ri dcrKSsv, dithruve, Dio’S Speeches on the fiaaiXeia are man3%
and allusions to his main ideas in the other speeches of the last period of his life
52 *
Notes : Chapter IN
are very . frequent. The theme , of the fiatrikua^ haying finally become current
throughout the Empire, reappears in almost all Dio’s speeches of this period,
.On. his four speeches ^amXdas (On, 1-4) and the closely connected speeches
56 and 57, see H. von Arnim, 1 . L, p. 3^ ff. . A good study of the speeches ot Dio
from the political point of view was given by E. Grimm, SfaSes m ike Hisiorj o/me
Detfelopment of the Roman Imperial Power, vol. ii, pp. 160-256 fesp. pp» 224™ 7 1,
cp. iny reviewin the Journ. of ihe Ministry of Pubf Emucalm% 341 (1902), p. 148!!,,
and the reply of Grimm, ibid., p. 172 (all in Russian).
On the sources of Dio’s speeches wfpl fiadikum (to some extent x\ntisthcnes
but mostly the later Cynics and the Stoics), see E. Thomas, Qitaeslkmes
Leipzig, 1909.
Especially the points concerning his relations with the soldiers and his
imperialistic policj" (the antithesis of ttoX^/xikos and Or., i, 27 »u
Kos pip ovTios etirXp mart iP avrm HPai to TroXfpdr, dpr^pims Bi ofrwB' wsr
avrS XeiTTarSai. ml yap S?) rat oldsp, on rots mkkifrra iroXipiiP fnjip£ffXfvmfp€POii>
TovTOts pdXtara e^eernp elprip^p Ibid., 28 oerTtsr pip yiip imeptmT^p' twf irrpum’i^pi“
wmp mt oi> 8 €wd) 7 roTe rj crirapim^ ed)paK€ tow vmp r^ff tlpx^t KipBvr^mrrm ic<ij tup
di dpopljTop mi apoTrXop o^Xop BmrfXH BrnfreimP is like a shepherd who does not care
for his dogs, the result being that the flock is destroyed by both the wild beasts
and Ike dogs. This passage is a splendid characterization of the rule of Neru and
certainly alludes to him. As is well knomm, Nero is for Dio the perfect type of
a tyrant. And finally ibid., 29' ou-tk 8 i row pip ffTpurmTus SmSpmm pfin yvpui{mp
pf}T€ TToimp trapaK^Xfvdp^fpf^s is like a bad Ko^epvijTrji : — an allusion both to Nero and to
Domitian. Cp. the well-known utterance of Epictetus, Diss, 4, 5, 17 *” rmti' top
XapaKTrjpa tovtotd T€Tpn<TiTdptop TpmapovN Nc'pwiws,” ** ii&ki-
pop €(rn, (rawpopN. In Or,, 3, 1330*. there is another point wfiich refers personally
to Trajan. In speaking of the pleasures which are the true pleasures of a king, I)io
rejects music and the theatre (a reference to Nero) and advocates hunting, which
was the favourite pleasure of Trajan and Hadrian (see the circiikir mcdaliions
on the Arch of Constantine in Rome). It is worth noting that tlie ideas about llie
fiamXna appear already in the Borysthenicy speech, which certainly belongs
to the period immediately after Dio’s return Jrom exile. In this matter I i*iiniiot
share the ideas of H. von Arnim, L L, p. 483 ff.
On the relations between Dio’s first speech w€pt dmnMm and the Panegyrkns'
of . (both delivered in a. d. ioo), see H. von Arnim, 1 . 1, p. 325; J.'Murr,
Die Lobrede des jungeren Plimns and die ersie Kbmgsrede dfS IMm von /Vii.svi,
Progr. Troppau, 1915 ; K. Milnscher in Rh, 3 fm,, 37 (1920I, p. 174.
As we are dealing with a well-known period, it is unnecessary to eniimeratc
and characterize all our literary sources and modern ^bc»ks, moiiograplis, and
articles (see Ch. II!, note 1). The nmre important books and articles on subjects
which are treated in this chapter mdil be found in the following notes. On the
constitutional side, see the works quoted in Ch. Ill, note i, and O, Th. Schulz.
Vofn Prinzipat mm Dominai^ 1919 (Preface and Introduction), cp. W. Weber,
‘Trajan uiid Hadriao/jii Po/iM, 1923.
On the origin and the history of the family of Trajan sec the excellent sliiciy
of J. Rubel, ‘ Die Familie des Kaisers Traian/ m Zeiisehr^f msL Gymn,, 6 ^ (19161,
p. 481 ff. On Hadrian, W. Gray, ‘A Study of the Life of Hadrian prior to his
Accession/ in Smith Coikge Shmes in History^ vol iv, a, 1919 ; B. W, tleiidersiJii^
The Life ami Primipaie of ike Emperor Hadrmm, London, 1923, On Antoninus Fins
and M. Aurelius, P. von Rohden in Fau!y-Wis»wa, if, p. 2498*., and i, p. 2270 111
(cp. ii, p. 2434) and the articles In ProsoA Imp. Rom , ; cp. the article of W. Weoer
quoted m note sq and E. E. Bryant, The Reign of Aniomimm F/ns, 1895. The picture
of the family life of these emperors is no doubt lyq>ical of that of the nobility of
this time both in Rome and the provinces.
See note 9,
The same spirit of self-denying service to the country which is charac-
522 Notes : Chapter IV
teristic of the emperors and the officials of the 2nd cent, is shown also by
the best citizens in the cities of the Empire. An excellent example is Dio
of Prusa^ who might have spent his life the capital near hjs friend the
emperor and yet remained most of the time in his little native city ; we must
bear in mind that his life in Prasa was not a very pleasant one, as he was
frequently attacked by his enemies and was in ^danger of losing his popularity
with the masses of the people, see H. von Arnim, 1 . L, passim. Another well-
known instance is the great writer Plutarch. Nothing can be nobler than his
words in the Uokinm IlapayyiX^ara^ 2:5, ' p. 811 B, especially: iy^
•npGS Tovs eyjcaXoujTii!?, «£ K(pdp.<a irapiarrim hafierpovp.fp't^ ml <pvimpaa'i ml 'klBms Ttapa”
mpi(ophmi9 (WK ipmrm f y€ (pt^pt Tiifr* otKimopetp nKka rfj WitrpiBt ; Cp. Volkmann,
Leben^ Schriffen umi Phiiosophie de$ Plutarch von Chmronea^ 1869, P* i-'hrist-
Schmidj Gesch, d, gr, Lif.^ vol, ii, i, ed. 6, p. 488 ; in note 4 Schmid quotes a very
interesting epigram which expresses the feelings of the Greeks of this period
<J. Geffcken, Gr, £p,, p. 82). On Plutarch as a Roman proconsul or procurator, see
H. Dessau in Hmms^ 45 (1910), p. 616. Another example is Sostratos of Boeotia,
who lived on Parnassus, fought the robbers, and buijt roads {Luc.,
It is doubtless tedious to read in thousands of Inscriptions all oyer the Empire,
recording decrees of the cities in honour of their distinguished citizens, the same
praise, of the liberalit}^ the honesty, ' &c., of their magistrates, gyipnasiarchs,
priests, and so forth. But we must not forget that what the inscriptions say
was perfectly true. Where shall we find in our own time thousands of rich
men who w^ould not only spend their time (without remuneration B in managing
the affairs of their city but also pay for it in the shape of a simtma honoraria
and voluntary gifts? It is usual to speak of ambition, petty desire for local
celebrity, but we should not overlook the facts that the ambition of an
Oprainoas was a noble one and that many people borrowed money to help
their city and were ruined by doing so, see Pint, rm pt) Mp dtwilC^crBm^
m 827 ffl It is exceedingly instructive to read the excellent book of B. Laum,
jDk Siifiungmt in der grkmischen und rOmischen Antike^ 1914, and to follow the
story of these endless" munificent gifts to the cities, which amounted sometimes
to many millions. The public spirit which they displayed can be compared
only with that shown by many rich Americans to-day. But relatively the Romans
gave much more money for public purposes than modern Americans. On Aeliiis
Aristides see A. Boulanger, Aristides^ Paris, 1923 {BibL des Ecoks^ 126) ; on
Lucian, Christ-Schmid, vol. ii, 2, ed. 5, p. 550 ff. A curious summary of the
current opinion of the Eastern provincials on the Roman emperors of the ist
and particularly the 2nd cent, {the author was a Jew, but his judgement was
not affected by his religion) is preserved in the 12th book of the Oracida Sibyilina
(cp. book 5): see J. Geffcken, ‘ROmische Kaiser im Volksmunde der Provinz,’
in Gdit, gd, Nachr,^^ p. 183 ff., and cp. Rzach, in Pauly-Wissowa, Zweite R.,
iv, p. 2155 ff. It is interesting to find that, along with the emperors of the
2nd cent, and especially M. Aurelius, Domitian is praised as a great benefactor
of the Roman Empire. This may express the feelings of the Jews of this
period, but it was certainly not the opinion of the leading classes in Asia Minor
and Egypt
See the so-called ^Acts* of Appianus, U. Wilcken, ‘ 2 um Alex. Antisem.’,
p. 822 ff. and Chrest, 20; Lietzmann, Griechische Papyri^ ed. 2 (KL Texte), no. 21 ;
A. von Premerstein, *Zu den sog. Alex, Marty rerakten, p. 28 ff. Very striking
is the enormous influence of the Cynic preaching discernible in this pamphlet :
the opposition ofrupappos to ^aGrikevs; the TVpapvlaydtfitXayaOia^dnatdeva-ta of Commodus,
the tyrant, as opposed to M. Aurelius’ qualities ((jStXdcrot^off, d(f>ikdpyvpost <t>tXdya 6 o 9 ) ;
the fierce challenge made to the emperor by the noble gymnasiarch, which
reminds us of the behaviour of the Cynics m Rome under Vespasian and of
Heividius Priscus in the senate (Suet, Vesp,, 15), &c. It is also noteworthy how
purely political was the opposition of Appianus : it was directed against the
‘robber^ Commodus in the same sense as the opposition of the Roman senate
against that emperor. Just as in the times of the Flavians, the Alexandrians
were as bitter against the emperors as was the opposition in Rome. See Ada App,,
Notes : Chapter IV 523
ii. I (rTpl_al<^'€LS xal Idmv ^HXiod&pop €m€P' ‘HXiodciJp^j amayopipav pum oi'BiP
^HXtodmpos eirrep" kuI tIvi XaX:5o*«t ftj) l;^op[r]€sr tw ckoww-fi ; rpc^^y tskpop, rcX^ira’
icXcosr 0*01 inrw wcp r^sr ykvKvrdrrjs (tov mtrpldm riX^vriia-m* dympla (supplements
partly of Premerstein) ; cp. iv. 3 ft “rk top Btur^pop pou‘’Ai 8 r}P irpoijKrpovpTa . . .
7rap€KaX€iTaro ] dpa ^ crvyKXriTO^ ^ av 6 Xi'j€fTap)(Os ; (‘ HeliodofUS, I aiB being carried
off and .you say nothing?* Heliodorus replied: ‘To whom can I speak, there
being no one to listen to me?. Run, my child, die. It is a gloiy for you to
die lor your dearest fatherland. Don*t be distressed* . . . ‘Who was it that
called me up again, when I was already doing my second obeisance to Hades?
Was // fke senate or 3^011 the robber-chief? *).
The peace between the philosophers and the .Roman emperors is attested
by. many facts. The attitude of Piotina towards the philosophers is well^ known,
and so are the famous letters of Piotina to Hadrian, of Hadrian to Flotina, ancl
of Piotina to the philosophers of the Epicurean school, C/£., iii, 12283, cp. 14203. 15;
/. G., iii, 49; Bitten be rger, SyiN, 834 (/. 6^., ii, ed. 2,1099). Cp. A, Wilhelm Injakresk^
2 (1899), p. 270 ff. ; J. Riibel in Zeitsckr,/, oesL Gynm,^ 67^ 1 1916 u p. 494 ff. ^^See in
.genera! C, E. Boyd,*P///;//t ' mid LUerary Culture in Ancient Rome^ Chicago,
1915.; C.. Barbagalio, Lo staio e Visfritmom piibblim mlV impmj rmnawh Catania,
1911, and especially L. Hahn, ‘Ueber das Verhaltniss von Staat ^iind^ Scluile in
der romischen Kaiserzeit,* in FhiioL^ 30 {1920), p. 176 ff., and E. Zicbarth, in
Pauiy-Wissowa, .Zweite R., ii (1923), p. 766 (art. * Sehulen ; cp. Ch.^li. Oldfather,
‘The Greek literary' te.xts from Greco- Roman Egypt* (Unith of I list, Simiifs in
the Soc, Scmtces .and History, 9, 1923). How widely spread education was ainrmg
men and women is shown % P. 0 ,\yr,, xii, 1467, cp. Th. Reinadi in PeiK //.
1.9 (1917), p. 32. Was not the changed policj^ of the emperors of the and cent,
towards education another victory of public- opimon as represented by ^ the
philosophers? ' See Apollonius of Tyana, EpsL, 54,.!, p. 358 (kays.l : \\wnkkmnm'
dtKamrais XipipLov /cal olmdti:tpL$jp.dr€pp kuI mpi^dXm* leal w^pimlrmp fVwHS vpup
wpdpma, TTaitmp rd>p eV rah TroX^ertP j? pitap f) yimutdap twB* vpip avn rah' popaiv
The letter ma}^ be a forgery but it reflects well the spirit «>f the |>crioc! before tlie
government interfered with the school- affairs of the cities.
See, e.g,, the interesting fragment of an inscription of Perga m on probably
of the time ot Hadrian, A. Conze in Ath. MUtfu^ 24 (189^), p. 197, note 62 ; /. if A\ /A,
iv, 444, an edict of a proconsul taking measures against strikers who were eiigageci
in the construction of a public building at Pergamoo.
Compulsory enlistment was used in critical times by all the emperors.
But it did not become an institution, more or less a regular system, before Trajan,
as is shown by the feet that there was a habit at that time of sending vkmii to
the .arm.y In place of certain inhabitants of the province of Bit hy nia { Plin., Ep. ad Jr.,
30; Th. Mommsen, Ges, Sekn, vol vi, p. 36, note 2). It is'lo be noted that the
.Romanized populati-on of Spain complained bitterly about repealed compulsory
levies in the times of Trajan and Hadrian, Sen Hist Am^.r M- -Aur., 1.1, 7, and.
Hadr., 12, 4; J, Schwendemann, Die Msioriseke Weri der Vita Marei M den
Scripiores Historiae Au^iskuy 1^3, p. 43; Ritlerling in Pauiy-Wissom^a, xii,
p. i3c». I am glad to find that my interpretation of the w^ords of the S, if. A,
agrees with that suggested by Domaszewski to Schwendemann. I must, however^
insist that ‘ Italica adlectio ’ means compulsory enlistment of those ivho had the
status of ‘ Italians ’ not only in H. Raly but especially in Gaul and Spain, cp. Ch. II
note 8. Cp. B. W. Henderson, The Life and PrifmMk of ihf Efmperor Hmir kmc
London, 1923, p. i7iff (on the miiitaiw policy of Hadrian In general^ On the
compulsory levies of M. Aurelius see Sck HisL Aug., M* Aur., 21 ; DIttenbergeri
Or. gr. imer., 511 ; A. von Fremerslem in AT/io, %i (1911), p* 363 C {the Spartans^
and 13 (1913), p. 84 (the diogmitm}. The prevalence in the army of M. Aiirciliis
of rural elements which did not even understand Latin or Greek is IlliistratecI
the facts told by Cassius Dio, 7a (71), ^ 2 (p* 256, Boiss.), a'bout Bassaeus Rufus,,
the praetorian prefect of M. Aurelius : mdpuf & 6 Bm^mm
th 'p^p Bika ayaBm^ mralBivtoit Si wr* ml th yn rov iiim Jr mvif
tpatj^h . . . oTi o Mipfcm »iXdXii wpSs ririt AMthmv iciii ow pipop
524 Notes: Chapter IN
aXN owlc ctXXoy rts* ira|jorT«F €yi4» to X«Xj^€V, *Por<|>oi# top €frfi|?,ycw fiVcep"
«W£j Koitraps |ai| ywwu iwror ra srop* XfiXif^^Vra ovrf yiip fXX^pio-Tt
mitrrami , on oMe <ic©p <Wp«r€oro, «XX* apo^fpdpfidii ivp€$elt kX&»» The con-
scription of the riatrones Dalmatiae atoue Dardaniae* by M. Aurelius is brilliantly
explained by C. Patseh, ^ Arch.-epign lintersuch. 2ur Geschichte der rOm. Provinz
Dalmatieiri, voL v (in IViss. iMitm. tms Bosnkn^kc,^ vol viiih 1902, p, I23ff.» on the
basis of some inscriptions in Dacia and Moesia Superior, as the liquidation of
a rather dangerous revolt of native elementsjn Dalmatia at the time of the great
wars on the Danube, cp. Sen Hist Aug,, Julianus, i, 9.
V. The Roman Empire under the Flavians and the A ntonines.
The Cities. Commerce and Industry.
^ L, Boulanger, A elms Aristide ^ef la sophistique liam ia province (fAsk an
lime siecte de noire ere (BibL des Ec,, 1261, 1923 ; cp. J, Mesk, * Der Aiifbaii_ der
XXVI Rede des Aelius Aristides,’ mjahresb, nber das K, K, Franz Joseph Real-
gymnasium, Wien, 1909, p. 56".
^ The best picture of the natural and gradual urbanization of a province is
given by C. Jullian, in his admirable Hisioire de la Gaule, vol. v, 1920, Ch. II, p. 33 ff-
(* Groupements humains et lieux batis’ l ; cp. for the province of Africa J. Toutain,
Les cites romaines de la Timisie (BibL des Kc,, 72), 1896, a useful book which should
be revised and republished by the author. On this subject more will be said in
the next two chapters, which will give a brief survey of the Romanization of the
various provinces of the Empire.
® On Rome it is enough to quote O. Richter, Topographic der Stadi Rom, in
Iw. Miiiler, Handhuch des kl, Alt., vol. iii, 2, 3, ed. a ; Jordan- Hiilsen, Topographie
Roms, vols. i~ii, 1871-- 85? and vol. i, 3, 1^7 ; Graftunder, in Pauly- Wissowa,
Zweite R., I (19^), p. 1008 If. On Alexandria see E. Breccia, Aiexandrea ad
Aegypium, English edition, 1922, with a bibliography ; W. Schubart, Aegypten
vom Alexander dem Grossen bis auf Mohammed, 1922, pp. 1-136. On Antioch,
R. Forster, ‘Antiochia am Orontes,* in Jahrb., 12 (1897), p, 104 ff., cp. Pauly-
Wissowa, s.v, Antiochia and Daphne ; E. S. Bouchier, A Short History of Antioch,
1921. On Ephesus see the reports on the excavations in Jahresh,, Beiblatt,
cp. Forschungen in Ephesus, 1906 and foil ; J. Keil, Fiihrer durch Ephesus (K. K.
Arch. Inst.) ; G, Lafaye, ® Ephese romaine,’ in Cofif, du Music Guimet, 32, 1909,
p. I flf. ; Burcliner in Pauly-Wissowa, v, p. 2773 ff. ; P. Romanelli in Diz, Epigr.,
vol ii (1922), p. 2110 ff.; Ch. Picard, Ephese et Claros {BibL des Ec,, 123), 1922,
t . 660 ff. On Carthage, A. Audollent, Carthage romaine (BibL des Ec., 84), 1901 ;
. Babelon, Guide d Carthage ; R. Cagnat, Carthage, Timgad, Tibessa et ks villes
antiques de VAJrique du Nord, 1909; on the new excavations in Carthage, see
Bulietm archiologiqtte du Comiti des travaux historiques and Compte rendu de la
marche du Service des Antiquiiis de la Tunisie, On Lyons, C. Jullian, Hisioire,
vols. iv-vi (passim), cp. A. Allmer et P. Dissard, Music de Lyon, vols. i-v, 1888-93,
esp. vol. ii, p. 138 ff. ; P. Dissard, Collection Ricamier, Catalogue des piombs antiques,
1905.
^ It is impossible to enumerate here ail the monographs on the various cities
of Italy and the provinces. It will be sufficient to quote some genera! works
where a good bibliography is to be found, and some monographs which are not
quoted in these general works. The object of the appended bibliography is to
give a selection of books, the study of which may serve to convey an idea of the
different types of city in the Roman Empire. More monographs on the cities
of the Empire are urgently wanted : they are the indispensable basis of a really
satisfactory history of the Roman world. Brilliant pictures of city life in the
provinces may be found in the classical fifth volume of Mommsen’s Roman
Notes : Chapter F . 525
History [Eng. ' trans. The Provinces of the Roman Empire]^ cp. from the point
of view of, the history of art H. Tiersch, An den Randern des romtschefi Retchs^
1911, . On Italy . in genera!., see Ti* li&LLandeskundef vols. i-ii, i®3-i^2;
Lackeit, H. Philipp, and Sclierling, in Pauly- Wissowa, SuppL, voL iii, p, 12461:
On Pompeii, A. Man, Pompeji tn Leben und Kunsi, ed. 2 [Eng. trans. by Kelse}^].
On Ostia, D.e Paschetto, Osim, 1912 J. Carcopino, Firgiie et ks prigims (TOstk,
1919; cp. the 2mporta.nt reports of G. Calza on his excavations in Noi. d> Scmp,
especially 1920-3, and his articles ‘Gli scavi recent! nelFabitato di Ostia,’ in
Monum* Ant deP Acc. dei.Linceif ,26, 1920, p. 322fr, and * Uimportanza storko-
archeologica della resurrezione di Ostia’ in Afene e Ronm^ 3 (1922b p. 229 fi. Cp.
,Ch. 1 . 1 , note 34. On. Puteoli, Ch. J>nho\s^ PouzBoIes mtiique \Bib!. des Iu\
1907. .On Aquileia, E. Majonica, Fiihrer dutch das Siaatsmuseum vopt ApuiieM
(K., K. Arch. Inst), 1911, cp. Ch. I, note 16 and. Ch. II, note 33. Cin Emona,
^ Emona, I. Theil/ in. Jakrh, AUerlumsk,^ 7 {1:914), p. 61 C On Gaul and
Germany, C, Jullian, I.L.; F. Ciiinont, Comment ta Belgique fut rommish\ cd. 2.
1919; H. Dragendorff, iPesideutscMand mir Rtimerseit od, 2, 1919; F. Koepp.^/^/>
Romer in Deutschland^ ed. 2, 1912 ; F. Koepp und G. Wolff, Rfimtsck^Cermmitsckf
Forschtmg (Samml. Goeschen), no. ^8^, 1922 ; Germania Ronmna. Ein BJltkmiks,
1922 (ed. 2, voL i., ®Dle Baiiten d. rdm. Heeres,’ 1924)? K. Schumacher, SmMmigs-
and Kuliurgeschickie der Rkemlamli^ yol, li, Die rammhe Permit\ 1923. Two
.mode! monographs on the ancient cities of -Gaul are M. Clcrc^^glquae Sfxiitu\
Hisioire dAix en Provence dans fanliquite, 1915, and L. A. Constans. Arks
antique {Bib!, des lie,, 119), 1921. On Britain in general see F, Haverfielci
Tim Ropnanimiion of Roman Britain, 4th ed., 1^3, and Rj'nnan OtrupaiioH of
Britain, 1924, and his monographs on various cities of Britain. On Loiulr)n,
F. Haverfield in J. R. S. i lipiii, p. I4iff.; W. R. Lethaby. Londinium gjrchk
teciure and Crafts, 1923. On Spain, A. Schulten in Paiil}A¥i.ssr>wa, viii 1913,
t . 20341!; P. F^xvlsf Promenades archiohgiques em Espagne, 1014 and I'^i ;
. S, Bouchier, Spain under the Roman Empire, 1914 ; A. SchiutcrL ihspmm,
Barcelona, 1921. On Africa, S. Gsell, Les fnonmnmts aniiqms rff- fAigerie,
igoi; G. Boissier, DAfriqae nmmim; A. Schulten, Dm rbmisehe ^ Africa,
J. Toutaiii, Les cites ronmines de la Tmtisie, 1896; E* S. Bouchier, Uff^Uid LrikKs
7 n Roman Afnca, 1913. On some groups of ancient cities of Africa, sec IC Cagnat,
Carthage, Timgad, Tibessa, See,, 1909; idem, Iksite a quRques pdks a/rkium's Ncmi-
meni fmiiiies {Ann, da 3 Im, Gumief, BibL de vulgarization), 39, 1912. On separalt*
cities: Timgad, E. Boeswnllwald, R. Cagnat, A. Ballu, Timgmi, wiir lik mfrkmmf
sous ^Empire Ronunn, 1905; A. Ballu, Guide Ulusiri de fimmd, ed. 2 f
baesis, K. Cagnat, ' LAsclepieiiim de Lambese,’ In Aiii d, Pontif Am Rom, di
Archeoiogia (ser. Ill), Memorie, voL i, r, 1923; Khamissa and Annoiinri,
Gouvermment giniral de tAlgerie* Khamissa, Mdaourouck, Ammumt, Frmiiies
execuMes par k Service des Monuments Htsiorigms de LAigirii, vol. i i Khamissa
voL iii (Aimoiina), 1916-18; BJemila, R. Cagnat in Music Beige, 18 1.1923},
p. iigff. ; Volubilis, L. Chatelaiii in C R.Acad, Imscr,, 1922, p 28 £ ; Thiigga,
L. Poinssot in Noumlks Archives des missioms samtifiiims, 13 119061, p. losi./iS
(1910), p. 831:, 21 (1916I, p. I if., 22 (1919), p. xssfff Bulla Regia, Uchi Majus,
Siagu, Sufetiila, Althiburos, Thuburbo Majws, A. Meriin and L. Poiiisso!
Rotes et Doaimenis pubiks par h Direction des Amiiqmiiis ei Arts (PmMomi
Frangais, GoumTuemeni Tmmsim), vols. i, ii, Iv-vli, i9€»-2a, cp, on Bulla Re»a
L. Carton in C R, Acad. Inscr,, 1922. p, Gigthls, L. A. Constans, Gigms,
Etudes d'kisioire et FarcMoiogie sur un emporium de kt Petite Syrte, 1916/ Cp. the
illustrated catalogues of the Museums of Antiquities in Tunisia and Algeria--
Mushs ei coHectiom archiohgiqms de PAlgMe ei de h Tmnme : Miisce Alatiiii
(ed. 2), d’ Alger, de Cherche! (and a recent supplement), de Lainbese, d’Oran, de
Sfax, de Sousse, de Tebessa, de Timgad. On Teih>li and Cyrene, R. Paribeiil
in Dis. Epign, vol il, p, 14501! ; L. Homo, * Les Eomalns en Tripolltaine ct cn
Cyrenaique/ In Rev,d, Deux Moudes, 1914, Mmm, p. ;^ff. ; S. Ferri, *Trc annl
di kvoro archeologico a C Irene,’ in Aeg^phs^ 4(1^3! p. 163 ff. On Dalmatia,
A. Venturi, E. Pais, A. Molmentl, Daimmmm Mommmmdak, 1917; G, Kowalezyk,
Demkmdkr dir Kurnt im Daimmimt, 1910. On Pola, A. Gnirs, rola, Eim Fm^rer
durch die aniiheH Baudemkniler und Sammiumgm, 1915, cp. Noi d Smm\
526 Notes: Chapter V
p. 211 i/ On Salona and Spalato, E. Hebrard et J. Zeiller, SpaiaiOy ie palais,
(ie DiocUtieny igiz] Forschimgen in Sahna^ 1918 (K. K. Arch. Inst.); N. Viilicj
in Paiily-Wissowa, Zw.R., ii, 1920, p. 2003. Macedonia. On Thessalonica
no general work exists, see Ch. Salonique, 1920, cp. E. Hebrard, ' Les
travaux, &c., a Fare de Galere et a F^glise de St. Georges de Saionique,’ in
44 (1920), p-sff. (with bibliography). Greece. On Athens, W. Judeich,
Topographie von Athene in Iw. WxWtv^Handb. d. kL All, voL hi, 2, 2. On Corinth,
the reports on the excavations of the American School at Athens, in Amenjourn,
of ArcL, 1897 C and Byvanck and Lenschau in Pauly- Wissowa, Suppl. ^ (1924),
p. 991 if. On Rhodes, H, van Gelder, Geschichie der alien Rhodier, 1900. On
Asia Minor, W, M. Ramsay, Historical Geography 0/ Asia Minor^ 1890 ; idem, The
Cities of Si Paul, 1907. On the Roman province of Asia, V. Chapot, La province
romaim dAsie (BibL de VEcole des Hautes P.tudes, 150), 1904, and J. Keil nnd
A. von Premerstein, ‘ Bericht iiber eine Reise in Lydieii,’ i, ii, iii, in Denkschr, d,
Wien. Ak,, 53 (1908) ; 54 (1911); and 57 (1914). On Miletus, Milel Ergebnisse
der Ausgrabungen^ &c., vol. i ff., 1906-25 (Kdnigl Mus. zu Berlin). On Pe rgamon,
Altertumer von Pergamon, vol. i ff., 1885-1912 (K. Mus. zu Berlin), and the annual
reports m Ath. Mitth. On Smyrna, the speeches of Aristides (Or., 17, 19 and 21 k) ;
L. Boulanger, 1 . L, p. 384 if ; W. M. Calder, ‘Smyrna as described by the orator
Aristides,’ in Studies in the History &^c. ofth^Fsskm Provinces of the Roman Empire^
ed. W. M. Ramsay, 1906. On Pampfiylia and Pisidia, Ch. Lanckoronsky,
G. Niemann et E. Petersen, Les villes de la Pamphylie et de la Pisidie, 1890. On
Antioch of Pisidia, W. M. Ramsay, ‘Colonia Caesarea (Pisidian Antioch) in the
Augustan Age,’ in /. R. S., 6 (1918), p. Saif and D. M. Robinson in Am, Journ.
Arch., 28 (1924), p. 435 ff. On Lycia and Caria, O. Benndorf imd G. Niemann,
Reisen in Lykien und Karien, 1884 ; E. Kalinka, Tituli Asiae Minoris, vol. ii : ‘ Tituli
Lyciae linguis graeca et latina conscripti,’ fasc. i, 1920; Burchner in Pauly-Wissowa,
x, 1919, p. 1943 ff. (with bibliography), cp. G. Guidi and A. Maiuri, ‘ Viaggio di esplo-
razione in Caria,’ in Annuario d. R. Scuola arch, di Aiene, vols. iv-v, 1924, p. 345 ff.
On Paphlagonia, R. Leonhardt, Paphlagonia, Reisen und Forschungen, 1915.
On Cilicia, Ruge in Pauly-Wissowa, xi, 1921, p. 385 ff. (with bibliography). On
Phrygia, W. M. Ramsay, Cities and Bishoprics of Phrygia, vols. i, ii, ;
idem, The Letters to the Seven Churches of Asia, 1904. On Galatia, Brandis in
Pauly-Wissowa, vii, 1919, p. 519 ff. (with bibliogr^hy). On Bithynia, Pontus,
Armenia, Brandis in Pauly-Wissowa, iii, p. 507 ff ; F, Cumont, J. G. C. Anderson,
H. Gregoire, Studia vols. i-iii, 1903-10 ; M. Rostovtzeff, ‘Pontus, Bithynia
and the Bosporus,’ in the Ann. Bril School Athens, ^2. (1918), p. iff. On
Cyzicus, F. W. Hasluck, Cambridge, 1910. On Byzantium, H. Merle,
Die Geschichte der Siddie Byzantion und Kalchedon, 1916. On Sinope, D. M.
Robinson, Ancient Sinope, 1906. Moesia Inferior. On Tomi and Istrus,
V. Parvan, ‘Zidul Cetatii Tomi,’ in Analele Academiei Romane, vol. 37 (1915), and
idem, ‘ Histria,’ ibid., vol. 38 (1916). South Russia. On Panticapaeum and
Olbia, E. H. Minns, Scythians and Greeks, M. Rostovtzeff, Ira^^mm^and
Greeks in S. Russia, 1923. On Syria, C. Humann und O. Puchstein, Reisen in
Kleinasien und Nordsyrien, 1890 (Kommagene) ; H. C. Butler, Publications of an
American Arch. Expedition to Syria, i8gg-igoo, vols, i-iv, 1904-5, and idem, Archmo^
logical Expeditions to Syria in iyo4-y and igoy, 3 div., 1907-16; E. Littmann, Die
Ruinenstdtten und Schriftdenkmdler Syriens, 1917 ; E. S. Bouchier, Syria as u Roman
Province, 1916. On Baalbek, Th. Wiegand, Baalbek, vol. i. Text und Tafeln, 1921,
and Honigmann in Pauly-Wissowa, Suppl. iv (1924), p. 715 ff. On Palmyra,
Prince P. Abamelek-Lazarew, Moscow, 1884 (in Russian) ; J. B. Chabot,
Choix inscriptions de Palmy re, 1922. On Damascus, G. Watzinger und
K. Wulzinger, in Wissenschaftliche Ver^entlichungen des deutsch-turkischen DenF
malschutzkommando herausg. von Th. Wiegand, fasc. iv, 1921. On Gerasa, Prince
P. Abamelek-Lazarew, Djerash, Moscow, 1885 (in Russian) ; H. Guthe, ‘ Gerasa,’ in
Das Land der Bibel, vol. iii, 1-2, 1919, On Tyre, W. F. Fleming, The Histoty of
Tyre, 1915, in Columbia University Oriental Studies, vol. x (superficial). Arabia.
On Petra and Bostra, R. Brunnow und A. von Domaszewski, Die Provincia
Arabia, vols. i-iii, 1904-5; A. Musil, Arabia Petraea, vols. i-iii, 1907 ; Libbey and
Hoskins, The Jordan Valley and Petra, 1905 ; G. Dalman, Petra, i9c^ ; H. Guthe,
Notes: Chapter V 527
* Die griechisch-romischen St^dte des Ostjordanlandes,’ \n Das Land der Bihel,
vol. ii, 5, 1918. Mesopotamia. On K tesiphon, M. Streck, ‘ Seleuda und Ktesi-
phon/ 1917, in Der A Ite Orient^ i6, 3 and 4; Honigmann in Pauly- Wissowa,
Suppl. iv (1924), p. 1102 IF. On Palestine, P, Thomsen, Denkmdkr PaldsUms
aus der Zeitjesu^ 1916 ; idem, Kompendium der paldstinischen Aliertumskundey 1913 ;
G. A. Reisner, C. S. Fisher, D. G. Lyon, Harvard Excavations at Samaria, 1924.
^ On the minor Africa 11 cities see the bibliography quoted in note 4. On
Carnuntum and A q u i n c u m, Pauly- Wissowa, articles ‘ Aquincum ’ and ‘ Carnun-
turn ’ ; Der romische Limes in Oesterreich, vols. i~xii, 1900-14 ; W. Kubitschek und
S. Frankfurter, Fuhrerdurch Carnuntum, 6th ed., 1923. On Virunum, R. Egger,
Fiihrer durch die Antikensammlung des Landesmuseums in Klagenfurt, 1921. On
Doc lea, P. Sticotti, D/e romische Stadt Doclea in Montenegro, in Schriften der
Balkan Kommission, vol. vi, 1913. On the cities in Britain see note 4. On
Ass os, J. T. Clarke, F. H. Bacon, R. Koldewey, Investigations at Assos, Boston,
1902-21. On the Egyptian ‘metropoleis’ in general see P. Jouguet, La vie
municipale dans VLgypte Romaine {Bibl. des ic., 104), 1911 ; idem, ‘ Les metropoles
egyptiennes a ia fin du iin^® siecle,’ in Rev. it. gr., 30 (1917), p. 294 if. ;
H. Schmitz, Die hellenistisch-romischen Stadtanlagen in Aegypten, 1921. On
Ptolemais, G, Plaumann, Ptolemais in Oberdgypten, 3910. On Hermupolis,
G. Meautis, line mitropole igyptienne sous lempire romain, Hermoupolis la Grande,
1918. On A n t i n o u p 0 1 i s, E. Kuhn, Antinoupolis, 1913, and Kubler, Antinoupolis,
1914.
R. Cagnat et V. Chapot, Manuel d'archeologie romaine, vols. i, ii, 1917-20;
H. Stuart Jones, Companion to Roman History, 1912 ; The Legacy of Rome, Oxford,
Clarendon Press, 1923, especially the chapters on ‘ Architecture and Art ’ by
G. McN. Rushforth and on ‘Building and Engineering’ by G. Giovannoni; it is
a pity that the book does not contain a chapter on the JKoman cities in general
and on town-planning in the Roman Empire. Cp. F. Haverfield, Ancient Town-
planning, 1913; K. M. Swoboda, Romische und romanische Paldste, 1919; T. H.
Hughes and E. A.G.Lamborn, Towns and Town-planning, Ancient and Modern, 1923;
G. Calza, ‘Teorie estetiche degli antichi sulla costruzione della citta,’ in Bull.
Comm. arch. com. dt Ro^na, 1922, p. 127 ff. The progress of archaeological in-
vestigation gradually corrects many erroneous ideas about the life of ancient
cities. Thus, the idea that ancient streets had ‘ blind ’ fronts is now put out
of court by the more careful excavations carried out both at Ostia and at Pompeii
(see, e. g., Not. d. Scavi, 1912, p. 31 ff., p. 64 if., p. 102 ft'.). Another false view
concerning the darkness of the streets at night was already refuted by the
evidence of Libanius and Ammianus Marcellinus, which shows that the streets
of Antioch were brightly and abundantly lit. Now we learn from some terra-
cottas that Alexandria also had a well-organized system of street-lighting, see
E. Breccia, ‘ Un tipo inedito della coroplastica antica “ II lampinaio ” ’ in Bull, de
la Soc. arch, d' A lexandrie, 20 (1924), p. 239 ff. On the other hand, G. Spano in
Mem. d. Acc.di Napoli, 1919, p.128 ff., has taught us that even in the case of Pompeii
the theory of ‘dark streets’ was an exaggeration. With the evidence of the
Alexandrian terra-cottas may be compared the well-known addition to one of
the electoral posters of Pompeii : ‘ lanternari, tene scalam
On the inconie of a Greek city see H. Francotte, Les finances des citis grecques,
1909, cp. idem, ‘ Etude sur le systeme des impdts dans les cites et les royaumes
grecSjMn Mus. Beige, ii (1907), p. 53 ff. The sources of income remained in the
Roman period the same as they had been in the Hellenistic epoch. A good
survey is given in an inscription of Cos of the ist cent. b. c., Dittenberger, Syll.^,
1000 ; Gr.Dial Inschr., 3632, cp. Dittenberger, 1262 (ist cent, a.d., Smyrnna).
For the period of the Roman Empire, see V. Chapot, La province romaine d'Asie,
p. 252 ff., and especially I. Levy, ‘La vie municipale de I’Asie Mineure sous les
Antonins,’ in Rev. it. gr., 8 (1895), p. 203 ftl, 12 (1899), p. 255 ff., and 14 (1901),
p. 350 ff. (for the East), and W; Liebenam, Stddteverwaltung im romischen Kaiser-
reiche, 1900, p. iff. (both for the East and for the West; a separate treatment
would be more useful).
528 Notes: Chapter V
8 On the hm6<TMn in the Greek cities see Waszynski in. Hermes, 34 (1899),
p. 553 ff. : A. Wilhelm, Beitruge zur gr, Inschriftkunde, 1909, p. 229 ff. ; G. Cardinali,
m Rend, Lincei, 1908, p. 158#. On th.t servi publici see L. Halkin, ^Les esclaves
publics chez les Remains/ in BibL ^c. de VUniv, de Liige, i, 1897.
® Cp. Ch. Ill, note 26. On the district roads in Italy and in the provinces, see
O. Hirschfeld, ATuias. Verwaliungsb,, p. 208, note i, and p. 209, note 3. Cp. the
newly discovered inscriptions in Not d, Scavi, 1915, p. 26; ibid., 1918, p. 140,
and 1921, p, 69, cp. C/A., voL ix, 6072, 6075. The inscription in Not d. Semi, 1918,
p. 140, shows how heavy was the cost of land transport in Italy: the benefactor
of the city of Velitrae is ready to bear the cost of repairing the road, provided
that the city furnishes him with money to pay the cost of the transportation of
the stones, ‘ viam Mactorinam longa vetustate resciss(am) pecunia sna restituit
acceptis ab r. p. in[ve]ctui silicis xiiii m. n.’ As regards the food-supply and
famines, some examples will show how difficult was the problem of the corn-
supply, and that not only for the large industrial and commercial cities. At Per-
gamon the well-known Moschion, son of Moschion, was elected cnrfi^vrjs by the city
and lost 5,000 denarii in buying corn for it, ml (r€iTQ>vr]v kuI C^pt(m)0€PTa
hrivdpta Tt^vraKixTx^f-^ (Dittenberger, Or, Gr, inscr,, 485, 9). At Stratonicea a a-irmvris
gave 10,000 denarii of his own to buy corn, B, €, H., 44 (1920), p. 93, no. 28 ;
cp. ibid., p. II, no. 32, and C. I, G,, 2720 (the same rich family).^ At Thasos a rich
man granted land and money to the city for the purchase of corn, B, C. //., 45
(1921), p. 156, no. 9. So at Mantinea, B. Laum, Stiftungen, vol. ii, 5 (ist cent, a, d. ).
Incidental mentions of famines are frequent in our sources (o-troSemt, inopia,
steriliias annonae). One of the most striking examples is the severe famine
which raged in Asia Minor in the time of Domitian and which is mentioned
in the Apocalypse, vi, I : rdi rfKovcra m <paivr}v iv piaco rm reaerdpodV Xiyovo'ap*
crirov brjvnplov, Kal Tpfls KpiBmv brjvaptov* ral to eXaiov Koi rbv oTvov p,r)
dbiKrjo-rjs, It is Very probable that this was the same (or belonged to the same
series) as that which is recorded in a recently-found Latin inscription of Antioch
in Pisidia (Galatia). See D. M. Robinson, in Trans, Amer, Phil. Assoc,, 55 (1925),
p. 5 ff. Famine was raging in the city owing to an unusually severe ^winter {propter
hiemis asperitaiem). Prices rose enormously. The governor, L. Antistius^ Rusticus,
being approached by the city council, ordered a requisition of grain which was to
be sold at a fixed price to the a-iTmvaL of the city and to them only: ^omnes qui
Ant(iochensis) col(oniae) aut coloni aut incolae sunt, profiteantur apud duoviros
col(oniae) Antiochensis intra tricensimum diem quam hoc edictum meum proposi-
tum fuerit quantum quisque et quo loco frumenti habeat et quantum in semen aut
in cibaria annua familiae suae deducat et reliqui omnis frurnenti copiam emptoribus
[the o-tran/ai] col(oniae) Antiochens(is) faciat.^ The price is fixed at one denarius
per modius, i. e. double the current price before the famine (eight asses). Evidently
conditions of transport rendered impracticable the idea of importing corn from
outside into this inland city. The only way to improve the situation was to
confiscate the grain which might be concealed by the landowners ; cp. the well-
known story of the famine at rrusa in the time of Dio, Ch. Ill, note 26. A similar
. calamity visited Italy in the reign of M. Aurelius. The richest part of the penin-
sula— the Po valley and the northern part of Central Italy — suffered most severely.
A commission to help the cities of the Transpadana was given to the Illlvir viarum
curandarum C. Arrius Antoninus, ‘qui providenda maximorum imperat(orum)
missus, urgentis annonae difficul(i)tates luvit et consuluit securitati fundatis rei-
p(ublicae) opibus’ {CIL,, v, 1874). In his capacity oi curator viarum he certainly
imported corn into the city 01 Concordia. In the case of the city of Ariminum
a similar part was played by P. Cornelius Felix Italus, iuridicus per Flaminiam et
Umbriam: ‘ob eximiam moderationem et in sterilitate annonae laboriosam erga
ipsos fidem et industriam ut et civibus annona superesset et vicinis civitatibus
subveniretur ^ {CIL,, xi, 377). He may have resorted to measures similar to those
taken by Rusticus in Galatia. About the same time (a. d. 162) another terrible
famine visited Asia Minor, this time affecting Phrygia, while conditions in Galatia
were better ; see Kaibel, 793, where a landowner flees with his cattle to Galatia
to save his life, cp. Ramsay, Studies in the Hist and Art of the Eastern Provinces,
Notes : Chapter V 529
p. 128; Dittenberger, On lnscr.^ ^x\ (of a later date, about the time of the
? reat plague). Another famine raged in Italy about 175 a.d. {CIL., xi, 379; 5635;
. Schwendemann, Der hist, Wert der Vita Marci bei den S, H, ^.,1923,^9. 38 ft.).
A full collection of the evidence about famines in the Roman Empire is highly
desirable. Even in the richest corn-growing provinces, like Africa Proconsu-
laris and Numidia, cases of local famine were frequent, see S. Gsell, /. A. vf/.,
voL i, 2145 : ‘ob insignem in se amorem et frumenti copiam t[emp]ore inopi^e
sibi largiter praestitam ’ (the donor, M. Cornelius Pronto, was certainly a rich
landowner in the territory of the city and had corn stored in his granaries) ;
cp. C/Z., viii, 1648, 9250, 15497, 25703-4, 26121 (examples quoted by S. Gsell)
and A. Merlin et L. Poinssot, Les inscriptions d'Uchi Majus^ p. 33, no. 13.
Thus famine was of frequent occurrence in the cities of Africa, and this can
be explained only by the difficulties of transport. In Macedonia the frequent
cases of famine were probably due to the heavy burden imposed on the cities
of feeding the soldiers during the expeditions of Trajan, when troops were
constantly being moved from and to Europe and Asia through Macedonia:
M. Rostovtzeff 'm Bull , of the Russian Arch, Inst, at Constantmople^ 4 (1899),
p. 184 ff. (in Russian), cp. Ch. VIII.
See the articles quoted in Ch. IV, note 32. On ol anb tov yvpvaa-Lov or ol
i(pr]p€VK 6 T€s in Egypt, see U. Wilcken, Grundziige^ p. 144; P. Jouguet, La me
municipale^ &c., p. 150 ffi; W. Schubart, Aegypten^ &c., p. 143; H. I. Bell,
Jews mid ChristianSy 1. 53 ff. (note) ; B. A. Groningen, Le gymnasiarque des mUropoles
de iBgypte romainey 1924, p. 4ff. and p. 38 ff.
“ On the expense of the cities in general, see W. Liebenam, 1, L, p. 68 ff.
W. Liebenam, 1. 1., p. 165 ff.; L. Friedlander-G. Wissowa, SittePig, Romsy
vol. ii, ed. 9-10, p. 377 ff. ; O. Toller, spectaculis, ceniSy distrihutionibus in muni-
cipiis Romanis Occidentis imperatorum aetate exhibitisy 1889 ; O. Liermann, ‘Analecta
epigraphica et agonistica,’ in Diss, phil, Hal.y 10, 1899; J. J. Esser, De pauperum
cura cipud Romanos, Campis, 1902 ; B. Laum, Stiff ungen in der griechischen und
rdmischen Antikey vol. i, ii, 1914; M. Rostovtzeff, ‘Rdmische Bleitesserae,’ in
Klioy Beiheft 3, 1905 ; cp. the important inscription from Beneventum of a. d. 231
in Not. d. Scaviy 1913, p. 311ft.: ‘hie primus . . . tesseris sparsis in aurum,
argentum, aes, vestem, lentiamen ceteraq(ue) populo divisiL
An enumeration of some rich men who were benefactors of cities (without
discrimination of time and place), in W. Liebenam, 1. L, p. 165 ff. The increase
in the number of large benefactors begins in the East with the second half of
the ist cent, a.d., and reaches its climax in the first half of the 2nd cent. This
follows from the material collected by B. Laum (1. I., vol. i, p. 8ff.), and can be
corroborated by an historical investigation of the development of gifts in general.
Almost the same may be observed in the West. The participation of the
intellectual leaders in the movement to assist the cities is shown by the bio-
graphies of the sophists compiled by Philostratus, see the survey given by
L. Boulanger, >4. Aristidcy &c., p. 74 ff., especially the pages on Scopelianus
(p, 83 ff.), Folemon (p. 87 ff.), and Herodes Atticus (p. 97 ff.). We have met
already with such men as Dio of Prusa and Plutarch of Chaeronea ; their Italian
counterpart was Pliny the Younger. Note, however, that Aristides tries hard
to free himself from any municipal or provincial service. On Herodes Atticus,
cp. P. Graindor, ‘Marbres et textes antiques de TZpoque iinperiale,* in Rec, de
frav.y a^c.y de PUniv. de Gand, 50 {1912), p. 81 If. : ‘Contribution a Phistoire
d’Herode Atticus et de son pere ’ ; see especially Suet. Vesp,, 13. It is evident
that the millionaire Hipparchus mentioned by Suetonius (‘ Salvium Liberalem in
defensione divitis rei ausum dicere : quid ad Caesarem, si Hipparchus sestertium
niilies habet ? et ipse laudavit’) was the father of Ti. Claudius Atticus and the
grandfather of Herodes Atticus, as Graindor has suggested, cp, Philostr., Vit,
Soph, y 2, 1, 2. On Opramoas, R . Heberdey, Opramoas, Wien, 1897 5 ^P- Ritterling
in Rh. Mus., 37 (1920), p. 35 ff On C. Julius Eurycles and his family, all benefac-
tors of Greek cities, especially of Sparta, see W. Liebenam, I. h, p. 167. Add the
2354.2 Mm
Notes: Chapter V
abl-n. ff iiSf; \
Leitiufanf'^’FSs^Mo^^^^^^ of th^ttaie of Domitian and Trajan ;
provinces, especi^iy in Africa, mostly in the and but also partly in the 3rd cent.
M A list of senators of the and and 3rd cent., with an indication of the place
nf their oridn is given by G. Lully, De senatomm Romanomm paina, Rome, 1918.
Most of thfs^natSfflies ar^e’ of provincial origin and belong to the upper
ctratsi of the aristocracv of the cities. The measures taken by Trajan a
M Aurelius which imposed on senators the obligation of investing a
IT R rn Di(r i o .ii), were intended probably at once to arrest the steady
increase^of waste la^d in Italy and to attach these foreigners to Italy by economic
lieT Se?Mommse„, Staatslecht, .o\. iii, p. 900 AureS
the ‘third Dart’ of Traian’s ordinance and the fourth part of M. Aurelius i e e
not to the^actual fortunes of the senators, but to the minmum :
rf M Gelzer ‘ Die Nobilitat der rdmischen Kaiserzeit, in Hermes, 50 (19^^)? P' 4^^ ^
W Otto ibid (1916), 86 f. ; E. Groag in Sirena BuMiana, 1924, 253 ft. Groag
shows that in the rei^s of Trajan and lladrian there were no more than thirty
senators who belonged to families which bore the names of tamihes of the ancient
noK It is striking that even these few relics of the past were almost com-
pletely excluded from the higher military posts.
« On the funeral monuments, see the relative sections m R. Cagnat and
V Chaoot, Manuel &c., and in H. Stuart Jones, Com^a«mM, &c. , cp. on the
LnuS of the’two Secundinii in Treves (the so-called Igeler Saule’)
F Drexel ‘Die Bilder der Igeler Saule,’ in R6m. MtUk.,^ (1^2), p. 83 ff.,
and H Dragendorff and E. Krflger, ‘ Das Grabmal von Igel ’ {Rdm. Grahmapr dei
MosMes^. der angremenden Ge6iele,l), 1^4.
fill monuments of Aquileia : see the careful restorations (very little Knowm to
smtknts of classical Liquity) of K. Mayreder, ‘ Mitteilungen uber eine Studiem
reise nach Aquileia,’ in^ZetoAr. des oesfer. Ingemeur- und ArcMekten-Veremes,
100=; no IQ The plans and elevations of some of these monuments coincide
v^t’ those ^of the monuments painted on the walls of ^"^^rdmsllhe
houses of the Tst cent, a.d., see my article Die bellenistisch-romische
Architekturlandschaft,’ R6m. Mitth., 1911. Compare the gorgeous roads, flanked
by majestic monuments, which led to such a modest city as Assos in the Rom 1
neriod, 1. T. Clarke, &c.. Investigations at Assos, 1921. _One example out o|
hundreds showing how the rich equestrian bourgeotste-esas formed from the ranks
of the lower strata of the city population is given by t^ inscription, b. Gseii,
1 L AL i, 2195 (Madaurus) : ‘ hoc est sepultus L. Aelius Timminus loco | l>ati€ns
laborum, frugi, vigilans, sobrius, | qui rem paravit hand mediocrem familiae, 1
domumque tenuem ad equestrem promovit gradum.
I have dealt with this subject in Ch. II, note i6. Conditions did not change
in the 2nd cent. a.d. To the evidence of Juvenal, collected and explained by
Miss Brewster, add Dio Chr., Or. 34 (Tars, alt.), 34: vavKXrjp.tv ^
rf y€(opy€lv ovbeis iKavm dvvaiTO irdpepyov avTO Troiovp€pos,7ro\ir€v€ar6aL de eirix^ipovo-tv etc
TTepiovo’ias koX Ttdpro efiirpocrBev tovtov TiOepTes, cp. note 26.
On the commerce with Germany and the Scandinavian lands, see H. Willers,
Neue Untersuchungen uber die rdmische Bronzeindusirie von Capua und von Nieder-
germanien, Hannover, 1907, p. 45 ; Bissingen in Numtsm. Zmtschr.,
K. Regling, ‘Rdmischer Denarfund von Frondenber^ in Zeitschr.f. Numtsmahk,
29 {1912), p. 212 ff. ; O. Almgren und B, Nerman, Die dltere Etsenzett Gotlands,
Notes: Chapter V 531
Stockholm, 1923, vol. ii, p. 57 ff. ; Mattingly, Coins p. xxii and
p. Ixxvif. I am confident that Almgren and Nerman are right in assuming that
the trade of Gotland with the Danube provinces of Rome was carried on through
the Goths who had settled in the Dnieper region in South Russia ; cp. the worKs
quoted in my Iranians and Greeks in South Russia, p. 234, note 16, especially
T. Arne, Def Stora Svitgod, 1917, p. 16 if. The trade came to an end when
the Goths at the beginning of the 3rd cent began their advance first against the
kingdom of Bosporus and afterwards against the Roman Empire. The finds of
coins in the other parts of the Scandinavian lands and in Western Germany are
of a different character, and testify to commercial relations with Belgium and the
Rhine. The beautiful treasure of silver and bronze vases of the ist cent a. d.
recently found in Denmark seems to have come in the same way, see K. Friis-
Johansen, Hoby-Ftmdet, Copenhagen, 1922. It is an interesting observation of
W. Kubitschek and S. Frankfurter that the finds in Carnuntum attest the same
commercial relations with the Rhine, while the finds in Pannonia in general
prove that these remons were entirely dependent on Aquileia (W. Kubitschek
and S. Frankfurter, Fuhrer durch Carnuntum, ed. 6, 1923, p. 48; cp. H. DragendorfF,
Westdeutschland mr Romertseit, p* 56). The observation is the more striking as
Carnuntum in the ist cent. a. d. (under Nero) was one of the etapes of the amber
trade of Aquileia with Northern Germany and the Baltic lands, K. Regling, 1 . L,
p. 215, note 2 ; H. Dragendorff, 1. 1 ., p. 57. Cp. note 25. Very important for
tracing the routes taken by the Gallic commerce in Eastern Europe is the
investigation of the distribution of enamelled fibulae Gallic workmanship
through Germany, the Danube lands. Southern and Central Russia. The Gallic
fibulae were first imported and afterwards imitated by the Germans. Both the
Gallic products and the imitations swept Central and Northern Russia. On
the Gallic fibulae see my article in Monuments Riot, vol . xxvi, p. 66 of the reprint ;
on the German imitations, A. Spizyn, ‘Objects with the champkve
in Memoirs of the Arch. Soc., Section of Russian and Slavonic Arch., 5 (i), p. 149 ff.,
Petrograd (in Russian) ; A. M. Taligren, Zur Archaologie Eestis, Dorpat, 1922,
p. 120 ff.; idem, ‘L’Orient et TOccident dans Page de fer Finno-Ougrien ' in
Journal de la SocUie finlandaise d'arch., 35, 3 (1924),
See my Iranians and Greeks in South Russia, p. 147 ff. and p. 234 ff.
How much more regular and extensive the commerce with India was in
the 2nd cent, as compared with the ist cent, is shown by the description of
the trade routes and harbours given by Ptolemy compared with the data of the
Periplus Maris Erythraei\ see M. Chwostow, Histoi^ of the Eastern trade oj
Greco-Roman. Egypt, Kazan, 1907 (in Russian), p. 381 ff., especially p. 392 ff.
The changed character of the trade is proved by the comparison of the articles
imported into the Roman Empire in the early ist cent. a. d. — as enumerated
by the Roman poets of this time and by Strabo, Pliny, and the Revelation of
St. John— and the catalogue of articles exported and imported, given by the
PertUus Maris Erythraei, M. Chwostow, 1 . L, p. 86 ff. (import) and p, 162 ff, (export) ;
cp. Ch. Ill, notes 15-18, and Herrmann, ‘ Die alten Verkehrswege zwischen Indien
und S. China,* in Zeitschr. der ges. Erdkunde, 1913, p. 771 ff., and m Pauly- Wissowa,
xi (1922), p. 46ff. ; W. H. Schoff, ‘The Eastern iron- trade in the Roman Empire,’
in Journ. of the A men Or. Soc., ^5 (iii)* Ch arlesworth, Trade-routes and
Commerce of the R. E., p. 68 ff. and note on p. 255, quotes some very interesting
Tamil poems \vhich speak of wares imported by the ‘ Javan* into their land,
from Pillai, The Tamils i,Soo years ago, Ch. Ill (inaccessible to me).
Ch. Ill, notes 15-18. Cp., on the trade of Palmyra, M. Chwostow, 1. 1.,
p. 283 ff.; H. Dessau, ‘ Der Steuertarif von Palmyra,* in Hermes, 19 (1884),
p. 486 ff. ; Th. Mommsen, Rom. Gesch., vol. v, p. 428 f.; J. B. Chabot, Choix
d? inscriptions de Palmyre, 1922. The best general picture of the Palmyrene
trade is given by Herodian, iv. 10. 4 : rd re Trap* ireipoi^ <j>^6p€va dpd>iiaTa fj Bavpa-
(opeva v<f>dcrparn (cp. Marc. Dig., 39, 4, 16, 7 ; vopos rckoviKos of Palmyra, Ch. IV, l)
KCLi ira^ irapa ^Poopaiois perdKKevopcva Sid t^v liraivovpepa pr]K€Tt poXis rat
(TTravi^ovra XavBdvovrd re Si epTropaov Kopta-BfitretrSai, pids 8e yrjs ovcr.rjg Kai pids i^ovmas
Mm2
S3^ ^ ^otes: Chapter V
Ko^urjp Km dK(i))iVTOp dix(porfpots rrjv dir oKavaiP t<T€or 0 au Cp* Aristid., ccs? 'Pct)jUJ7i/ (26 K,
14 D), 12: ixrdriras Bh (S Ba^vXanvlovs Kot rovs €k rrjs irremmi ^ap^dpav Kmrpov^ wokv
TrXetow re khI paov €l(ra(f>tKvovp€Vovs ff el eic Na|ov ^ Kudwi; *ABr}mC eB€i Karapm rmp
eVe£ « (j>€poPTas, * It is worthy of note that Palmyra was never practically a Roman
provincial city, not even after Hadrian and L. Verus, nor indeed even after
Septimms Severus^ when it received the title of a colony (cp. the Capitol on the
coins of Panticapaeum). It always had a good deal of autonomy. Like the
kingdom of Bosporus, the city with her territory was rather a vassal state of
the Empire, The Roman state, however, included the city of Palmyra in the
sphere of its military protection, as it had included the Crimea and the territory
of the city of Chersonesus, though the garrison of the city and of the fortresses
which defended the territory of the city against the Parthians—unlike the
troops which defended the Crimea—consisted (as in the kingdom of Bosporus)
of auxiliaries recruited in the city and in the Palmyrene territory. These detach-
ments of course belonged, especially after Septimius Severiis, to the Roman
army and were commanded by Roman officers (the commander of the Roman
garrison was probably the 6 cV IlaX/xupoi? reraypevos mentioned in the tariff of
Palmyra), but they jealously kept their national character and their national
religious beliefs, see the frescoes of Salihiyeh discovered by Breasted and Cumont
(quoted in Ch. Ill, note 15). It is probable that the city paid tribute to Rome, as
is shown by the part played by Roman procurators in the organization of the taxa-
tion of Palmyra, especially the customs-duties: see my discussion in GeschicMe der
Staaispacht, p. 405 ff. ; O. Hirschfeld, K, Verwalfungsb., p. 90, note i. It is very
likely that the tribute consisted of part of the customs-duties, and was used
for the maintenance of the garrisons of the city and of the fortresses in her
territory. Similar conditions prevailed in Chersonesus in the Crimea under
M. Aurelius and Commodus, as is proved by the interesting series of documents
published by the city of Chersonesus, C/i.., iii, 13750 ; B. Latyshev, Inscr, orae
sept. Ponti Euxini, vol. i, ed. 2, 404 ; cp. my article in Bull, of the Arch, Commission^
vol. 60, p. 63 ff'. (in Russian). The soldiers who were stationed in the Crimea
and had their head-quarters at Chersonesus participated in the collection of the
rcAos TToppiKov (veciigal lenocinii) and probably received part of the revenue of
this tax, the other part being retained by the city. On the trade with Arabia
through Bostra and Petra and the cities of the East-Jordan land, which were
all enormously enriched by it after the annexation of Arabia Petraea by Trajan,
see H. Guthe, ‘Die griechisch-romischen Stadte des Ostjordanlandes,’ in Das
Land der Bibel, voL li, 5, 1918, p. 36 ff. ; cp. H. Tiersch, An den Rdndern des
romischen Reiches^ p. 29 ff. ; M. P. Charlesworth, 1 . 1 ., p. 53 f.
See Ch. 11 , note 27. The best proof of my statement may be fbimd in the
inscriptions of Lyons. The most influential groups of merchants there were
the dealers in wine, olive-oil, and lumber, see V. Parvan, Die Nationalitdt der
Kaufteute im rdmischen Kaiserrekhe^ p. 44. So in the city of Treves, see note 26,
and in Arles, note 27 ; M. P. Charlesworth, 1 . 1 ., p. 203 ff.
^ My conception of the nature of the professional collegia does not coincide
with the accepted views on this subject as expounded in the classical works of
J. Waltzing, Etude hisiortque sur les corporations professionnelles^ vol. i, ii, 1895-6 ;
E. Kornemann in Pauly-Wissowa, iv, p. 391 ff. ; E. Groag in Vierieljahresschrift
f, Soc, iind Wirischaftsg, 2 (1904), p. 481 ff., cp. Ch. VI II, note 37 ; and V. Parvan,
1 . 1 . I am convinced that from the very beginning the corporations of merchants
and shipowners who dealt in some of the necessities of life, and especially the
latter, were recognized by the state because they were agents of the state— more
or less concessionaires of the Roman government. (Callistratus, in Dig, 50, 6 , 6 , 3 ff,
is perfectly right in speaking of the corporations of this kind as organized by
the state.) Along with these corporations which were recognized by the state
there existed both in the East and in the West private organizations which were
either tolerated or ignored by the state. Some of them, especially in the East,
were of very ancient origin. The semi-official character of the corporations which
were recognized by the state is shown by the fact that the inscriptions on the
amphorae of Monte Testaccio speak ot nemicularii as working for the state under
Notes: Chapter V 533
its control, see Heron de Villefosse, ‘Deux arniateurs narbonnais,’ &c., in Mem.
de la Soc. des Ant de France^ 74 (1915), p. 153 ff., and ‘ La mosaique des Narbonnais
a Ostie’ in BulL arch, du Com. d. irav. hist, 1918, p. 245 if. ; L. A. Constans, Arles
antique, p. 205 if., especially p. 210, and my Gesch. d. Staatspacht, p, 426 if. I still
hold to the view that the inscriptions on the amphorae testify to the fact that
most of them came to Rome filled with products which were paid to the state by
the landowners and by the tenants of public and imperial lands in Spain, Africa,
and Gaul. I am not at all convinced by the arguments of Heron de Villefosse in
Bult arch., &c., 1918, p. 270 ft*., that G. Calza was wrong in explaining the building
at Ostia rather as an office of the annona than as a building designed for the
promotion of their private interests by certain corporations of merchants and
shipowners. The building at Ostia did not contain offices for the foreign corpora-
tions only : it is clear to me that the east side was given to the corporations of
Ostia which were employed by the annona. The order of the corporations in
the poriicus is in the main geographical. It is very likely that the north aisle
was given to the Northerners. There is a curious mosaic, without inscription,
which shows a bridge of barges built on a river with two arms (G. Calza, no. 27,
near the mosaic of Narbo). is it not possible to recognize in the river one of the
large rivers of Gaul ? It is to be noted that on the west side no legible inscription
was found. There was therefore space enough to accommodate the offices of other
provinces which sent grain and other species annonariae to Rome. It is interest-
ing to observe that only the ’Western and the Northern provinces were represented
in the building (Sardinia, Africa, Gaul), another testimony to the ‘annonarian’
character of the building and its early date. On the annona of Africa see R. Cagnat,
‘ L'annone d’Afrique/ in Mhn. d. PInst, 40 (1916), p. 258 ft*. On that of Egypt, my
article ‘Frumentum’ in Pauly- Wissowa, vii; cp. P. Sak, ‘ La perception de I’an-
none militaire dans PEgypte romaine,’ in Melanges Ch. Moeller {Rec. de irav. etc.
de PUniv. de Louvain, 40), 1917, and J. Lesquier, Darmie romaine d^Egypte, p. 350 ft*.
On the wine exported from Gaul see Heron de Villefosse, 1 . I ; L. Cantarelli in
Bull. Comm. arch. com. di Roma, 43 (1915), p. 41ft*. and p. 279 ft'.; in
Daremberg and Saglio, ix, pp. 917 and 923 ; C. Jullian, Histoire de la Gaule, vol. v,
p. 183 ft*. On the African oliye-oil, R. Cagnat, 1 . 1 ., p. 255 ft*. On the merchants
and shipowners of Alexandria and their corporations under the Ptolemies, see
my volume, A Large Estate in Egypt, 1922, pp, 35, 125, 133 ft*. ; cp., on the corpora-
tions of merchants in the Greek part of the Empire, Stdckle in Pauly- Wissowa,
Suppl. iv (1924), p. 157 ft. It is a pity that Stbckle's quotations of the inscriptions
are utterly antiquated : he never cites, e.g., /. G. R. R.
O. Hirschfeld, ‘ Die romischen Meilensteine,’ in Kleine Schriften, p. 703 ft. ;
V. Chapot in Daremberg and Saglio, v, p. 777 ft., cp. K. Miller, Itineraria Romana,
1916, and the sharp, learned, and fully justified criticism of this book by
W. Kubitschek in Gott. get Anss., 179 (1917), p. iff.; idem in Pauly-Wissowa,
ix, 1916, p. 2308 ff.; G. H. Stevenson, ‘Communications and Commerce,' in The
Legacy of Rome, 1923, p, 141 ft*.; M. P. Charlesworth, Trade-routes and Commerce
oftheR.E.,i(yz^.
The correct explanation of the growth of Puteoli at the expense of Ostia
was given by T. Frank, Economic History, p. 248; Roman History, p. 398. On
the decay of Puteoli see /. G., vol. xiv, 830; /. G. R. R., voL i, 421 ; Dittenberger,
Or. gr. Inscr., 595 ; Ch. Dubois, PousBoles antique, p. % ft'., cp, p. 79 ff. ;
K. Lehmann- FI artleben, ‘ Die antiken Hafenanlagen des Mittelmeeres,' in Klio,
Beiheft 14 (1923), p. 163 ft'. Ostia, ibid., p. 182 ff. The Alexandrian corn fleet
in the time of Nero still put in at Puteoli (Seneca, Ep,, 77, i). Later, it came to
Ostia, as is proved by many inscriptions. The importance of Campania and of
Puteoli in Nero’s time is shown by the fact that many cities of Campania in-
cluding Puteoli were Neronian colonies, see A. Sogliano, ‘ Colonie Neroniane,’
in Refid. Lincei, 6 (1897), P- 389 ft'; cp. idem in Nuova Rivista Sforica, ig2i,
p. 424^*-
On the character of the Roman commerce in Gaul, see C. Jullian, Histoire,
vol. v, p. 318 ft* ; cp. P. Courteault in J. R. S., ii (X921), p. loi ft'. On the almost
534 Notes: Chapter V
complete emancipation from Italy, see V, Parvan, Die Naiiomlitat^ M
and p. 33. On Aquileia and her ever-growing industrial and commercial importance,
see the bibliography quoted in Ch. I, note 16, and Gh. II, note 20. The annexa-
tipn of Noricum and the gradual pacification of the Danube lands, as well as the
creation of many large fortresses for the legions, raised the importance of Aquileia
to a height never before reached. The legions were stationed first in Dalmatia
(Burnum and Delminium) and in Pannoma on the Save, and were transferred
later first to the Brave and afterwards to the Danube. This meant the creation
of a series of new and large markets for all the products of the agriculture and
industry of Northern Italy and especially Aquileia. The iron and lead mines of
Noricum promoted the manufacture of steel, iron, and bronze weapons and
utensils ; its semi-precious stones and gold stimulated the jewellers of Aquileia
to work on their own account ; the increasing demand for glass-ware induced the
city to create her own glass factories. I have spoken already of the manufacture
of amber articles. Widely spread were the tiles of the well-known Aquileian
family of the Barbii, a big export house of which we know one important branch
in Noricum at Virunum and another at Tergeste (see the indices to C/Z.,voL v
and vol. iii). The export of wine from Aquileia attained also a much greater
importance than it had had before. One of the many examples of rich land-
owners of North Italy who exported their wine and oil into the Danube lands is
the well-known Calvia Crispinilla (Tac., i. 73), as is shown by the amphorae
stamps with her name found at Poetovio and at Tergeste, C/Z., iii, 12010,2;
M. P. Charlesworth, 1 . 1 , p. 236 and note on p. 284. Cp., in addition to the biblio-
graphy quoted above, R. von Schneider in Arch.-ep. Mitth. aus Oest^ 9, p. 83 ; idem,
Kunstgeschichtliche Characterbilder aus Oesterreich-Ungarn^ p. 31 : M. Abramic in
Jahresh,y 1909, Beiblatt, pp. 54, 96, loi ; C. Patsch, Historische Wanderungen im
Karst und an der Adria^ vol. i, Die Herzegowina einst und jetzty 1922, p. 128. While
the region and the port of Aquileia were the main centres of wine export to the
Danube lands, Histriaand its harbours (Parentium and Pola which form a unit with
Tergeste) were the main centres for the trade in olive-oil, which was produced in
great quantities all over the Histrian peninsula on the large estates and on the small
farms of this fertile district: see A. Gnirs, ‘Forschungen hber antiken Villenbau
in Shdistrien,’ m jahresh.^ 18 (1915), Beiblatt, p. loi if. ; 17 (1914), Beibl., p. 192 ff.;
H. Schwalb, ‘ Romische Villa bei Pola,’ in Schriften der BalkaU'-Kommission, 2,
1902, p. pff. ; J. Weiss in Pauly- Wissowa, ix, p. 2113. It is instructive to follow
the spread of Italian and Histrian commerce and industry throughout Dalmatia
and the Danube lands. One of the best indications is given by the factory stamps
on the oil and wine jars, and on the tiles. See, e.g., the history of the jars
fabricated by C. Laekanius Bassus first in Vercellae, later in Pola, which have
been found in masses in Poetovio (Pannonia) and also at Virunum in Noricum
(A. Gnirs in Jahresh.^ 13 (1910-11), Beibl., p. 95 ff. ; cp. the imperial factory of jars
near Parentium, CIL., v, 2, 8112, 1-4). Not less instructive is the history of the
tiles which were produced in the (at first private and later imperial) factory of
Pansa (Pansiana), one branch of which was transferred from Italy to a place near
Tergeste, see C. Patsch in Wiss, Mitth. aus Bosnien, &c., 9 (1904), pp. 278 ff., 280 ff.,
especially p. 284 ff. There are also interesting data on the commercial relations
between Dalmatia and Africa, ibid., p. apSfi'. ; cp. the same writer’s Historische
Wanderungen im Karst^ &c., vol. i, 1922, p. no ff.
A good study of the pillar-monuments of the Moselle and of their sculptures
is given by F, Drexel, ‘ Die belgisch-germanischen Pfeilergraber ’ and ‘ Die
Bilder der Igeler Saule,’ in Rom. Mitth,^ 35 (1920), p. 26 ff., and p. 83 ff.. All the
sculptures of the Moselle type, including those of Arlon and of the Luxembourg,
are published by E. Esperandieu, Recueil des bas-reliefs^ statues et busies de la Gaule
romaine, vol. vi, 1913. Cp. H. Dragendorff and E. Kruger, ‘ Das Grabmal von
IgeF {Rom. Grabmdler des Mosellandes u. der angrenzenden Gebiete^ I), 1924. Most
of the bas-reliefs of the Rhine and the Moselle showing scenes of daily life may
also be found in the atlas Germania Romana, 1922. In his appreciation and ex-
planation of the Rhine and Moselle sculptures F. Drexel is wholly mistaken. The
leading idea of the graves of the Roman time, on which scenes of daily life are
Notes: Chapter V 535
reproduced, is not the display by some notweaux riches of their wealth and their
power over their fellow men, as Drexel suggests. The main inspiration was the
Stoic religious and moral ideal, in general influenced by Neo-Pythagoreanism, of
the cultured classes of the Empire: by a model life crowned with success, by the
strict fulfilment of their duty, as depicted on the monuments, the owners of them
acquired the right to the final ‘apotheosis'. The same leading idea dictated the
choice of the reliefs on the wonderful columns of Trajan and M. Aurelius; it
also inspired the selection of the sculptures and paintings on the funeral nionu-
ments of the soldiers and officers of the Roman army and of the municipal
magistrates, e.g. the set of paintings on the walls of the funeral monument of an
aedile at Pompeii recently discovered near the Vesuvian Gate ; finally, the same
idea prevailed in all the funeral inscriptions and the elogia of the Roman imperial
aristocracy, with their minute enumeration of the military and civil offices of the
deceased. Both the gorgeous monuments of the Moselle magnates and the modest
cippi of Gallic artisans, with their realistic sculptures representing the daily toil of
the departed, are typical expressions of a high appreciation of labour, as being
not a bitter necessity but a social and religious duty—an ideal diametrically
opposed to some ideas of the Roman aristocracy of the ist cent, b.c., e.g. Cicero,
who regarded trade and industry as occupations which have a degrading influence
on human character and considered leisure to be the main goal of human life.
Without doubt the ideal of the ‘consecration of labour’, which was not new to the
Greek world (see T. Zielinski, The Religion of Ancient Greece^ 1918, p. 27 ffi, in
Russian ; an English version is in preparation), corresponded strictly to the
Cynic and Stoic ideal of the imperial power, of which I have spoken in the fourth
chapter, and which was itself a creation of the Stoic and Cynic teachings adapted
to the aims and methods of the enlightened monarchy. It would be easy to
corroborate this statement by quotations from the works of the Stoic philosophers
of the imperial period. On the other hand, the tendency towards realistic paint-
ing and sculpture is in no way a peculiarity of the Gallic regions and of the Celtic
nation. The Ionian Greeks (not to speak of the Oriental world), especially in the
archaic period, liked to reproduce such scenes on different types of the products
of their art. They transmitted this predilection to the Etruscans and to the
Samnites, from whom it passed to the Romans, to become one of the leading
features of Roman art. The Orient, however, in Hellenistic and Roman times
did not maintain the realistic tradition, but concentrated on other fields of artistic
creation. The fact that funeral monuments showing scenes of daily life, especially
scenes connected with economic life— agriculture, commerce, and industry— are
one of the outstanding features first of Southern and Central Italy and later of
the Western branch of Roman provincial art, particularly that of Northern Italy
and of Gaul (Gummerus in Jahrb., 28 (1913), p. 67 ff.), does not indicate a pecu-
liarity of artistic conception in these lands, but reflects the characteristic
phenomena of life there, that is, its industrial and commercial aspect. The funeral
monuments of Northern Italy and Gaul form, therefore, one of our most important
sources of information about the economic and social life of these parts of the
Roman Empire. The choice of episodes of daily and business life is, of course,
influenced not only by the character of that life but also by the traditions of
funeral art in general. Scenes of travel and of meals are prevalent, having been
used from time immemorial to symbolize the last journey and the meal of the
beati^ just as scenes of battle prevail on the stelae of soldiers and officers in
accordance with the ancient Greek tradition which liked to show the great and
victorious battle of the divinized hero. The art of the Rhine and Moselle funeral
monuments is not at all an art of parvenus (Drexel’s expression), but a sound and
vigorous attempt to create a realistic art on Etruscan and Italian models. I am
afraid that Drexel has been influenced in his judgement by a socialistic, Marxian
conception of art and history. On the ‘Apotheosis’ and the ideas connected with
it, see A. Della Seta, Religione ed arte figurata, 1912, p. 175 f. ; Mrs. A. Strong,
Apotheosis and After Life, 1915, p. 174 fl‘., and the masterly sketches of F. Cumont,
After Life in Roman Paganism^ 1922.
On Arelate and Narbo and their bourgeoisie^ stc iht articles of Heron de
Villefosse and the book of L. A. Constans quoted in note 22.
Notes : Chapter V
536
; See note 24.
29 ^^ survey of the inter-provincial and foreign trade of Egypt has been
given by Louis C. West, ‘Phases of Commercial Life in Roman Egypt,’ in/. S.,
7 (1917), p. 45 ff. It is to be regretted that this study is only a fragment. It gives
no list of articles exported from Egypt to the other provinces of the Roman
Empire. Mr, West should have taken the trouble to compare his lists with
similar lists made by other scholars: he would have found that the lists of
M. Chwostow showing the articles exported from Egypt to South Africa, Arabia,
India, and China, and ipiported to Egypt from these lands are more complete
than his own. Cp. M. P. Charles worth, 1. 1 ., p. 16 IF.
V, Parvan, 1 . L, p. 79 ff. The classical example of a shrewd and successful
Oriental merchant is Flavius Zeuxis of Hierapolis in Phrygia. He sailed to
Rome from Asia Minor seventy-two times, Dittenberger, SylL^^ 1229. Less well
known is another sea merchant and navicularius Flavius Longinus of Dyrrhachium.
In his inscription adorned with a picture of a sailing-boat he says; iym Se] TroXXa
7 r€pt 7 r\€v[(rns woWh plover e Us | [vir]rjpeTri(ras (C. Praschniker and A. Schober,
‘ Archaeologische Forschungen in Albanien,’ in Schriften der Balkan-Kommission^
8 (1919), p. 45, nos. 57 and 57 ut, 1. 9 ff). His Greek is poor and he was
certainly not*an educateci man, but he was rich and influential, as is shown by
his remark on his services to his city in the capacity of magistrate. Another rich
shipowner was L. Erastus of Ephesus, who repeatedly lent his services to the
Roman governors of Asia, and twice carried the Emperor Hadrian to and from
Ephesus in his own ship, Dittenberger, ibid., 838 (a.d. 129). A fine testimony
to the lively maritime commerce of the imperial period is furnished by the inscrip-
tions on the rocks of a little harbour in the region of the Acroceraunian moun-
tains in Macedonia, where sailors saved by the Dioscuri recorded their thanks in
scores of inscriptions both in Greek and in Latin, C/G., 1824-7 J C/L., iii, 582-4;
Heuzey and Daumet, Mission arcMologique en Macedoine^ p. 407 ; C. Patsch, ‘ Das
Sandschak Berat in Albanien,’ in Schr, a, Balkan-Komm., 3 (1904), p. 91 ff.
On the itafisaiion of internal commerce in Egypt under the Ptolemies see
my Large Estate in Egypt^ p. ii7ff. For the Roman period there are some
remarks in U. Wilcken, Grundzuge, p. 262ff., and W. SchubBit, Einf pi hnmg,
p. 430. On the commerce in textiles and in paper, see my review of M. Chwostow’s
Studies in the Organization of Industry and Commerce in Greco-Roman Egypt,
vol. i, The Textile Industry^ Kazan, 1914, in of the Min, of Education of
Russia^ 53 (X914), no. 10, p. 362 ff. (in Russian). A revival of Hatisation began in
the time of Septimius Severus, as is shown by his creation of a special branch
of the ratio patrimonii— ‘Anabolicum’. A certain part of the produce of the
most important industries of Egypt (glass, paper, linen, hemp) was levied from
the producers by the state and exported en bloc to Rome and partly to Gaul,
probably for the use of the Rhine army. Thus a large part of the export trade
was monopolized by the state, and these conditions affected also the organization
of commerce within the province. However, no monopoly was introduced even
by the emperors of the 3rd cent. See my articles in Rom, Mitth., ii (1896),
p. 317 ff.; in Woch,f kl, Phil,, 1900, p. 115 ; my Catalogue des plombs de la Bibl.
Nationale, p. 10; F. Zucker in PhiloL, 70 (1911), p. 79 ff.; Axel W. Persson, Staat
und Manufaktur im romischen Reiche, Lund, 1923, p. 35.
P. Girard, Manuel iUmentaire du droit romain, 6® ed., 1918, p. iii-iv, titre i,
Ch. 11,3; E. Cuq, Manuel d' institutions romaines, 1917, p. 493 ff. ; W. W. Buckland’
A Text-book of Roman Law from Augustus to Justinian, 1921, p. 504 (without
quotation of modern works on the subject).
The inscriptions of the merchants of Palmyra may be found in Dittenberger,
Or, gr, Inscr., 632, 633, 638, 646 ; 1 , G,R,R,, iii, 1050-2, cp. 1538. Good translations
of the Palmyrene texts in J . B. Chabot, CAoix ^inscriptions de Palmyre, p. 59 ff.
It is not impossible that the same Babylonian and Persian traditions persisted
in Asia Minor, see LG,R.R,, iy, 796 (Apamea in Phrygia) ; ifXTtopLdpxr} . . .
anovhacravrm k! rS>v (tvpPlchtcop ks dWtatf, Apropos of the Palmyrene merchants,
Notes : Chapter V 537
we should bear in mind what a peculiar system the caravan-trade is and what
a marvel of organization a caravan represents, see P. Havelin, Essai histonque
sur k droit des marckSs et des foires, 1897, p. 49 fF., esp. p. 50 : ‘ La caravane forme
un groupement distinct des groupements qu’elle traverse; elle constitue un
organisme social complet ; elle a en elle tons les elements de defense, d’admini-
stration, d’autorite, de justice, qui constituent le marche et la ville. . . , Les
difficultes qui peuvent surgir parmi les voyageurs sont tranches par-devant le
chef ou par-devant un tribunal particulier/ Such a peculiar social and economic
body certainly established special laws and a special organization in the places
which were its head-quarters and formed the starting-points of its journeys. To
Italy and Greece the caravan system was wholly alien, and therefore neither
Greek nor Roman law says anything about it. On the parchments of Doura, of
which the most important are a law on successions ol the Seleucid period, in
a copy of Roman times, and two contracts of 195 and 189 b.c., see B. Haussoullier
in Rev. hist du droit frangais et Granger., 1923, p. 515 IF., and F. Cumont in C. R.
Acad. Inscr.^ 1923, p* 436 ff.
The great importance of commerce by sea is shown by the enormous sums
which the emperors and the cities spent on the improvement of the old ports and
the creation of new ones, with all the novel devices introduced by the perfected
engineering technique of the Hellenistic period. Note also that hundreds of
lighthouses were built on the most important points of the Mediterranean shores.
On the harbours, see K. Lehmann-Hartleben, ^ Die antiken Hafenanlagen des
Mittelmeeres,’ in Klio^ Beiheft 14, 1923. On the lighthouses, R. Henning and
Buchwald in Weliverkehr und Weltwirtschaft (periodical), 1912, and in Prometheus
(periodical), 1912, cp. H. Thiersch, ‘ GriechischeLeuchtfeuer,Tnya/2rZ>., 1915, p. 213 IF.,
and also in Arch. Ahb., 1915, p. 52. To realize the great development of river
commerce, note the detailed differentiation of the various types of river-boats and
river-ships in the well-known mosaic of Althiburos in Africa (P. Gauckler, ‘Un
catalogue de la batellerie greco-romaine,’ in Mon. et Mim. Piot, 12 (1905), p. ii3ff.,
cp. Assmann in Jahrb., 1906, p. 107 ff; H. Dessau, /. L. S., 9456; Inventaire des
mosaiques de la Gaule et de V A frique^ no. 576). It is very probable that the pictures
of this mosaic were taken from an illustrated catalogue of ships, of which remains
still exist in the works of A. Gellius, Nonius, and Isidorus of Seville (reproduced
on our pi. XXII). In the same way the mosaics which represent Orpheus charming
the animals, the upper part of the famous mosaic of Palestrina, and of some
paintings in a recently discovered tomb of the Hellenistic period at Marissa in
Palestine (J. P. Peters and H. Thiersch, Painted Tombs in the Necropolis of Marissa,
1905, pi. VII-XV), were all influenced by illustrated treatises on zoology ; and
the fish mosaics all over the Greco-Roman world drew the figures of the fishes
from illustrated treatises of ichthyology. The fact that in the mosaic of Althiburos
there are no special names of Egyptian boats but many names of Celtic and Italian
boats shows that the ship-catalogue had been compiled in Italy from a Hellen-
istic, not an Alexandrian, source by a man who knew both Italy and Gaul. I should
suggest a man like Verrius Flaccus rather than Varro. Cp. on the river commerce
of Gaul C. Jullian, Histoire, v, p. 161 ff., and L. Bonnard, La navigation inierieure de
la Gaule d Pepoque romaine,
A good survey of the importance of industry in the economic life of the
early Empire, especially for the end of the 1st cent, and the first half of the
2nd cent a.d., based on a careful collection of evidence from the novelists and
poets of this time (especially Petronius, Martial, and Juvenal) is given by
Miss E. H. Brewster, Roman Craftsmen and Tradesmen of the early Roman Empire,
1917, p. 94 ft'. The author is right in assigning a large part in economic and
social life to industry and commerce (I should say ‘to commerce and industry’).
But the levelling policy of the emperors had nothing to do with the growing
importance of the bourgeois class. It was the result of the existence of the Roman
world-empire and of the reign of peace which had lasted about two centuries,
Jullian, Histoire, v, p. 216 ff.; on pottery, p. 2640!; on glass, p. 29off. ;
on metals, p. 300 ft'., with a complete up-to-date bibliography. One of our most
538 Notes: Chapter V
important sources of information is the innumerable funeral monuments of Gaul,
which reproduce the portraits of the deceased and of the members of their
families, with the attributes of their craft, and very often z.' genre scene showing
the deceased in his workshop (see our plates XXIll and XXV). The character-
istics of the economic life of Gaul are illustrated by a comparison of these bas-
reliefs, as collected by E. Esperandieu, with the funeral monuments of the Rhine
and the Moselle (see note 26). The Moselle and Rhine lands were centres of
a lively commerce en gros\ the cities of Gaul were centres of a prosperous
industry, which worked both for the local market and for export. The scenes
on the tombstones may suggest that the industrial work was done mostly in
small shops by artisans, but the facts that the reliefs were modelled on existing
patterns borrowed from Italy, and that they repeated everywhere the same types,
prevent us from laying too much stress on this point. The character of the
scene represented on the funeral stelae indicates the craft of the deceased in
general, and does not necessarily imply that he was an artisan rather than an
owner of a large workshop or of many workshops. We know, moreover, that
the centres of pottery production in Gaul show the characteristic features of
a large industrial settlement organized on capitalistic lines (note 38). It is note-
worthy that, while scenes of industrial life form the outstanding feature of the
Gallic tombstones, they are much less common in the Danube lands and in
Spain, and never appear in Africa or Britain. Evidently this proves the leading
part played by Gaul and Northern Italy in the industrial life of the Roman
Empire, and testifies to a much slower development of industry in the other
provinces of the West. In the East the fashion of representing the craft of
the deceased on his tombstone never took firm root, and this reflects the
difference in the conceptions of labour and in its organization, cp. note 43.
On the history of the African lamp-making industry, see the excellent article
of Dr, L. Carton, ‘ Les fabriques de lampes dans Pancienne Afrique,’ in Bull de la
Soc, de G^ogr, et dArchiologie de la province d'Oran, 36 (144), Oran, 1916, cp. idem,
‘ L’art indigene sur les lampes de la colonia Thuburnica,’ in Mim. de la Soc. des
Ant. de France, 1913, p, laiff. The same story is repeated in Gaul, see
S. Loeschke, Lampen aus Vindonissa, 1919; cp, F. Fremersdorf, Bild-
lampen, 1922. On the factory of bas-relief vases, see A. Merlin, ^ Note sur des
vases a figures provenant de la fabrique romaine d’El Aouja,’ in BulL arch, du Com.
d. trav. hist, 1920, p, 21 If. It would be easy to follow the same movement of
emancipation both in Britain and in Belgium and Germany, as has been done by
F. Haverfield, F. Cumont, H. Dragendorff, and F. Koepp; see the books quoted
in note 4.
T. Frank, ‘Some Economic Data from C/Z-., voL xv’, in Class. Phil., 13
(1918), p. iSfifi-* repeated both in his Economic History and in his History of
Rome:, H. Gummerus in Pauly-Wissowa, ix, p. i483ff. Cp. note 36. A very
important source of information foif the organization of big industrial concerns
in Gaul is the graffiti of La Graufesenque, Aveyron (accounts of the pottery
delivered by the individual workmen), Abbe F. Hermet, Les grafftes de la Grau-
fesenque pres Millau, Aveyron, 1923 ; cp. Rev. Arch., 3 (1904), p. 74 fi'., and Loth in
C. R. Acad. Inscr., 1924, p. 67 ff. In this article Loth deals with the graffito of
Blickweiler in the Palatinate, which is of exactly the same kind as thQ graffiti
of Graufesenque. Like the other remains of the place, it testifies to the existence
of a large pottery factory at Blickweiler (vicus Mediomatricorum) ; cp. O. Bohn in
Germania, 1919, Heft 27.
On the villa of Chiragan in Gaul, see L. Joulin, ‘Les etablissements gallo-
romains de la plaine de Martres Tolosanes,’ in Mim. pris. d tAcad., ii (1902),
pp. 287, 367, pi. 1 , nos. 63-72 ; H. Gummerus in Pauly-Wissowa, ix, p. 1461 ;
G. Lafaye in Daremberg and Saglio, ix, p. 888. The villa of Darenth in Britain :
G. Payne, ‘The Roman Villa at Darenth,’ \o.Arch. Cantiana, 22 (1897), p, 49 ff.
The villa of Chedworth : G. E. Fox, ‘The Roman Villa at Chedworth, Gloucester-
shire,’ in Arch. Journal, 44 (1887), p. 322 ff.;. cp, his ‘Notes on some probable
Traces of Roman Fulling in Britain’ in Archaeologia, 59, 2 (1905), p. 207 ff.
Notes : Chapte
I accept Fox’s conclusions and cannot believe that the large rooms of the villa
were a laundry or a fiillery for the use of a big villa, see F. Haverfield in Trans.
Bristol and Gloucestershire Arch. Soc., 41 (1918-19), p. 161. Cp. the interesting
villa, with some industrial buildings (peculiar T-shaped kilns) inside the walls of
a large courtyard, in the Hambleden Valley, Bucks., see A. H. Cocks in Archaeo-
logia, 71 (1921), p. 142 ff. It is very likely that the famous Batavian and Frisian
cloths, which were widely distributed throughout the Roman Empire, were
produced on the large estates of the Batavian and Frisian landowners, see
G. Girke, in Mannus Biblioihek^ 24 (1922), p. ii. On the Villa d’Anthee, A. Bequet
in Ann. de la Soc. arch, de Namur., 24 (1900-4), p. 262 ff. ; F. Cumont, Comment la
Belgique fut romanisee, pp. 75, 80. I have seen a map and a model of another
Belgian villa with some pottery kilns in the new Gallo-Roman Museum of
Brussels : the report on the excavation of this villa is not yet published. On
Germany, see K. Schumacher, Siedelungs- und Kultiirgeschichte der Rheinlande,
vol. ii, 1923, p. 199. One of the largest factories of African lamps may have been
situated on one of the estates of the family of the Pulaieni. On mines in the
large estates worked by slaves, which were sometimes connected (as in the villa
of Anthee) with a factory of metal implements, see Dig., 39, 4, 16, ii. ^ Assuming
that the management of a fullery required no particular technical skill and that
cheap labour was available, especially in winter time, it is easy to understand why
the rich landowners preferred to manufacture the wool produced by their estates
and that which they purchased from shepherds in the vicinity rather than sell
the raw material to the merchants of the city. The same observation applies to
pottery. It is probable that the production of enamelled bronzes in the villa of
Anthee (a geographical not a personal name) was due to the existence in the
neighbourhood of the raw material used both for bronze and for glass. The fact
in itself implied, however, further decentralization of industry. The same com-
bination of a large estate and a factory occurs in the case of the great factories of
tiles, bricks, and jars which were so common in Italy in the ist and 2nd cent, a.d.,
cp. note 35. The most brilliant period for the development of industrial concerns
on large estates was, of course, the late Roman Empire. See the material
collected by P. Allard in Rev. d. Quest, Hist,, 81 (1907), p. 12 ff.
F. Oswald and T. D. Pryce, An Introduction to the Study of Terra Sigillata,
ig20, cp. the bibliography in K. Schumacher, 1 . L, p. 346, note 60.
On the labour employed in industry (both slave and free) see H. Gummerus
in Pauly- Wissowa, ix, p. 1496 ff. It is probable that the amount of free labour
gradually increased, especially in the West, in the 2nd cent. a. d. as compared
with the 1st. On the East, see notes 42-4. On the collegia tenuiorum, see the
works quoted in note 22.
Lists of these corporations may be found in F. Oehler, ^ Genossenschaften
in Kleinasien und Syrien,’ Eranos Vindobonensis, p. 276 ff. ; V. Chapot, La
province romaine cPAsie, p. 168 f. ; Poland, Geschichte des griechischen Vereinswesens,
p. ii6ff. ; Stockle in Pauly- Wissowa, Suppl. iv (1924), p. 162 ff (antiquated and
inadequate ; he ignores the articles of Keil and Buckler, and 1 . G. R. R,), The
treatment of the corporations in existing works is wholly inadequate, being
merely systematic and not historical. The professional corporations in Greece,
Asia Minor, Syria, Mesopotamia, and Egypt cannot be treated historically as a
unit even in the period of the Roman Enmire, The main centres of woollen
industry were Laodicea ad Lycum (W. M^ Ramsay, Cities and Bishoprics, vol. i,
p. 40 ff), Hierapolis (C, Cichorius, Die Alterlumer von Hierapolis, p. 49 ff), and
Thyatira (the inscriptions of its professional associations have been fully collected
and enriched by some new texts by W. Buckler,^ Monuments de Thyatire,’ in Rev.
de phiL, 37 (1913), p. 289 ff. ; the most important was that of the ^acpeh). . To the
lists cited above add J. Keil and A, von Premerstein, /// Z)ny/^ [Denkschr.
Wien. Akad., 57), pp. 14, 15: rrjs avfj^^i^O'etos it pocrod^ yl/^iKaymCpcolv crvvepyaata] ;
ypnipfts at Pergamon, Ath. Miith., 27 (1^2), p. 102. The labour employed by the
shopowners was to a great extent servile. This is shown by the embassy sent by
the province of Asia to the emperor to ,ask for the reduction of the veciigaL
540 Notes : Chapter V
vicesittuie (probably libertaiis), I. G. R. R., iv, 1236, found at Thyatira (cp. V. Chapot,
La province, &c., p. 335), and by a similar embassy from Rhodes undertaken by
a sophist P. Aurelianus Nicostratus (A. Maiuri in Ann. d.N./Sc.' Arch, di Atene,2,
(1916), p. 176, no. 19), as well as by another inscription of Thyatira, /. G.R. R.y
iv, 1257 ; Dittenberger, Or. Gr.,, 524: ol rov a-raraptov ipyao-ral (Cal 7 rpo^€pr}ral ampdrmv
€Tiprjcrav Kal dv€$r)Kap ’ AXe^av^pop ^ AXt^dvbpov cr^paTepTropov* The Ege-old organization
of trades in Asia Minor, with special hereditary presidents of the various crafts,
is attested by the inscription of Thyatira, /. G. R. i?., iv, 1265: imo-Trjcrdpepop rov
epydu ^a(f>€(t>p diro yevovs. On the Xtpovpyot in Tarsus, Dio Chr., Or., 34» j
H. von Arnim, LL, p. 491. The Xipovpyoi were freeborn people, residing in the
city tor generations, and yet they had not the city franchise and were despised
by the rest of the population.
The best study of the organization of a trade in Egypt is M. Chwostow, The
Textile Industry in Greco-Roman Egypt, Kazan, 1913 (in Russian); cp. T. Rail,
Beitrdge mr Kenntnis des Gewerbes im hellenistischen Aegypten, 1913 ; W. Schubart,
Einfuhrung, p. 428 f. ; W. L. Westermann, ‘ Apprentice Contracts and the Appren-
tice System in Komaii Egypt,’ in Class. Phil., 9 (1914), p- 295 ff. ; Axel W. Persson,
Staat und Manufakiur im rbmtschen Reiche, Lund, 1923. On the Phoenician glass
industry, R. Dussaud in Syria, i (1920), p. 230 ff. (concerning a new glass factory,
that of Jason, to be added to those of Ennion and Artas). A branch of industry
typical of Alexandria and Egypt has recently been carefully investigated by
A. Schmidt, Drogen und Drogenhandel im Aliertmn, 1924. I have not yet been
able to see the book. On the monopoly of dpa>para in Ptolemaic Egypt, see the
new Berlin papyrus recently illustrated by U. Wilcken in a paper read before
the Academy of Berlin, Phil. JVoch., 1924, p. 1305.
Dio Chr,, Or., 34, 21-3 (Tarsus) and the Bithynian speeches passim', Polemon
as peacemaker between the men of ‘the upland’ (ol dvol) and those of ‘ the shore’
at Smyrna, Philostr., Vitae Soph., i. 25. i ; bread-riot at Aspendos quelled by
Apollonius, Phil, Vita Apollonii, i. 15; Ael. Arist, *Po8i'oiff rrepl opopoias (Or., 24 k),
5 and passim, cp. Or., 22 ; Uapriy. Kvf. (On, 27 k), 44. The social problem as such,
the cleavage between the poor and the rich, occupies a prominent place in the
dialogues of Lucian ; he was fully aware of the importance of the problem, see
C. Tertullien, 1901, p. 31211 See also the inscription of Pergamon
quoted above, Ath. Miifk, 24 (1899), p. 197 ff. ; /. G. R. R., iv, 444; cp. ibid., iv,
914 (about A. D. 74), 9 f.; KaraXiVa^Ira ovp[co\po(rLap piydXrjP ra piyierra XvTrovcrav rrjp
TToXip. Is avpoopoa-ia a Strike ? The evidence on strikes in Asia Minor has been
collected, and the epigraphical texts thoroughly revised, by W. H. Buckler,
‘ Labour Disputes in the Province of Asia Minor,’ in Anatolian Studies presented to
Sn William Ramsay, 1923, p. 27 ff. Of the four texts which are dealt with by
Buckler, the inscription of Ephesus (p. 30, cp. Inschr. von Magnesia, no. 114,
Waltzing, Corporations professionelles, &c., vol. iii, p. 491) deals with a strike of
the bakers, i. e. of the owners of bakeries ; the ipyacrTrjpidpxai of 1. 16 means the shop-
managers, who were mostly identical with the shopowners. The disturbance was
of the same kind as those connected with the activity of the bankers at Pergamon
and at Mylasa (see note 46), the bakers being, like the bankers, concessionaires
of the city, or working under a special authorization of the city magistrates and
the city council. The same relations existed between the shipowners of Arelate
(navicularii) and the praefectus annonae, i.e. the state, as is shown by the inscrip-
tion quoted by Buckler on p. 29, on which see Ch. VIII, note 37, and Ch. IX, note 20.
A real strike of workmen seems to be recorded in the inscription of Pergamon
quoted above, while the case of Miletus (Sitzb. Berl. Akad.. 1904, p. 83; Buckler,
I. L, p. 34 ff) remains obscure to me and does not necessarily imply a strike. The
inscription of Sardis (Buckler, 1. L, p. 36 ff) of a. d. 429 belongs to a time w^heii
the corporations both of employers and of workmen had already become
enslaved. Buckler has not paid due attention to the form of oath (dpKos Oelos Kal
crf^mrpios, see P. Meyer, Jurist. Pap., no. 51) which the agreement assumes, a
form which seems to have originated in Egypt and reflects the peculiar position
of labour there. Cp. the opKoi ^acnX'iKnl, which were sworn by the Egyptian coloni,
a peculiar form of contract between the king or emperor and the humble tenants
Notes : Chapter V 541
(see my Studien z, Gesch, d. mnu KoL^ pp. 50 and 213; U. Wilcken, Grunds.y
p. 275, and C/2m'/ 5 no. 327). The oath taken by the tenants represented a special
agreement \^hich entitled them to receive seed-grain and contained many
obligations which restricted their freedom. Similar restrictions are usual in
the relations between all those efiTrcirX^ypLevoi rals Trpoo-o^ot? and the state. On
the oath in the papyri, see L, Wenger, in Zeitschr, d. Sav.'-St, Rechtsg.^ 1902,
p. 240; U. Wilcken in Zeitschr, f dg. Spr,, 48 (1911), p. 171. As regards our
special case, I may quote an interesting papyrus of a. d. 286 from Oxyrhynchus
(Pap, d, Soc. It.^ 162), where a workman engaged in the building trade takes an
oath to work at the construction of a bath in Alexandria, 1 . 10 : icai rrapapeipm ip tw
GKicraL KaTa(TK€va^oixip(p BaXa'ivico ntaoitpevos rf)v avr^v olKo\8op.iK^p T€)(vtjv irrl top mpidlfiipov
Kal d7roX€i^0r)\a€(rdai eorr’ dp diTo\v65>f cp. P. Oxyr,, 1426 (a. D. 33 ^)*
On the banks in Egypt, see F. Preisigke, Giroivesepi ifft griechischen Aegypten^
1910; idem, ^Zur Buchfuhrung der Banken,’ in Arch, f Papyn,, 4 (1907), p. 95;
W. Schubart, Einfiihrimg, pp. 426 If. and 433 f. ; cp. L. Mitteis, ‘Trapezitica/ in
Zeiischr. der Sav.- St, ^ Rom. Abt, 19 (1898), p. 198 ff., and B. Grenfell in P, Oxyr,,
vol. xiv (1920), p. 59 ff., who is certainly right in assuming that all the banks in
Egypt even in the ist and 2nd cent. a. d. were to a certain extent working on
behalf of the state. On the banks in Rome and in Italy, M. Voigt, ^ Ober die
Bankiers, die Buchfuhrung und die Litteralobligation der Romer,’ in Abh. d,
sacks. Ges., 23 (1888), p. 513 ff. ; R. Beigel, Rechmmgsivesen und Biichfuhrmtg der
Romer^ Karlsruhe, 1904 ; R. Herzog, Aus der (xeschichte des Bankwesens im
Aliertum, Tesserae mmmtiilariaei 1919 ; cp. M. Cary in J. R. S, 13 (1923), p. iioff.
On ancient banks in general, see Ch. Lecrivain in Daremberg and Saglio, v,
p. 407 ff., E. Weiss in Pauly- Wissowa, xi (1922), p. 1694!!'. and B. Laum, ibid.
Suppl. iv (1924), p. 68 ff. ; cp. p. qff. (art ‘Agio’), and Kiessling, ibid., p. 696 ff.
(art. ‘Giroverkebr’). The most interesting representation of a banker in his office
has been published by myself in Rom. Mitth,^ 26 (1911), p. 278 ff., fig. 2 ; cp. the
bas-relief of Arlon in E. Esperandieu, Bas-reliefs de la Gaule romaine^ vol. v, p. 228,
no. 4037. Banking operations were also transacted by the big merchants and
landowners of the Rhine and of the Moselle, see F. Drexel in Rom, Mitth.y 35
(1920), pp. 97, 113, and 115. See our plates XXVI, XXIX, XXXIII. An interesting
feature of the economic life of the Empire is the survival of the large and in-
fluential temples as banking concerns. The importance of their banking activities
alike in the period of the Oriental monarchies and in the age of the Greek city-
states is well known. In the Hellenistic period this importance was at least
maintained (witness the banking business transacted at Delos, Delphi, the temple
of Artemis at Sardis, and the temple of Jerusalem, Macc. II, 3; IV, 4). Under
the Roman Empire a decline set in. But the temple of Jerusalem continued to
be the place where Jews, both rich and poor, kept their money on deposit, Jos.,
Bell. lud.f vi, 282 ; H. Drexler in Klio, 19 (1924), p. 284, note i. On the banks of
Ephesus, uF. iii, no. 65.
On the Roman coinage in the time of the early Empire, see the good short
survey of B. Pick in Handworferbuch d, Staatswiss,^ vol. vi (1910), p. 835 fl'., with
a useful bibliography, and H. Mattingly’s excellent ‘ Introduction’ to his Coins of
the Roman Empire in the British Museum, i, 1923. The rescript of Hadrian (?) to
the traders of Pergamon who complained about the illegal exactions of the city
bankers : Dittenberger, Or.gr. inscr., 484, cp. Add , p. 552 ; B. Keil in Ath, Miith,,
29 (1904), p. 73ff'. ; R. Cagnat, 1. G. R. R,, iv, 352. Ihe address of the city of
Myiasa to the emperor Septimius Severus, containing the decree of the council
and the people of Myiasa regulating the activity of the city bankers, Dittenberger,
Or. gr. inscr., 515 ; Th. Reinach in B. C H., 20 (1896), p. 523, and in VHistoire
par les pnonnaies, 1902, p. 194 ff. Reinach ’s article gives the best survey of our
knowledge about the activity of the banks in the Greek cities both in the
Hellenistic and in the Roman period. Cp. on the banks as money-changers
P. Oxyr., 141 1 (a. D. 260), and Epict., Biss., 3 } 3 > 3 • ro rov Kaicrapot popicrpa ovK e^ecTTLV
mroboKipdam r<p rpaTr^^irrj ovde T(W \a^apoTr<aXTj^ dkX* cw iSiX^t ov SiXet, TTpoitrSai
avTop d€L TO dvT avTov TrmXovfiepop, cp. H. Willers, GescMchte der romischen Kupfer-^
prdgung, p. 190 ff. ; H. Mattingly, 1 . 1 ., i, p. xxii
Notes : Chapter V
M. RostovtzeftV The Roman Leaden Tesserae^ St. Petersburg, 1903 (iti Russian) ;
lA^myTesserarum plumbeamm Urbis Romae et suhurhi Sylloge, 1903, and SuppL I,
1904; idem, 'RSmische Bleitesserae,* in KUo^ Beiheft 3, 1905; G. Lafaye in
Daremberg and Saglio, v, p. 132 K On the Egyptian leaden tokens, J. G. Milne,
in the Numism.aiic Chronicle, 1908, p. 287 tf., cp. idem mjourn. of Eg. Arck.yi (1914),
p. 93!!., and in Ancient Egypt, 1915, p. 107 ff. The leaden tesserae in Egypt
served the same purpose as in Rome and were issued both by the different
distriets of Egypt and by the temples and large estates; some were certainly
used by private business men. On the scarcity of small currency in the early
Roman Empire, see H. Mattingly, Coins of the R. E., i, p. cl, cp. p. clxiii.
Scr. Hist Aug, Hadr., 7, sff : ‘ ad colligendam autem gratiam nihil praeter-
mittens, infinitam pecuniam quae fisco debebatur privatis debitoribus in urbe atque
Italia, in provinciis vero ex reliquiis ingentes summas remisit, syngraphis in foro
divi Traiani quo magis securitas omnibus roboraretur incensis ’ ; cp. Cass. Dio, 69, 8.
The remark on the arrears of the provincials and on the syngraphae shows that
the debts to the fiscus which Hadrian had in view were private debts, and these
imply credit operations on its part; cp. Scr, Hist Aug, Marcus Aur., 23, 3,
a very brief remark which implies gifts rather than loans. On the loan of Tiberius,
T^c., Ann., vu 17: ‘eversio rei familiaris dignitatem ac famam praeceps dabat,
donee tulit opem Caesar disposito per mensas milies sestertio factaque mutuandi
copia sine usuris per triennium, si debitor populo in duplum praediis cavisset ’ ;
cp. the notes of H. Furneaux and K. Nipperdey, and Cass. Dio, 58, 21, 5. The
mensae are certainly mensae f scales, i.e. offices of the /tscus in various parts of
the city, which received payments due to the fscus. They strictly corresponded,
therefore, to the Egyptian rpaneCai of the Ptolemaic period, which also were at once
branches of the Treasury and banks, and which partly survived in Roman times,
see O. Hirschfeld, K. Verwaltungsh., pp. 58 If., 72 f., and 126, and also my
article VFiscus’, in Ruggiero, £>/>. epigr.,v^hexe the evidence on the provincial
mensae 1% collected. On the money which was given by Augustus to found the
aerarium miliiare, see Mon. Ancyr., iii. 35-”9; and the other mentions of this gift
collected by Th. Mommsen, ad loc, ; cp. O. Hirschfeld, 1 . L, p. 2. We shall speak of
the alimenta in the Vlllth chapter. It is worthy of note that Cassius Dio in the
well-known speech of Maecenas (52, 14 ff.) advocates the creation of a state bank
which would lend money at a moderate rate of interest to everybody, especially
to landowners. The capital of the bank should consist of the money which
would be realized by the sale of all the properties of the state.
L. Mitteis, ‘ RSmisches Privatrecht bis auf die Zeit Diokletians. 1 . Grundbe-
mffe und Lehre von den juristischen Personen ^ in Binding, Handbuch d. deuischen
Kechtswiss., I, 6, vol. i, 191^. On L. Mitteis, see L. Wenger, Ludwig Mitteis und
sein Werk, Vienna, 1923.
L. Mitteis, Reichsrecht und Volksrecht in den ostlichen Provinzen des rdmischen
Kaiserreichs, 1891. Of capital importance for the understanding of the Syrian
version of the Hellenistic law, which was embodied in the ^ Syrian law-book
is the document recently found by F. Cumont in Doura (law on successions
belonging to the Seleucid period); see B. Haussoullier in Rev. Hist du droit frangais
et Stranger, 1923, p. 515 ff. Cp. the extremely important new document of 195 b.c.
published by F. Cumont in Rev, de Phil., 48 (1924), p. 97 ff.
P. Collinet, ‘The general problems raised by the codification of Justinian,’
in Tijdschrift voor Geschiedenis,
The best general surveys may be found in L. Wenger, ‘ Uber Papyri und
Gesetzrecht,’ in Siissb. bayr, Akad. fViss., 191^ 5, and in W, Schubart, Einfuh-
rung, p, 277 ff. Cp. P. M. M.eyex,Juristische Papyri, 1920; A. B. Schwarz, ‘Die
offentliche und private Urkunde im rdmischen Aegypten,’ in Abh. sdchs. Ges.
d. Wiss,, 31, no. 3, 1920, and Fr. von Woess, Untersuchungen uber das JJrkunden-
wesen und den PvibUmtdtsschutz im rdmischen Aegypten, 1924. One of the most
instructive documents, which shows the gradual adaptation to each' other of the
local Greco- Egyptian and the Roman civil law, is the newly discovered ‘ Gnomon
Notes : Chapter V 543
idiou logou’ ’iSioi; Adyou), a ‘Code of Regulations which Augustus issued
ibr one of the financial departments which he found already existing, the tSio?
Xdyoy or Department of Special Revenues derived from fines, escheats and con-
fiscations’ (H. Stuart Jones in The Legacy of Rome ^ p. 113). On this document,
which was first published by E. Seckel and W. Schubart, ‘ Der Gnomon des
Idios Logos,’ in G. U., vol. v, i (1919)— cp, Plaumann, ‘Der Idios Logos,’
in A bit. BerL Akad.^ 1918, no. 17, and P. M. Meyer, Jurist. Pap.^ no. 93— there
exists already a large literature : W. Schubart, ‘Rom und die Aegj^pter nach dem
Gnomon des Idios L9gos,’ in Zeiischr.f. dg. Spr., 56 (1920), p. Son. ; Th. Reinach,
‘ Un code fiscal de I’Egypte romaine,’ in Nouv. Rev. hist, du droit Jr. et etr..^ 1921
(cp. J. Carcopino in Rev. et. anc.^ 1922, p. loi ff., and p. 21 1 ff.) ; H. Stuart Jones,
Fresh Light on Roman Bureaucracy^ Oxford, 1920; V. Ararigio-Ruiz, ‘Un “liber
mandatorum” da Augusto ad Antonino,’ in Atene e RomUy'^ (1922), p. 216 ff ;
O. Lenel and J. Partsch in Sitt^b. Heid. Akad., 1920, no. i.
A short general survey of Roman law, both the ius civile and the ius genfium^
may be found in F. de Zulueta, ‘The Science of Law,’ in The Legacy of Rome ^
p. 173 ff. On commercial legislation, L. Goldschmidt, Universalgeschkhte des
Handelsrechts^vol. i, T,i89i,ed.3, p.58ff.; P. Rehme, ‘Geschichte desHandelsrechts,’
in Ehrenberg, Handbuch des Handelsr edits ^ vol. i (1913), 4-21 ; P. Huvelin, Lhistoire
dll droit commercial, 1904. Unfortunately there is no adequate recejit treatment
by a specialist of the important subject of the development of ancient commercial
law. Valuable as they are, the short surveys of Goldschmidt, Rehme, and Huvelin
are antiquated and do not take account of the vast amount of information which
has recently been furnished by inscriptions and papyri as well as by some
archaeological material (viz. the inscriptions on the so-called ‘ instrumentiim
domesticum’, which should be studied in connexion with the ‘ instrumentum ’
itself). But it will be useful to quote here the excellent summary given in
1891 by Goldschmidt, which shows how thoroughly adequate the Roman civil law
was to the requirements of the most complicated business life. ‘ The ordinary
civil law was universal and elastic, it had been worked out to the last detail with
the utmost technical skill, and it was based on the highest ethical principles*
In the administration of justice the general rule was to decide according to bona
/ides, with the result that account could freely be taken of changes in commercial
practice and of the intention of the parties so far as discoverable. On the one
hand, practice was scientific ; and, on the other, legal theory was steadily directed
to practical application, and derived its materials from a careful and penetrating
observation of actual life. Hence, though no system of “political economy”
had as yet been propounded, there was a clearer recognition than is often
shown to-day of the essential functions of value, money, credit, and transactions
based on credit, barter, loans of specific things and loans of capital, partnership,
and so forth. The cities, at least outside Italy, still enjoyed a wide autonomy,
and commercial practice as well as local and provincial customary law were
unreservedly recognized. The jury-system of the civil procedure was excellent,
the division between ius and iudidum \ methods of proof w^ere unfettered
by rules, and the execution of judgements was thoroughly effective. Such being
the ordinary civil law, there was neither room nor need for a special commercial
code, nor for a special commercial court. Cases where state interests demanded
special consideration were, however, governed by a well-developed and ap-
propriate system of administrative lawl On the regulation of sea commerce,
R. Dareste, ‘ La lex Rhodia,’ in Nouv* Rev* hist du droit fr* et etr*, 29 (1903),
p. 429 ff., and idem in Rev. de PhiloL, 19 (1903), p. iff.; cp. L. Mitteis, Rom*
Privatrecht, i, p. 18 ; L, Goldschmidt in Zeitschrff d* ges* Handelsrecht, 35, p. 37 ff.
R. H. Lacey, The Equestrian Officials of Trajan and Hadrian, Princeton, 1917.
The policy of Hadrian in regard to the equestrian offices is well traced in this book
from the political point of view. It is a pity that in his useful prosopography of
knights of the time of Trajan and Hadrian Lacey says nothing of the families
to which the officers belonged and of the history of these families.
See the facts collected by M, Gelzer, ‘ Das Romertum als Kulturmacht,’
544 Notes: Chapter V
in Hist Zeitschriftyi 25 (1921), p. 204 ; cp. Hasebroek, Untersuckungen zur Geschichie
des Kaisers Septimim Sever us^ ^921, p. 116. I canpot accept toe theory of von
Domaszewski and Hasebroek that the statement in the biography of Severns
is a forgery. I see no reason whatever for such a forgery, and the statement
contains many facts which could not have been invented. The fact that Severus
himself spoke * African Latin * does not imply that the women of his family used
Latin in their domestic life. The father of Ausonius spoke Greek only (Aus.,
Epia in . pair. ^ ed. Peiper); the st^son of Apuleiiis spoke Punic only (ApuL,
95 ad fin.). Cp. E. Hohl in BmsideN s Jahresber.j 200 (1924), p. 205. An
investigation of the families of the city of Timgad, a colony of Trajan, carried out
by my pupil R. Johannesen, showed that most of those whose history we are
able to trace lasted for no more than two generations, just like the families of
the emperors of the 2nd cent.
On the collegia temiiorum see the works quoted in note 22; cp. F. F, Abbott,
The Common People of Ancient Rome, 1911. On the conditions of life among the
lower classes of the population of Rome, see L. Homo, Probiemes sociaux de jadis
etd'aprlsent^\g2.^,g,N]^‘
VI. The Roman Empire under the Flavians and the Anto-
nines. The City and the Country in Italy and in the
European Provinces of Rome.
^ Persistence of the native languages in Asia Minor: K. Holl, ‘ Das Fortleben
der Volkssprachen in Kleinasien in nachchristlicher Zeit,’ in Hermes, 43 (1908),
p. 24off. ; W. M. Ramsay, in Jahresh., 1905, p. 79 ff., W. M. Calder, iny. ri. S,, 31,
p. 161 if. (Phrygia); J. G. C. Anderson in /. //. 5., 19 (1899), p. 314
Sir W. M. Ramsay, Hist Comm, to Galatians, 1900, p. 147 ff., F. Staehelin, Gesch,
kkinas, Galater, 1907, p. 104 (Galatia) ; F. Cumont in Anatolian Studies, &c., i, p. 115,
note 1 (Armenia) ; in Celtic lands : F. Haverfleld, Romanimiton of Roman Britain,
ed. 4, p. 18; F. Cumont, Comment la Belgique fut romanisie, p. 95; C. Juilian,
Histoire de la Gaule, vol. iii, p. 521 ; in the Illyrian regions : C. Patsch, ‘ Historische
Wanderungen im Karst und an der Adria. 1. Herzegowina einst und jetzt,' in
Osten und Orient, Zw. R., vol. i, 1922, Wien, p. 95 (Hieronymus, Comment, vii
in Isaiam, 19, 292) ; in Africa: W. I. Snellmann, De interpretibus Romanorum, &c.,
1914, vol. i, p. 47 ff (on Apuleius, Septimius Severus, and Augustinus), cp. p. 50 ;
vol, ii, pp. io3, no, 112, 1 13, 119, 120, 129, 140, cp. A. Schulten, Das romische
Africa, pp. 12, 25 ff , 98 ; S. Gsell, Khamissa, 1914) P- 3X ff ; and Ch. V, note 55.
The persistence of Syrian and Arabic in the Near East and of the native language
in Egypt is proved by the well-known Syrian, Arabian, and Coptic renaissance
as soon as the Roman domination was nearing its end ; on the Coptic renaissance
see L. Wenger, ‘Ueber Papyri und Gesetzesrecht,' in Sitzb. Munch. Akad., 1914,
P- 17*
^ J. Toutain, Les cultes paiens dans t empire romain, vol. iii,
^ On the measures taken by the government to help the population and restore
the buried cities, see Cass. Dio, 66, 24. In fact, none of the buried cities was
rebuilt.
^ F. G. de Pachtere, La table hypothicaire de Veleia, 1920, cp. O. Kromayer
in Nme Jahrb. kl. AIL, 33 (1914), p. 145 ff, and against his calculations M. Besnier
in Rev, it. am., 24 (1922), p. ii8ff ; J. Carcopino, ‘La table de Veleia,' ibid., 23
(1921), p. 287 ff.
® W. Heitland, Agricola, the chapters on Juvenal and Pliny the Younger.
® See my Studien z. Gesch. d. rbm. KoL, p. 326 ff.
■ •- '
Notes : Chapter Cl
^ Cass. Dio, 68. 2, i ; Plin., Ep,, vii. 31, 4 ; Dessau, /. L. 5., 1019 ; 47, 21,
3, I ; cp. O. Seeck, Gesch, d. Unterg. d. ant Welt, voL i, p. 324 ff. (345 fF., ed. 2).
® See note 4; cp. H . Schiller, Gesch, d. rom, Kaiserseit, p. 566, note 4.
See my article ‘ Friinientum ’ in Pauly- Wissowa, vii, p. 137.
so Petersen and Luschan, Retsen^ nos. 242 and 242 a; Lebas-Waddington,
no. 1213; B. Laura, Die Stiftimgen, p. 162, 1. 9 IF. : ml €[^] abrrig ^['yjopafeVco Krrjcrets
(r€LTo[<j>j6povs, els aKXo [€]^[e(rT]oii Karaxprja-Bat rtj 7rpocr6d[a)] | [ra]ur[7j], [ffcjpl
rovrov rS avToKpdr[o\\pi Kal rfj orvyKXrjTcd [X]o[7]ou a7ro[S]o^[7]cro/x€[you], /. G. R. i?., iy,
914, cp. 915. On Kibyra, Ruge in Pauly- Wissowa, xi, p. 374 iF. The measure is
easily understood if we take into consideration how much the cities, and not only
the inland cities, of the Roman Empire depended on local grain production,
especially in times of frequent famine ; see Ch. V, note 9, and cp. Ch. VIII, note 20.
All the evidence on the ordinance of Domitian and an ingenious explanation
of the ordinance have been given by S. Reinach, ‘ La mevente des vins sous le
Haut Empire romain,’ in Rev, arch,, 1901 (ii), p. 350 ft'. ; cp, M. Besnier, ibid.,
1919 (ii), p. 34. On the lex Manciana and the lex Hadriana, see my Studien Gesch,
KoL, p. 321, note i, and p. 323. Though the law of Hadrian speaks of vine-
yards being planted on waste land, it does not grant any privileges to the planters
of vines, but such privileges are given to the planters of both olive and fruit
trees. The permission of Probus to cultivate vines in the provinces {Scr. Hist
Aug,, Prob., 18; Eutrop., 17; Aurel. Viet., de Caes,, N]y 2)5 cannot be a mere
invention. It must be emphasized, however, that vines were planted both in
Dalmatia and in the Danube provinces long before the time of Probus ; see,
e.g., C/L., hi, 6423 (Lissa) and 14493 (Celei in Dacia).
Bruns-Gradenwitz, Fontes, ed. 7, p. 300 ft*., no. 185, 3, 1. 6 ft'.; no. 116, 3,
1. 9 ft’. Africa as a producer of olive-oil, R. Cagnat, ‘L’annone d’Afrique,’ in
Mim, d, Hftst, {igi6),
18 Heitland, Agricola, the chapters on Martial and Pliny.
W. Heitland, Agricola, p. 325, and passim.
What has been said in the text as to the prevalence of the peasant plot in
the system of husbandry of the 2nd cent, is based on well-known evidence
which has often been collected, most recently by W. Heitland, Agricola, and
E. Kornemann in Pauly-Wissowa, Suppl. iv, p. 103 ft. ‘ Bauernstand ’), and
p. 240 ft. (art. ‘ Domanen ’) ; cp. the bibliography in the article ‘ Latifundia * by
Ch. Lecrivain, in Daremberg and Saglio, hi, p. 971, and the inscription of Ostia
recently published by G. Calza in Not d, Scavi, 1921, p. 236 : the ^ cultores Larum
et imaginum dominorum nostrorum invictissimorum Augustorum praediorum
Rusticelianorum ’ were probably the tenants of this imperial estate. On the
coloni and the habit of letting land to them together with some slaves, see
‘Tabula alimentaria Veleias’, in Dessau, I.L.S., 6675, xliii: ‘deductis reliquis
colonornm et usuris pecuniae et pretis mancipiorum, quae in inemptione eis
cesserunt’ ; cp, B. Kiibler in Festschrift fur Johannes Vahlen, 1900, p. 564 ft.
It is striking that the title colonus is added in funeral inscriptions to the names
of slaves, not of freemen, which shows that a slave colonus was not a common
feature in the life of Italy in the 2nd and 3rd cent, see CIL. vi, 9276 (‘laso
colonus fundo Mariano’) and x, 7957 (‘Proculus colonus’) ; cp. O. Seeck in
Pauly-Wissowa, iv, p. 487; P. Sticotti in Atti e Memorie della Societa Istriana
di Arch, e Storia Patria, 2.2. {1905), p. ii. Mentions of slave-managers of an
estate are more frequent, CIL,, x, 5081; ix, 3028 (‘Hippocrati Plauti vilic(o)
familia rust(ica) quibus imperavit modeste’) ; ix, 3651 (‘vilicus et familia de
fundo Favilleniano’) ; cp. P. Sticotti, I. L, p. ii, note 3. A full collection and
investigation of all the inscriptions bearing on the agricultural life of Italy in
imperial times is a pressing need.
See the Edictum Claudii de Anaunis, CIL., v, 5050; Dessau, I. L, S,, 206;
Bruns-Gradenwitz, Fontes, p. 253, no. 79, and the inscription of Tergeste, CIL.,
546 Notes : Chapter VI
y, 532; Dessau, /. L, S., 6680. Cp. Reid, The MunidpaUUes^ p. 166 IF., and on the
date, A. Piischi and P. Sticotti in Wiener Stud.^ 1902, p. 252 ff.; O, Cuntz in
18 (1915), p. pS IF.
A. Schulten, ‘'Die Landgemeinden im romischen Reiche,Mn FMo/., 7
{1894), p. 645 ; A. Grenier in Daremberg and Saglio, v, p. 854 ff. In Veil, e. g.,
the mimidpes extramurani are opposed to those iniramurmi, CIL.^ xi, 3797
and 37^; cp. E. de Ruggiero in Dist, Epigr^ vol ii (1922), p. 2195. A common
feature of the terminology of our juridical sources is the contrast between the
intramuram and the pagani, see Dig.y 50, i, 35; 50, i, 27 ; 10, 40, 3, where pagam
are small landowners and tenants, cp. Dig., ii, 4, 3: ‘praedia Caesaris, senate-
rum, paganorum ’ ; Schulten, 1 . L
On Sicily see the bibliography quoted in Ch. I, note 27, and Ch. II, note 26.
The recent article of Ziegler in Pauly-Wissowa, Zw. R., ii (1923), p. 2501 ff,,
depends entirely on A. Holm, Geschichte Sidliens, and ignores the works quoted
in the notes just referred to.
We have two descriptions of Sicily in the imperial period, that of Strabo,
vL 265 ff., and that of Pliny, N. H., hi. 88-91, I see no contradiction between
the first and the second part of the description of Strabo. In the first he points
out (probably following Posidonius) the decay of the Greek cities, a description
which held good even for the time of Augustus, as very few cities regained
prosperity; in the second he speaks of Sicily in general .and emphasizes its
role as the granary of Rome, The description of Pliny contrasts with the
evidence of Cicero in many points, and shows how thorough was the reorganiza-
tion of Sicily by Augustus and how shortlived the grants of Caesar and Antony,
if they were real grants and not intentions. Pliny committed many mistakes
in characterizing the status of the various cities of Sicily, but his description
of Sicily as a whole holds good. To one oppidum dvium Romanorum (Messana),
to five colonies (Tauromenium, Catina, Syracusae, Thermae, and Tyndaris), to
three cities of Latin right (Centuripae, Neetum, Segesta) are opposed 46 dvitates
sHpendiariae and 13 oppida, some of which had no city organization at all ; cp.
A. Holm, Gesch. Sidliens, vol. iii, pp. 228 ff., 469 ff. ; J. Beloch, Die Bev 6 lkerung der
f riedtisch^rdmisdien Welt, p. 325 ff. ; O. Cuntz in Klio, 6 (1906), p. 4W ff. ;
S. Jenison, The History of the Province Sicily, 1919, p, loi ff.
See my Gesch. d. Staatspacht, Y^. 425, and my article in Pauly-Wissowa, vii,
p. 153. The fact is attested by the inscriptions of C. Vibius Salutaris of Ephesus,
CIL., iii, 14195, 4''i3; cp. R. Heberdey, Forschungen in Ephesus, vol. li, 1912,
no. 28 (cp. no. ^ and no, 27). .
On the large estates in Sicily, see CIL., x, 7041 (Catina) : ‘ d. m. s. Gallicano
fidelissimo qui fuit vilicus Afinianis^; cp, the note of Mommsen, who quotes such
place-names in Sicily as Calloniana, Calvisiana, Capitoniana, Comitiana, Corconiana,
JPhilosophiana, Pitiniana, and L G., vol. xiv, 283, 284 ; 1 . G. R. R., i, 502 (Drepanum)
—two procurators, one freedman, and one slave of C. Asinius Nicomachus Fiavianus
(3rd cent). A village and an estate in the territory of Catina are attested by
a recently found Greco-Latin inscription, Wo/, d. Scavi, ig (1922), p. 494 fF ;
R. Sabbadini in Boll. d. JiL cl. 30, pp. 19-23. The imperial and public estates
were managed by imperial slaves, who are frequently mentioned in the in-
scriptions of Sicily: CIL., x, 6977, 7189; /. G. R. R., i.^^8 (near Selinuntum) ;
cp. CIL., X, 2489 (Lipara). On the revolt in Sicily under Gallienus, see Sen Hist
Aug., Gall, duo, 4, 9: ‘denique quasi coniuratione totius mundi concussis orbis
partibus etiam in Sicilia quasi quoddam servile bellum extitit latronibus eva-
gantibus qui vix oppressi sunt.’ Note that the text does not speak of a slave
war: it says ‘a war which might be compared with a slave war’, alluding no
doubt to the two famous wars of the Republican period. It is very likely that
the latrones who devastated Sicily were mostly peasants, coloni and shepherds of
the large estates, some of them slaves.
The evidence for the Romanization of Sardinia and Corsica, for the cities,
the tribes, and the large estates has been carefully collected and commented on
by E. Pais, Storia della Sardegna e della Corsica durante il dominio Romano, 1923,
Notes : Chapter VI ,
vol. i, p. 313 ff, especially p, 329 fF. ‘La dominazione Romana’, he says, ‘in-
tensifico probabilmente centri di abitazione nelle varie parte delF Isola, ma, fatta
eccezione per Uselis e Valentia, per Turris, per Gurulis Nova e qualche altre
localita, non creo niolte e nuove citta di schietto tipo romano. Essa, segnendo
assai probabilmente le norme deir antica signoria punka, favori invece la costi-
tuzione di aggregati rurali, di “ vici” e di “ villae ”, che spesso, come ad esempio
nel caso del castello e della cinta del Nuraghe Losa, si andarono svolgendo ed
intensificando intorno alle vetustissime costruzioni megalitiche.’ Cp. voL ii, p. 499 fF,
on the economic conditions which prevailed in Sardinia, and E. S. Bouchier,
Sardinia in Ancient Times ^ 1917 ; H. Philipp in Pauly- Wissowa, Zw. R., i, p. 2480.
A. Schulten, Tartessos, Hamburg, 1922, gives a good survey of the early
period of the history of Spain and a good bibliography ; cp. his articles ‘ Hispania ’
•I*-. "Drt 111 rr ^ AtriOiMne in ni/ain * in 7 •fiit' A
in Pauly-Wissowa and ‘Avienus in Spanien,’ in Zeifschrift fur AuslandskundCy
1921, p.9 7fF. ; O. Jessen, ‘Siidwest-Andalusien,’ in Petermanns Mittheilungeti^
Ergaiizungsh., 186 (1924), On the Phocaeans and Massaliotes in Spain, see Rhys
Carpenter, The Greeks in Spain (Bryn Mawr Notes and Monographs, VI), 1925.
Compare the important discovery of bronze weapons at Huelva, C. Jullian in
C. Acad. Inscr., 1923, p. 203 IF., which testify to a large export from Huelva of
bronze implements, and suggest that at that period not only copper but also tin
was mined in Spain in large quantities.
A good survey of the economic resources of Spain is given by R. Knox
McEIderry, in /. R. 5 ., 8 (1918), p. 53 fF. ; cp. M. Marchetti in E. de Ruggiero, Z)/>.
Eptgr., vol. ill, pp. 754-938-
Hiibner in Pauly-Wissowa, v, p. 2493 ff. ; cp. W. Barthel, in Bonn. Jahrb,^
120 (1911), p. 78, note r. On Merida and her Roman ruins, see Don Maximiliano
Macias, Merida momimental y ariistica, Barcelona, 1913; A. Schulten, ‘Merida,’
in Deutsche Zeitung fur SpaniePt, Barcelona, 1922. It is to be noted that Emerita
remained a military settlement and administrative centre throughout her history —
a Roman fortified post among the half-pacified tribes of the warlike Lusitanians.
On the different social and economic aspects of the various parts of Spain,
the division of the land into small cantonal units (as contrasted with the large
cantons of Gaul), and the persistence of clans and.^^'/z/^s, see the valuable book
of E. Albertini, Les divisiopis admmistratives de VEspagne romaine^ 1923. He
points out that the Romans never thought of increasing the division of the
land, but on the contrary promoted the formation of larger units.
O. Hirschfeld, ‘ Der Grundbesitz der romischen Kaiser ’ in AT/fo, ii, and Kl.
Schr., p. 570. On the ager publicus in Spain, see my Geschichte d. Siaatspacht^
p. 426 ff., and O. Hirschfeld, K. Verwaltungsb.^ p. 140 ff. Add to the references
quoted in these books CiZ., ii, 1438, Dessau, /. L. 5., 5971 (restoration of the
boundaries of the decumani in Baetica in a, d. 49). On the mines, O. Hirschfeld,
1. L,p. 14511:
Reid, The Municipalities ^ p. 241 ff. ; McEIderry, 1. 1. , especially p. 62 ff., on the
opposition at Rome to Vespasian and his barbarization of the Roman Empire.
A. Schulten, ‘Die per^rinen Gaugemeinden des romischen Reiches,’ in
Rh. Mus.^^ 50 (.C895), p. 495 ff; idem, JNumantia,^vo\. i, Die Keltiherer tmd ihre
Kriege mit Rom\ idem, in Pauly-Wissowa, xi, p. 156. On Asturia and Callaecia,
see McEIderry, 1. L, p. 85 ff. On the relations between the original and the
Roman divisions of the land, E. Albertini, 1. 1., p. 105 fF.
The charter of Malaca, ch. 51 and 66 (C7£», ii, 1964 ; Dessau, I. L. S., 6089 ;
BrunS'Gradenwitz, ed. 7, p. 147, no. 30) ; cp. Dessau, /. Z. S., 6898. Another
sign of the poverty of the cities is the fact that a rich citizen of Ebuso left his town
a legacy to pay the tribute (probably the poll-tax) of the citizens (Dessau, /. L. S.,
^60). It is noteworthy that similar gifts are found only in the poverty-stricken
Greek lands, see /. G., vol. xii, 5, no. 946, 1. 19 f. (Tenos) ; ibid., no. 724 (Andros),
and the inscription of Macedonia, M. Rostovtzen in of the Russian Arch.
Inst, of Constantmople (in Russian), 4 (1899), p. 171; ; cp. Arch.^ 37 (1900},
p. 489, no. 131 (Beroea in Macedonia ; gift of a rich citizen to pay the poll-tax
'■ NI12'
548 Notes: Chapter VI
for the population of the province, by which is probably meant the tax payable
by the citizens of the towns only).
Dessau, /. JL. S., 6921 ; cp. the ‘ epistula Vespasian! Saborensibus Dessau,
6092. We shall meet with the same phenomenon In Dalmatia. In Gaul it was
quite common. There is no doubt that in some cases the transfer of cities from
the hills to the plain was due to an order of the Roman administration. Cities
on the tops of hills were less safe from the government’s point of view than those
in the plains.
For the distinction between the municipes and the incolae, see Dessau, 6902,
6908, 6916 (a rare case of an incola becoming a decurid)^ 6917, and frequently in
the laws both of Malaca and of Salpensa and in the kx coloniae Geneiime luliae
(BrunSy Fontes^ ed. 7, p. 129 ff.), cp. especially cap. 103: ‘colonfos) incolasqiie
contributos.’ I regard the incolae as being mostly the country popuiation of the
territory attached to a city ; see Dessau, 6921: ‘ mutatione o'ppidi municipes et
incolae pagi Tran[s]lucani et pagi Suburbani ’ ; cp. E. de Ruggiero in Diz,
Epigr.yii (1922), p. 2195. It is ver}? probable that the vecHgaliay of which the
Saborenses spoke to Vespasian, were payments of the incolae to the city
(Dessau, 6092), Cp. McElderry, 1. L, p. 77 ; Reid, Municipalities, p. 239.
C. Jullian, Histoire, vols. i, ii (pre- Roman Gaul), iv~vi (Roman Gaul) and
F. Cumont, Belgique romaniseej ed. 2, 1918. Modern Belgium covers, of course,
only a small part of Gallia Belgica and mostly coincides with the province of
Lower Germany. Cp. A. Grenier, Les Gaulois, vol. i, 1922.
A. Meitzen, Siedelung und Agmrwesen der Westgermanen iind Osfgermanen,
vol. i, 1895, p. 221 flf. ; O. Hirschfeld, Gallische Studien, vol. i, p. 289 fif. (A7. Schr.,
p. 62 flf.) ; CIL., xii, p. 160 flf. ; E. Kornemann, Zur Stddtentstehimg in den ehepnals
keltischen und gemianischen Gebieten des Romerreiches, 1898, p. 5 ff'. ; C. Jullian, 1. 1.,
iv, p. 353fll'.
For the villa of Chiragan see Ch. V, note 3^^ ; on the sherds of Monte
Testaccio, the articles of Heron de Villefosse cited ibid., note 22.
Possessores Aquenses : C/A., xii, 2459-60, 5874; C. Jullian, 1. 1.^ iv, p. 353;^
cp., however, C/A., xiii, 8254 : ‘ possessor(es) ex vico Lucr(e)tio scanino primn’ of
Cologne ; there is no doubt that these last were owners of houses in the city of
Cologne ; see W. Barthel, in Bonn. Jahrb., 120 (1911), p. 48 (cp. A Schulten, ibid.,
103 (1898), p. 17 flf.). The same must be said of the map of Arausio, A. Schulten
in Hermes, 41 (i^), p. 25!!. ; cp. ibid., ^ (18^), p. 534 flf. A curious type of
organization is that of the ‘neighbours’ {vicini, vicinia), see Dessau, 9413; Gerin-
Ricard in Rev. et anc., 1910, p. 74; cp. C/A., xiii, 3652. The evidence on the
vicini is worth collecting.
On the Gallic villas and houses, see A. Grenier, Habitaiions gauloises ei
villas latines dans la ciU des Mediomairices, 1906 ; idem, in Daremberg and Saglio,
v, p. 877 flf. ; cp. C. Jullian, l.L, v, pp. 174 flf. and 351 fif., and vi, p. 202 flf. On Belgium,
F. Cumont, Belgique romanisee, p. 40 flf. (with bibliography).
C. Jullian, Histoire, vi, p. 154 ff.; K. Schumacher, Siedelungs- undKultur-
geschichte der Rheinlande, vol. ii, p. 185. For the spirit prevailing all over
Gaul in the 2nd cent., which showed a complete lack of interest in political
and military affairs and a concentration of thought on material welfare and
religion, see the fine remarks of C., Jullian, HUfoire, vi, p. 293 flf. There is a
sharp contrast in this respect between Gaul and Germany.
An excellent short survey may be found in H. Dragendorflf, Westdeutschland
zur Romerzeit, ed. 2, 1919, p. 7ff. ; more detailed on this subject is F. Koepp, Die
Romer in Deutschland, ed. 2, 1912, p. iff.; cp. the bibliography quoted by
K. Schumacher, Siedelungs- und Kulturgeschichte der Rheinlande, vol. ii, p. 332 f.
An excellent survey of the settlement of the Rhinelands by the Romans,
illustrated with instructive maps of vaHpus cities and sections of the country, and
containing a full bibliography of all the local publications, is given in Schumacher’s
-Notes: Chapter VI 549
work quoted in the preceding notes. On the ‘ Dectimates agri E. Hesselnieyer
in iT/zb, 19 (1924), p. 253 E
K. Schiimacher, 1 . L, p. io6 ff., and bibliography on p. 339, note 38.
the pillar monuments see Ch. V, note 26. For the villas, see the relative
sections in F. Cumont, Belgique romanisie^ p. 40 fF., and K. Schumacher, 1 . L,
p. 201 ff. (both with full bibliography). Cp. P. Steiner, Romische Landhduser
(villae) im Trierer Bezirk^ 1923, and the bibliography compiled by C BlOmlein,
BursiafCs Jahresb,^ 49 (197) (1924), p. 21 fF. The best example of a villa where
a luxurious residential house is associated with a large agricultural concern is
furnished by the villa of Otrang near Fliessem, in the district of Bitburg in the
Eifel, see von Behr, in Trierer Jahresberichie^ i (1908), p. 74 ff. ; E. Kruger, ibid., 4,
p. I ff. ; cp. Germania Romana, pi. 17, fig. 6 (plans and elevations of different t3^pes
of villas, ibid., pi. x6 and 17). Not so large nor so luxurious, and more like the villas
of Pompeii and Stabiae, are the villas of Stahl (F. Oelmann, * Die villa rustica von
Stahl und Verwandtes,' in Germania Romana, 5, 2) and of Bollendorf (P. Steiner,
Die villa von Bollendorf, Tritr^ 1922, cp. G. Wolff, in Phil. Wock, 1923, p. 924 ff.).
These villas were not houses of peasants, not even houses of ‘ Grossbauern % as
they are usually called. They were centres of comparatively large estates, of
agricultural capitalistic concerns, which produced corn and other things for sale,
not for consumption. Of the same type are the villas of Pforzheim and Dauten-
heim (K. Schumacher, 1 . I, p. 198 ff. and figs. 49 and 50). The third type of villas
is more or less similar to the houses of peasants, but even these cannot be
explained as self-sufficient units, as instances of ‘ house-economy cp. note 44.
A good parallel to the gorgeous tombs of the merchants of Treves is supplied by
the newly discovered grave of a rich merchant and landowner of Cologne with
a beautiful sarcophagus, together with busts of the deceased and an enormous
wealth of small objects, Esperandieu, Recueil, vo). viii, 1922, p. 375 ff. ; Bonn.Jahrb.
114-15, p. 368 ff. ,* K. Schumacher, 1 . 1 ., p. 202.
F. Drexel in Rom. Mitth., 35 (1920), p. 93, fig.5 ; cp. above p. 192 and note 13,
F. Drexel, 1 . 1 ., p. 133 f. ; K. Schumacher, 1 . 1 ., p. 287 ; Germania Romana,
pL 43, 5 (bas-relief of Worms).
K. Schumacher, 1 . 1 ., p. 149 ff. Excellent work in investigating the gradual
settlement of the land by agriculturists, mostly former soldiers or immigrants, has
been done by G. Wolff for the Wetterau (Hessen-Nassau) : see Die sudliche
Wetterau, 1913 (supplements in 1921) ; idem, in Archiv fur hessische Gesck u. Aik
13 (1920), p. iff. He points out as the main features of the settlement of the
Wetterau : (i) the rapid increase during the ist and 2nd cent. a.d. in the number
of medium-sized farms of almost the same size and type ; (2) the distribution of
land among military settlers according to a definite plan ; and (3) the existence of
a native, mostly German, population which lived in poor huts and some of whose
graves have been found. Cp. the map, pi. 16, in Schumacher’s book and
G. Wolff’s notes on the map, p. 342 ff. The size of the smaller estates, those
granted to the soldiers by the government, can be calculated by measurements;
it appears to be about one square kilometre. The estates to which belonged
villas of the type of the Stahl, Bollendorf, Pforzheim, and Dautenheim examples
(K. Schumacher, 1 . I, p. 198 f., figs. 49 and 50) were certainly much larger.
It is very tempting to explain the coloni Crutisiones of the inscription which
was found near Pachten on the Saar (CIL., xiii, 4228) and the coloni Aperienses of
the recently found inscription of Kollhausen in Lothringen: G[n] h[onoremJ
d(omus) d(ivinae) deae I[ujnon{i) coloni Aperienses ex iussu’ (B. Keune in Loihr.
Jahrb., 26 (1914), p. 461 ff. ; idem, in Rdm.-Germ. Korrespondenzblaif, 8 (1915),
p. 71 f., and in Pauly- Wissowa, Suppl, iii (1918), p. 132) as the tenants of certain
large estates (cp. K. Schumacher, 1 . L, p. 209). Similar expressions are to be
found in Sardinia (note 22) and in Africa (see Ch. VII). Cp. also the lead tablets
with the names of the staff of a large estate near Pola (mentioning a colonus and
an adiutor coloni) in Aiti e Memorie della Societd Istriana di Archeologia e Storia
1905, p. 213 ff. ; A. Gnirs, Fuhrer durck Pola, 1915, p. 137. Some votive
550 Notes: Chapter VI
stones to the Matronae m the region of Diiren (K. Schumacher, 1 . 1 , p. 207)
testify to small settlements of natives who worked on behalf of large landowners.
On the progressive forms of agriculture which prevailed to some 'extent in the
Rhine lands and are attested by the frequent finds of agricultural implements, see
l^. Schmn.d,c\i^Ty Der Ackerbau in vorromiscker und rdmischer Zeit^
F. Haverfield, RomanimUon oj Roman Bniain, ed. 4, revised by G. Macdonald,
1023, arid The Roman Occupation of Britain^ 1924 ; R. G. Collingwood, Roman
Britain, 1923, cp. idem, ‘The Roman Evacuation of Britain/ in/, i?. S., 12 (1922),
p. 76 ff. ; and D. Atkinson, ‘ The Governors of Britain from Claudius to Diocletian/
ibid., p. 6o ff.
F. Haverfield, 1 . L, pp. 38 ff. and 65 ff. Haverfield treated the evidence
furnished by the villas in two different chapters of his work and from two
different points of view. I venture to say that he was too pessimistic as regards
the conclusions which may be drawn from it. Examined from the comparative
point of view in connexion with the Gallic and the German parallels, the evidence
fully justifies the conclusions which I have suggested in the text. It is to be
regretted that, despite the efforts of many scholars, above all Haverfield himself,
investigations in Britain have not in the past usually attained the same degree of
accuracy and thoroughness, nor have they been carried on in the same systematic
manner, as in Germany.
The sketch given in the text is of course hypothetical, but it is supported
by the similar development of Gaul and Germany.
On the villages and the graves of the natives see F. Haverfield, 1 . 1 ., pp. 45 ff.
and 55ff. It is idle to speculate about the degree of Romanization reached by
Britain. ; Without doubt the higher classes and the soldiers were partly Roman
(in civilization) when they first came to Britain, and partly became Romanized by
constant contact with the army and afterwards in the Roman atmosphere of the
cities. Without doubt also everybody in the cities spoke, and many wrote,
Latin. It was natural also that the cheaper articles of industry imported from Gaul
and produced locally in the cities of Britain should penetrate into the native villages
and oust those made locally in the houses. This does not, however, mean
that the villages were Romanized in thought and life. The difference between
the Romanized cities and the native villages of which we are speaking is
a matter, not of language, but of social and economic conditions, and it does not
affect the question of Romanization. The same contrast between city and village
developed both in Greece and in Italy, the mother countries of Greco-Roman
civilization.
{1
No good general survey exists of the results of local investigations and
excavations in Raetia. A good account of the ethnology of the land and of its
political and military history is given by Haug in Pauly- Wlssowa, Zw. R., i,
(1920), p, 42 ff. The inscriptions of Raetia have recently been collected and
republished by F. Vollmer, Inscriptiones Baivariae Romanae sive Inscriptiones
provinciae Raetiae, 1915.
Negotiatores ariis vesiiariae^ lintiariae, purpurariae and others are frequently
mentioned in the not very numerous inscriptions of Augusta Vindelicum, and
the fact certainly attests their social and economic prominence in the life of the
city, see CIL., iii, 5800 (Vollmer, Inscr. Baiv,, iii), 5816 (Vollmer, 127; the
brother of the merchant is a soldier) ; 5824 (Vollmer, 135), cp. 5833 (Vollmer, 144)
‘negotiator artis cretariae et flaturariae/ 14370 (Vollmer, 175) ‘negotiator por-
carius/ 5830 (Vollmer, 141) ‘negotiator.’ The inscription of Castra Regina is
CIL>, iii, 14370, 10 (Vollmer, 361) ‘ Volk(ano) sacr(um) Aur. Artissius aedil(is)
territor(i) contr(ibuti) et k(anabarum) R(eginensium).’ Note that the aedile seems
to have been a native.
An excellent short survey of the social and economic conditions in Noricum
may be found in R. Egger, Fuhrer durch die Antikensammlungen des Landes^-
museums in Klagenfurt, 1921 (Introduction); cp. the chapters on Noricum in the
Notes : Chapter VI ^ 551
books of J. Jung (see below, note 53) and in the fifth volume of Mommsen’s
Roman History (The Roman provinces), and R. Egger, Teurnia, Die romischen und
fruhchrisUichm Xltertumer Oberkdrniens^ 1924* On the military occupation and the
administration of Noricum and Raetia, see M. B. Peaks, ‘The General and Military
Administration of Noricum and Raetia/ in Univ. of Chicago Studies in Class, PhiL,
1908. It is worthy of note that Virunum gradually developed an industry of its
own, in competition with Aquileia: see the mention of an aciarius (steel manu-
facturer) in a recently discovered inscription mentioned by R. Egger, 1 . L, p. 15.
An interesting feature of Norican social life was the associations of young men
{iuvenes) comparable with those in the cities and the villages of the Rhineland.
Since the recruiting of the legions after the Flavians chiefly depended upon the
loyalty and the warlike spirit of the population of the ’Romanized cities in
the provinces, the emperors promoted the formation of military associations of
young men (which had been for a time a peculiarity of Italy) in the Spanish and
Celtic cities, with the aim of educating a new stock of brave and loyal officers,
non-commissioned officers, and soldiers, especially officers. A splendid field for
the development of these associations was afforded by the cities and villages of
the frontier with their population of former soldiers, still warlike natives, and
pioneers. Hence the spread of the collegia iuvenum in the 2nd and the 3rd cent,
to the cities and villages of Upper Germany (see K. Schumacher, Siedelungs- und
Kulhirgeschichte, p. 221), especially after the reforms of Septimius Severus, It is
probable that both in the half- Celtic and in the half-German cities the institution
was promoted by the existence of similar tribal institutions among the Celts and
the Germans. It seems that the luventas Manliensium of Virunum, which celebrated
the military games in honour of the emperor and of the gods, was based to
a certain extent on the Celtic gentes of the native population of Noricum, see
R. Egger, 1 . L, p. 24, and fig. 5; and in Jahresh,, 18 (1915), p. iisff. Cp. CL II,
note 4. An interesting glimpse into the social and ethnological constitution of
one of the cities of Noricum and Pannonia is furnished by the recently discovered
inscription of the centonarii (firemen) of Solva in the time of Caracalla (a.d. 205).
The text of an imperial rescript which confirms the privileges of the collegium
centonariorum is followed by a list of members of the association given, as it seems,
in full. Out of ninety-three members about one-half are peregrini^ the rest are
Latin or Roman citizens, and seventeen names are Celtic. The men represent not
only the poorer class, the tenuiores^ but also the well-to-do and the rich members of
the community. This is expressly stated in the rescript of the emperor; they are
described as ‘ii quos dicis diviti(i)s suis sine onere [utij ’ or ‘ qui maiores facultates
praefi(ni)to modo possident ’. O. Cuntz in Jahresh,, 18 (1915), p. 98 ff. ; A. Steinwenter
in Wiener Studien, 40 (1918), p. 46 ff.
The excellent survey of the Danube lands given by Th. Mommsen in the
fifth volume of his Roman History and the valuable books of J. Jung, Romer tmd
Romanen in den Donauldnderny 1877, p. 56 ff., and Die romanischen Landschaften
des romischen Reiches, 1881, p. 314 ff., are now antiquated. The careful investi-
gations of A. Gnirs in Histria, of C. Patsch in Dalmatia, of Mons. Bulic in Salona,
of the Vienna Academy and of the Austrian Archaeological Institute in the
Danube lands in general and especially on the Roman limes of the Danube, and
the efforts of various scholars, Plungarian Q. Hampel), Rumanian (G. Tocilescu
and V. Parvan), Bulgarian (G. Kazarow and B. Filow), and Serbian (M. M. Vassich
and N. Vulic), have brought together so much new material and new points of
view that the pictures of both Mommsen and Jung need a thorough revision. No
such revision, and not even an attempt at a good bibliography, is to be found
in the short article ‘ Illyricum ' by N. Vull6 in Pauly-Wissowa, ix, p. 1085 ff. An
excellent general survey of those lands which formed part of Austria as it was '
before the War is given by W. Kubitschek, / Die R 5 merzeit,’ in Heimatkunde
von Nieder-Oesterreich, Heft 8, 1924, cp. E. Nischer, m Gebiet des
ehemaligen Oesterrekh-Ungarn, 1923.
J. Weiss in Pauly-Wissowa, viii, p. 2111 ff. ; A. Gnirs, Fuhrer durck Pola,
1915. The imperial estates in Pola are attested by many inscriptions of imperial
freedmen and slaves found in Pola and elsewhere, e. g. CIL,, v, 37-9, 40, 41, 42,
552 Notes: Chapter VI
475. A full list is given by P. Sticotti, ‘ Nuova Rassegiia di Epigrafi Roniane/ in
Atti e Memork della Societd Isiriana, 30 (1914), p. 122 £, cp. ibid., p. 124, no. 19:
^ G. Coelius Halys col(onus)-’ A curious list of names is recorded an two leaden
tablets found in a grave near Pola and published by P. Sticotti (see note 45). I
cannot help thinking that the lists enumerate persons connected with a large
(probably private) estate, partly slaves, partly free men. Some of the slaves
were, or had been, managers of the estate (Mispensator ’^or ‘qui dispensavit’ or
^ qiii vilicavit ^). One is colonus^ another adiutor cohnL The free men bear no
titles. I am inclined to suggest that the free men were the tenants of the estate,
the colonus and the adiutor coloni being either slave supervisors of the agricultural
work done on it or slaves who were assigned a parcel of land and were treated
like free tenants. A large imperial property was probably located in the neighbour-
hood of Abrega in the territory of Parentium; see P. Sticotti in Aiti e Memorie
Mia Societd Islriana^ 30, p. 122, note iii. Here also, along with many slave
managers of the emperor, we have one colonus, CIL,, v, 8190.
On the Histrian villas see A. Gnirs, ‘ Forschungen liber antiken Villenbau
in Siidistrien,' in Jahresh.y 18 (1515), p. loi if. (which quotes the authoris previous
articles on the villa on Brioni Grande and the other Histrian villas). Cp.
J. Weiss, 1 , 1 , and H. Schwalb, ‘ Romische Villa bei Pola,’ in Sckriften der Balkan-
kommission. Ant. Abt., 2.
The evidence is collected by J. Weiss, 1 . 1 .
Piquentum. C/L., v, 433, 434, 436, 450, 452, cp. E. ^dAs,Suppl, Italkay nos. 42-51.
Nesactium. Dedications to the local goddesses Eia and Trita, E. Pais, L L, i ; Alii e
Memorie della Societd Istriana, &c., 1902 if. ; A. Gnirs, Fuhrer durck Pola, p. 162 ff.
The inscriptions and other finds of Nesactium are preserved in the Museum of
Pola. On other local gods and ^ddesses of Histria, P. Sticotti in Atti e Mem,
della Soc. Istr., &c., 25 (1909b p. 7 n., esp. p. 10.
There is no exhaustive up-to-date history of the Illyrians, nor any general
account of the development of Illyrian civilization. Excellent work, however,
has been done in Histria and Dalmatia and in Bosnia and Herzegovina both by
the Austrian Archaeological Institute and by the ^ Bosnisch-Herzegovinisches In-
stitut fiir Balkanforschung ’ in Sarajevo. Consequently the best explored Illyrian
lands are Histria and Dalmatia on the one hand and Bosnia and Herzegovina on
the other. The best general survey of the work done in Dalmatia is to be found
in the short but substantial introduction of M. Abrami6 to the Fuhrer durch das
K, K, Siaatsmuseum in St Donato in Zara^ 1912, p. i ff. On the excavations at
Salona, see the bibliography quoted in Ch. V, note 4. An excellent general survey
of the exploration of Bosnia and Herzegovina was given by C. Putsch, for many
years the moving force of archaeological research in these lands, in his two books
‘ Bosnien und Herzegowina in rOmischer Zeit,’ in Schriften siur Kimde der Balkan-
halbinsely vol. xv, and ‘ Historische Wanderungen im Karst und an der Adria. I.
Die Herzegowina einst und jetzt,’ in Osten und Orient, Zweite Reihe : Schriften
mr Kunde der Balkanhalhinsel, 1922 ; cp. his article ^ Dalmatia’ in Pauly-Wissowa,
iv, p. 2444 ff* the redistribution of land every eight years among the tribe of
the Dalmatians see Strabo, vii. 5. 5, p. 315 ; Steph. Byz,, AdXfiiov ; cp. C. Putsch in
Pauly-Wissowa, iv, p. 2448, and E. Weiss, ibid., xi, p. 1086. A similar custom existed
among the Vaccaei in Spain, Diod. v. 34. It is noteworthy that the tribe of the
Ardiaeans ruled over an enslaved population of Thracians numbering about
300,000 (?), who tilled the soil for their Illyrian masters and are compared by
Theopompus to the helots of the Spartans: Theopompus, in Athen., vi. 271, and x.
443 ; JPolyaen., vii. 42 ; C. Putsch in Jahresh,, 1907, p. 171 ff.
On the well-known story of the Roman occupation of the Illyrian lands and
on the Illyrian wars, see G. Zippel, Die romische Herrschaft in Illyrien bis auf
Augustus, ; M. Holleaux, Rome, la Grece et les monarchies helUnistiques au
///»»« Steele av, J, Chr,, 1921, p. 22 ff. and p, 98 ff. ; G. de Sanctis, Storia dei
Romani, vol. iv, 1923, p. 316, and the survey of C. Putsch, Die Herzegowina einst
und jetzt, p. 40 ff. ; cp. R. Rau in Klio, 19 (1924), p. 313 ff. The main centre of
Notes : Chapter VI 553
business activity in Dalmatia was Salonae, which stood in the closest relations
with Narona : C. Putsch, Die Herssegowina, &c., p. 88 if. Many families of Italian
origin like tbe Agrii, the Artorii, the Mescenii, the Obultronii, the Papii, the
Ravonii, and the Umbrii resided in both these places. On the land behind
Narona see C. Putsch, ' Archaeologisch-epigraphische Untersuchungen zur
Geschichte der romischeii Provinz Dalmatien, viii,’ in Wissenschaftliche Mitthei-
lungen aus Bosnien und Herzegowina, vol. xii (1912), p. 92 if, and ‘ Aus Narona/
m JahresL, 15 (1912), p. 7511. Two men of Narona (C. Papius Celsus and
M. Papius Kanus) built, probably on their own estate, a monument comme-
morating the victory of Augustus over Sex. Pompey. To the ist cent a. d.
belong the ruins of a large villa in the valley of the Naro : C. Putsch, * Unter-
such. vi,’ in Wiss, vol. ix (1904), p. 278 if., cp. p. 280 ff. on the families
of the Livii and the Safinii, the first belonging to Narona, the second to
Salonae, established in the same region. On the fertile land behind Salonae
occupied by Roman settlers, see C. Patsch,^ ‘Untersuch. v,’ in Wiss, Mitih.,
vol. viii (1902), pp. 71 ff. and 84 ff. I feel certain that the first parts of the land
to be exploited by the new settlers were the mining regions, the forests, and
the pasture lands. Of the mines I shall speak later. Besides iron, lumber
and cheese were the chief articles of export from Dalmatia as late as the
time of the Expositio totius mundi et gentium, 53. Corn and cattle, however,
were the staple products of Dalmatia as early as 158 b.c. (Polyb., 32. 18. 5,
cp. C. Putsch, Die Herzegowina^ p. 138). A large production of wine and olive-oil
is a feature of the imperial period and was confined mostly to the lands near to
the sea, C. Putsch, 1 . 1 ., p. iipff. The statistics of Putsch, p. 121, show that wine
may have been imported into Dalmatia both from South and from North Italy.
It is hard to believe that all the jars were imported into Dalmatia empty.
See the inscription C/Z., iii, 13250 (Dessau, 5968), boundaries drawn between
the pasture lands in the former territory of the legion and a private landowner.
Many documents of the same kind have been found in Spain (Dessau, 2454, 2455,
5969. 5970)-
C.. Putsch, Die Herzegowina, p. 105 ff. The city of Delminium was certainly
transferred from the top of the hill to the plain: C. Putsch, ^Untersuch. vi,’ in
vol. ix (1904), p. 172 ff.
C. Putsch, ‘ Untersuch. vii,’ in Wiss. Mitth., vol. xi (1909), p. 121 ff. In C/Z.,
xiii, 6358 two soldiers of an auxiliary cohort give their place of origin as the
municipium Salvium. This shows that the soldiers, though living in the territory
of a Roman municipium^ were peregrini^ i. e. not citizens of the city but incolae.
Cp. C. Putsch, Die Herzegowina, p. 107, who refers to C/Z., xiii, 7507, and vol. iii,
Dipl, xvi ~ xxiii, where two Thracians of the tribe of the Daorsi, which had
formerly been enslaved by the Illyrians, indicate as their place of origin the
territory of a city which occupied the site of the modern Stolac.
C. Putsch, ‘ Unters. vii,’ in Wiss. Miith.^ vol. xi (1909), p. 155, figs. 63 and 64.
See, e.g., the inscriptions of Skelani, C. Putsch, ‘ Untersuch. vii,’ in Wiss.
Mittkf vol. xi (1909), p. 155 ff. Cp. C/Z,, iii, 8350: Flavia Prisca ‘ c(larissima)
f(emina) ’ sets up the stele to her nurse and to the manager of her estate {vilicus).
The lady was certainly born in Dalmatia and owned land in this province.
P. Sticotti, * Die rdmische Stadt Doclea in Montenegro/ in Schr. d. Balkan-
kommission, vol. vi, 1913; C. Praschniker and A, Schober, ‘ Archaeologische
Forschungen in Albanien und Montenegro,’ 1919, p. i ff, ; C. Putsch, ‘ Die Herze-
gowina,’ p. 89. Typical of conditions in Doclea, which became the main
commercial centre of what is now Montenegro, is the personality of M. Flavius
Fronto. He was connected with all the leading commercial cities of South
Dalmatia~Narona,Epidaurum, Risinium,and Scodra: see C/Z., iii, 12692, cp. 13819;
12693, cp. 13820, 13821 ; P. Sticotti, 1 . 1 , p. 164 ff., 197 ff. On Asseria Jahresh.^
II (1908), Beibl., p. 17 ff; M. Ahv2im\^^ Fmrer durch das K. K. Staatsmusemn
in St Donato in Zara, p. 16 ff. (Corinium, Nedinum, Asseria) and p. 14 ff
(Aenona).
554
Notes: Chapter VI
6® On the organization of the Illyrian tribes of the province of Dalmatia, see
the inscriptions found in the sanctuary of a local god Bindus Neptunus near the
capital of the tribe of the lapudes (Raetinium, modern Bihac?): G. Patsch,
‘ ifnters. iii,’ in Wiss. vi (1899), p. 155 h., cp. ‘Unters.iv/ in Wiss. Mitth.y
vii {.1900), p. 33 ff. On the tribe of the Maezaeans, C. Patsch, < Unters. ivf in Wis$.
Mitih.^ vii, p. 55 ff., cp. Die Herzegotvina^ p. 104. The tribel were subdivided into
decuriae {clzns, genies), Plin., N. /f., iii. 142. In the earlier period of the Roman
occupation the tribes were ruled by Roman officers {prmfecti\ military comman-
ders of the tribe, which was regarded as a military unit (£/£., v, 3346, praefectof
lapudia and Liburnia ; ix, 2564, praefect of the Maezaeans). Later the praefects
lost their military character and became praeposiii^ civilians, and mostly natives,
chosen from the local eiders (prindpes), CIL,, iii, i4323-~i4;^8, cp. 15062 ff. The
fact that many cities were created in the territory of a tribe (e.g. Arupium,
CIDy iii, 3066, and Monetium, iii, 3022, in the territory of the lapudes) and that
many tnh^l prindpes became residents of the cities (C/L., iii, 2774; 2776, Dessau,
9411, 9412; N. VuM in Jakresh., 12 (1909), BeibL, p. 201 f. ; P. Sticotti, Dodea^'
p. 19 and 191; C. Praschniker and A. Schober, ‘Arch. Forsch. in Albanien iind
Montenegro,’ p, 100 ; C. Patsch, Wiss. Miitk, vol. vii, 1909, p. 156) does not imply
the disappearance of the tribe as such and the urbanization of the whole territory
occupied by it. This is shown by the numerous boundary stones between the
munidpia and the tribes, Dessau, 9378, 9379, 5948-53, 5953 n;, 5953^. The attitude
of the government towards the tribes is shown, e. g., by the fact that Trajan
transferred many Dalmatian clans to the newly created province of Dacia, C/Z..,
iii, T332; C. Patsch, Wiss. Miith., vol. vi, 1898, p. no (of the reprint). The same
phenomena and the same development may be observed in Spain and Africa.
On the persistence of the native elements, native names, and native dress, as well
as native religious beliefs, see C. Patsch, D/V Herzegowina, p. 92 ff.
See note 66.
See the publication of the Academy of Vienna Der rdmische Limes in ^
Oesferreich^ vols. i-xii (the last volume was published in 1914), and especially the
excellent notes on the inscriptions by the late E. Bormann ; cp. A. AlfOldi, ‘ Der
Untergang der Romerherrschaft in Pannonien ’ in Ungarisdte Jahrbucher^ 1923.
Excellent work has been done for Aquincum by Kuczinski. A general r^ort on
the excavations of the Arch. Inst, of Vienna in Austria by E. Reisch m fahresh.^
16 (1913), BeibL, p. 89ff. On Poetovio (Pettau) see M. Abramic in Jahresh.^ 17
{1914), Beibl., p. 89 ff. On Intercisa, 15 (1912), p. 174 ff.
On the territorium and the prata of a legion see A. Schulten in Hermes, 29
(1894), P* fl-Si ^Iso in Pauly- W'issowa, iii, p. 1455 ; E. Bormann, Der
fomische Limes in Oesterreich, vol. ii (1901), p. 142 ff. {CIL., iii, 14356, 3 a, cp. p. 2328,
193, A. n. 205) ; A. von Domaszewski in Westd. Zeitschr., 14, 112 ff. ; A. von
Premerstein in Klio^ 3 (1903), p. 28 ff., cp. J. Lesquier, Uarmie romaine dHIgypie,
1919, p. 229 f. Cp. note 60. Delimitation of the territory near Viminacium, C/Z..,
iii, 8112 (cp. 12656) of A. D. 228.
E. Bormann, Der rom. Limes in Oesterreich, vol. xii (1914), p. 314 ff., hgs. 37
and 38 (ist cent. a. d. or the beginning of the 2nd). Cp. A. Schober, ‘ Die
rbmischen Grabsteine von Noricum und Pannonien’ in Sonderschr. d. oest. Inst.,
vol. X (1923), no. 105, p. 50, fig. 45. Detachments [rexillationes) of soldiers sent
out to cut wood in the forests {lignarii) are attested by three inscriptions ol
Germany, all found near Osterburken, CIL., xiii, 6618, 6623 ; Der obergermanisch-
raetische Limes, 33, p. 96 ; cp. K. Schumacher, Siedelungs- und Kulturgeschichte,
vol. ii, p. 161 ; R. Cagnat in Daremberg and Saglio, v, p. 776.
CIL., iii, 10570 (Vordsvar near Aquincum) : dedication of an altar to the
Capitoline Triad by the possessores vid Vindoniani, all Roman citizens, some of
them Roman kni^ts (all Aurelii, 3rd cent, a.d.), ‘[i]n possessi[o]n(e) Aureli
Vettiani eq(uitis) K(omani) permissu eius’. A large villa, which was adorned
with beautiful frescoes, has been recently discovered at Balacza: its earliest
ruins date from the ist cent. a.d. See Hornig-Rhe, Balacza, Veszprem, 1912
(with coloured plates) ; A. Hekler in Strena Bulidana, 1924, p. in and %s. 2 and 3.
Notes : Chapter VI 555
One of the most interesting documents recently found on the Danube is
a fragment of the municipal charter given to the city which developed in the
neighbourhood of the camp of Lauriacum in Noricum (time of Caracalla). This
fragment is almost an exact copy of the corresponding part of the statute of
Salpensa, see E. Bormann in Jakresk.^ 9 (1906), p. 315 if ; Der rom. Limes in
voL xi (1910), p. i37ff.
In the broad sense of the word a whole province (e.g. Numidia) formed the
territory of one legion (legio III Augusta). On the Colapiani and tneir praefect
L. Antonius Naso, see C/A., hi, 14387 ff and ^ (Dessau, 9199); A. von
Domaszewski in PhiloL^ 1907? P* ^62, note 4; A. Stein in Pauly-Wissowa,
SiippL i, p. 97, cp. C. Patsch, in Pauly-Wissowa, iv, p. 362. Many other tribes
are named in the inscriptions of Pannonian soldiers, e.g. the Varciani and
Latobici near Siscia : G. A. Reisner, C. S. Fisher, D. G. Lyon, Harvard Excava-
tions at Samaria, 1924, vol. i, p. 20, no. 30, cp. p. 175 ; the soldiers of these tribes
are called cives Sicci{ani).
Colonies of veterans sent out to already existing cities, some of which had
been military forts, are attested for Savaria, C/A., iii, 8199 and 10921 ; for Scupi,
iii, 8197, 8199, 8200 ; for Poetovio, iii, 4057: ‘ deduct(us) . . . mission(e) agr(aria) IL’;
cp, the corresponding ^missio nummaria’, W. Kubitschek in/n'^rA /. Altertumsk,,
iii, p. 169: ‘L. Gargilius C. f. Quirina Felix Tacapis vet{eranus) leg. I ad. p. f,
missus missione nummaria ^ On the veterans settled at Scupi, see also N. Vuli6
in Jahresh.^ 13 (1910-11), Beibl., p. 219, no. 31: ‘hie situs est in praedio suo.’
On the city of Savaria in general, N, Vuli6 in Pauly-Wissowa, Zw. R., vol ii,
p. 249 tf. On Scarbantia, idem, ibid., p. 355 If. Note the presence at Scarbantia
of agents of the well-known Barbii of Aquileia, C/A., lii, 14068. On Solva,
W. Schmid in Jahresh,, 19-20 (1919), Beibl., p. 135 If In this city was found
the fragment of the very important imperial rescript dealing with the association
of the centonarii\ see note 52. On Scupi, N. VuliC in Pauly-Wissowa, Zw. R.,
vol. ii, p. 909. The best survey of the military colonies of the Roman emperors
has recently been given by E. Ritterling in Pauly-Wissowa, xii (1924), p. 1214 If
and p. 1239 If (Augustus), p. 1243 (Tiberius), p. 1251 (Claudius), p. 1263 (Nero),
p. 1273 (the Flavians), p. 1287 (Trajan).
On the centuriation of Pannonia, Hyginus, p. 204 If : ‘multi huius modi
agrum [the ‘ ager publicus ’ in the provinces] more colonico decimanis et kardini-
bus diviserunt, hoc est per centurias, sicut in Pannonia,’ cp. J. Jung, Hie
romanischen Landschaften^ p. 358; W. Barthel in Bonner Jahrh,^ 120 (1911), p. 46;
cp. notes 60 and 69.
A. von Premerstein, in Jahresh.y 1903, Beibl., p. 26 ff. ; E. Groag in Pauly-
Wissowa, vii, p. 358, no. 73, cp. no. 72 ; C/A., iii, 8169, cp. 8238, 8240 ; Ulpianus,
Ft, Vat, 220; C/A., vi, 1423 ; and ix, 338 ^egatus of Moesia in a. d. 222). Is it
not possible to recognize in the pratum Furianum of Carnuntum (note 69) land
assigned to the legion by the same C. Furius Octavianus? On the painted tomb
of Brestovica near Belgrade, see Miloje M. Vassich in Starinar^ 1906, p. 128 ff.
(in Serbian).
On the dress of Pannonian women see Margarete Lang, ‘Die pannonische
Frauentracht,’ in Jahresh,, 19-20 (1919), p. 208 If On the dress of the men,
J. Hampel in Arch, Ertesito, 1881, p. 308 ff. ; 1906, p. 25711. ; 1907, p. 289 If ; 1910,
p. 311 ff. The basis of the dress is Celtic. Cp. A. Schober, Die romischen
Grabsteine von Noricum und Pannonien, 1923, p, 176. Some Celtic cults were
retained by the Pannonians, e.g. the cult of the Mother Goddesses, who were
worshipped in Pannonia under the name of Nutrices. A sanctuary of these
‘ Nurses ’ was recently discovered at Poetovio, K. Wigand in Jahresh.^ 18 (1915),
p. 189 ff. ; cp. my article in Arckaeologia, 69 (1920), p. 204 ff. (Appendix III to
F. Haverfield’s article on Roman Cirencester). On the peculiarities of art and
culture in Pannonia, K. Hekler in Strena BuliUana^ 1924, p. 107 If
On the province of Dacia in general see J. Jung, Die romanischen Land-
schaften, p. 378; idem, Die R 6 mer und Romanen in den Donaulandern, ed. 2,
556 N otes : Chapter VI
p. and the excellent articles of Brandis in Paiily-Wissowa/ iv, p. 1967 ff.
(cp. ibid., SuppL i, p. 263) and N. Feliciani in E. de Ruggiero, Biz,.Epigr., voL ii,
p. 1440 E, cp. V. Vaschide, Histoire de la conqmte romatm de h .Dack, 1903.
The native population which was not absorbed by the cities lived in villages,
CIL.^ iii) 7633 (827) and 8060. The territory of the cities was divided into pagt\
CIL., liij 7847, cp. 7852, 7853, and 7868, It is very probable that at least a part of
the native population rose in revolt against the Romans in the difficult times
under M. Aurelius: the rebels massacred some members of the city bour-
geoisie of Dacia, see C/£., iii, 1579, 8009, 8021, and C. Patsch, 'Unters. v,’ in
IViss, Mitiki vol viii {1902), p. 123 E One of the most influential families of
Apulum was the family of the Aelii Marcelli, CIL,, iii, 974, 1001, 1104, T181, 1182,
1208 ; a male member of this family was adopted by a high Roman officer of Italian
(Umbrian) origin, C/A., Hi, 1180, cp. 7795 and xi, 52x5. A record of a business
manager belonging to the same family was found in the vicus ad Medium near
Drobeta (C/A., lii, 1573 <3:). Other business men on a large scale were the farmers
of salt*mines, pasture lands, and customs-duties (C/A., iii, 1209, cp. 1363 and 7853),
They remind one of the well-known family syndicate of Julii, who farmed the
customs, see my Gesch, d. Siaaispacht^ p. 395.
On the Thracians in general see the excellent book of G. Kazarow,
‘ Beitrage zur Kulturgeschichte der Thraker,’ Sarajevo, 1916, in Zur Kunde der
BalPanhalbinsel, II, Quellen und Forschungen^ 5, cp. idem, ^ The Celts in Ancient
Thrace and Macedonia,’ in Papers of the Bulgarian Academy of Science^ 18 (1919),
p. 41 ff. (in Bulgarian). It is probable that in the tribal life of the Thracians the
leading part was played by a ruling feudal aristocracy. The mass of the popula-
tion lived in conditions which might be compared with those of the helots and of
the penestae {G. Kazarow, 1 . 1 ., p. 17). It is hard to say whether the well-known
description of the social and economic system of the Getae by Horace, Farm.,
iii. 24, is based on real information or on a vague idealized picture of ■ barbarian ’
life in general, arbitrarily attributed to them. His words, ‘ campestres melius
Scythae . . . vivunt et rigidi Getae, inmetata quibus iugera liberas fruges et
Cererem ferunt, nec cultura placet longior annua, defunctumque laboribus aequali
recreat sorte vicarius vague as they are, seem to imply that the Thracians held
the land in common and that private property in land was unknown among
them, which in fact is not incompatible with the conditions of serfdom. I am not
as confident as G. Kazarow that Horace is merely reproducing a commonplace ( 1 . L,
p. 43 ff., with a good bibliography) Why should he choose the Getae, who were
well known in the Augustan age, as the subjects of such a commonplace ? Cp. the
similar conditions both in Illyria and in Spain, note 58. On the social and economic
conditions of the Thracians, see G. Kazarow, 1 . 1 ., p. 26 ff. (Siedelungen und
Befestigungen) and p. 36 ff. (Ackerbau, Weinbau, &c.). It is unfortunate that
Kazarow did not take into account the epigraphical and archaeological evidence
on the life of the Thracians under Roman rule, but confined himself almost wholly
to the evidence furnished by the ancient writers.
On the history of the province Moesia see A. von Premerstein, ‘Die
Anfange der Provinz Moesien,’ in fahresh,, 1 (1908), Beibi., p. 146 ff. ; S. E. Stout,
The Governors of Moesia, Princeton, 1911. On the military occupation of Moesia,
see Beuchel, De legion e prima Italica, 1903 ; B. Filow, ‘ Die Legionen der Provinz
Moesia,’ in Klio, Beiheft 6, 1906; H. van de Weerd, Etude historique sur trois
legions romaines dvt Bas Danube, 1907 ; J. Wolko, Beitrage zur Geschichie der legio
XI Claudia, 1908; B. Filow, ‘The Roman auxiliary troops in Moesia,’ in the
Memoirs of the Bulgarian Hist. Soc., 1906, p. ii ff. (in Bulgarian). On the military
occupation of South Russia, see my Iranians and Greeks, pp. 152 and 234. New
light has been thrown on the social and economic life of the province of
Moesia by the recent systematic and successful excavations of V. Parvan.
Reports on these excavations are printed in the Annals of the Rumanian Academy
(Analele Academiei Romane). They are quoted, and the new evidence is used, in
Parvan’s articles Suite origini della civiltd Romana, Rome, 1922, and ‘ I primordi
della civilta Romana alle foci del Danubio,’ in Ausonia, 10 (1921), p. 187®,
cp. his Rumanian book Inceputurile vie^i Romane la gurile Dundrii, 1923, in Tara
Notes : Chapter VI S57
Noasfra, New readings of some passages of the new inscriptions which have
been published by him were suggested by A. Wilhelm in Ameiger der phtl.^
hist. Klasse d,* Akad. d. Wiss. in Wien, 59 (1922), p. 30 ff. On the pre-Roman
conditions in Moesia and the Hellenic civilization, see Parvan, ‘ La penetration
hellenique et hellenistiqiie dans la vallee du Danube,’ m Bulletin de la Section
Hisforique de PAcademie Roumaine, lo
On these cities see Die antiken Murnsen Nordgriechenlands, vol. i, i, 1898;
2, 1910, and the corresponding articles in Pauly- Wissowa. Cp. the articles of
Parvan on Tomi, Histria, and Callatis in Anal. Acad. Rom., 1915, 19x6, and 1920.
This is the reason why South Russia was protected by detachments of
the Moesian legions and by auxiliary troops. For the army of Moesia the food-
stufts came from Tyras and Olbia. The Bosporan kingdom was the Hinterland
of the Cappadocian and Armenian armies, see my Iranians and Greeks, p. 147 ff.
On the Dobrodgea (or Dobrudja) see J. Weiss, ‘Die Dobrudscha in Altertiim,’
in Zur Kunde der Balkanhalhinsel, I. Reisen und Beobacht ungen, vol. 12.
V. Parvan, ‘ Descoperiri nova in Scythia Minor,’ in Anal. Ac. Rom., 1913,
p. 491 (25 ff.) on the territory of Troesmis (legio V Macedonica), and p. 502 (36 ff.)
on the territory of Noviodunum, which before Diocletian was the head-quarters
ofthe Glassis Flavia Moesica, cp. CIL., iii, 14448 (a. n. 178): ‘c(ives) R(omani)
v(eterani) vico Nov(o),’ cp. 14447 and 12487. Cp. his article in Riv. di Filol, 2 (52)
(1924), p. 307 ff., on the development of the rnunicipium Aurelium Durostorum out
of the canabae of the leg. xi Claudia. In the time of Antoninus Pius it was still
a settlement of ‘ cives Romani et consistentes in canabis Aeliis legionis xi
Claudiae,’ CIL., iii, 7474; iu the first year of M. Aurelius we have a dedica-
tion by ‘veteran! legionis xi Claudiae p. f. missi iiii co(n)s(ulatuum) ’ (first
published by Parvan, 1 . 1 .) ; in 169-76 it is styled rnunicipium Aurelium (in-
scription published by Parvan, 1 . 1 .).
Most of the citizens of the Greek cities had the imperial gentilicia, Flavii,
Cocceii, Ulpii,and Aelii, just as in Olbia, Chersonesus, and Panticapaeum. This
fact, together with their Greek cognomina, shows that they were not immi-
grants from Italy or from the Romanized provinces, but mostly natives of the
Black Sea cities or immigrants from Asia Minor : see CIL., iii, 7532, where Greeks
from the Black Sea, Galatia, Cappadocia, Pontus, and Bithynia, all have Roman
gentilicia, cp. V. Parvan, I primordi, &c., p. 196. Parvan exaggerates somewhat
the degree of Romanizatiqn of the Greek cities of the Black Sea ; cp., however,
his just remarks in ‘ Histria vii ’ {Mim. d. Ac. Rom., Sect, ist., vol. iii, 2, i), pp. 42
and 1 14 (in regard to a list of names, perhaps of members of gerousia of
Histria). Despite their Roman names, the residents in these cities, like those
of Chersonesus and Olbia in South Russia, remained Greek, at least in their
language. It may^ be useful to enumerate some of the villages {vici) which were
attributed to the cities, as far as our epigraphical evidence goes. The best known
are the territories of Histria and Tomi. Six inscriptions, almost all of the time
of Antoninus Pius and M. Aurelius, are dedicated to the supreme god of the
Roman Empire by the ‘veteran! et cives Romani et Bessi consistentes’ of the
Vicus Quintionis (Parvan, ‘ Histria iv,’ p.617, and ‘ Histria vii,’ p. 55, nos. 46-52).
The village was ruled by two magistri, one Roman and one Thracian, and by one
quaestor. Two inscriptions of the same period (CIL., iii, 7526, and Parvan, ‘ His-
tria vii,’ no. 53) speak of a Vicus Celeris and name one magister. Vicus Casianus
is mentioned in two inscriptions (Parvan, ‘Desc. nova in Scythia Minor,’
in Anal. Ac. Rom., igi$, p. 534 ff.). Vicus Secundini, Parvan, ‘Histria vii,’
no. 6t. Vicus Narcisianus, Parvan, Incepidurile viefii Romane la gurile Dimarii,
Bucuresti, 1923, p. 147 ; I. G. R. R., i, 599 : epyov tov apircdplov KareaKevatrav . . . rfj
Kcopji V 7 r€p payKiTparris. Vicus turrc Muca(poris or-tralis), CIL., iii. 7533; cp* 7536.
Vicus Amlaidina, ibid., 13743. Vicus Hi . . ibid., 12494. Territory of Carsium :
Vicus Verobrittianus, ibid., 12479 (14440). Territory of Aegyssus, ibid., 14441
and 14442; of Callatis: Asbolodeini and Sardeis, vici or tribes (?), ibid., 14214, 33.
Cp. Parvan, ‘Cetatea Ulmetum,’ in Anal. Ac. Rom., 1912-1914, vol. i, p. 591 ff'.,
and vol. ii, 2, p. 397 ff. (a list of vici). It is easy to recognize that some of these
558 Notes: Chapter VI
were named after a prominent Roman resident — QuintiOy Secundinus,
Narcissus, Celer, &c.~”the owner of a large estate in the territory of the vicus',
some had geographical names; some had a special descriptive epithet, like
the Vicus Casianus : in the boundary inscriptions of its territory (opm Ka(navS>p
aTfrjXoifXGip) the residents are named cave-dwellers, which they probably were.
(I do not believe in the religious explanation given by Parvan.) In one inscrip-
tion of the territory of Tomi and in another of the territory of Histria (C/Z,, iii.
7533, and Parvan, ‘ Histria vii/ no.6i, p. gbffl, both of the 3rd cent) the residents
are described as ^cives consistentes et Lai' (Histria) or ‘Lae’ (Tomi). It is
difficult to believe that the name of the native tribe is abbreviated, since all
the other words in the first part of the inscriptions (words of minor importance)
are given in full. I thought originally of an abbreviation of ‘ Laeti but I am inclined
now to suggest that ‘ Lai ’ or ‘ Lae ' are both transcriptions of the same name, which
was given later in the form ‘ Laeti ' (the name has of course nothing to do with the
XaotV or peasant-serfs, of the inscriptions of Asia Minor, as Parvan suggests). It is
striking to find what an important part was played by the native peasants in the
life of the mixed communities of Scythia Minor.
The best example of a tribal territory with a Roman castelhmi as its centre
is afibrded by the territory of Capidava with the large and prosperous village
Ulmetum. The population of this district consisted of Dacians and Bessi and
of Roman citizens, C/L., iii, 14214, 26 (140 a. d.), ‘cives Romani et Bessi con-
sistentes vico Ulmeto’ ; cp. Parvan, ‘ Descoperiri nova in Scythia Minor (AnaL
Ac. Rom., 1913), p. 471 ‘cives Romani et Bessi consistentes regione Capidavae ’
(cp. p. 539), and CIL., iii, 12492 (150 a. d.); V. Parvan, Primordt, p. igg. Other
villages of the same territory were the Vicus Clementianus {CIL., iii, 7565 ;
V. Parvan, Primordi, p. 203, cp. CIL., iii, 12488) and the Vicus Ultinsium (Parvan
in Jahrb., 1915, Arch. Am., p, 239; Annie ip., 1^22, no. 65). One of the rich
Romans of Capidava, C. luhus C f. Quadratus, princeps loci and quinquennalis
ierritori Capidavemis {CIL., iii, 12491, cp. Parvan, Inceputurile viepi Rqmane ia
gurik Dunarii, p. 52 E, figs. 31-3), represented on his funeral altar himself (?)
m the local dress (shirt, trousers, cloak), the god Silvanus, protector of his
fields and pastures, and two scenes of the life ot his estate: his sheep grazing
in a forest (?), and one of his coloni ploughing his field in the vicinity of a forest.
It is worthy of note that the inhabitants of the territory formed a religious
association in honour of Silvanus Sator under the name copisacrani, Parvan
in Jahrb., 1915, Arch. Anz., p. 20^ f.; Annie ip., 1922, nos. 67 and 70. Other well-
to-do local landowners: L. lulius lulianus qui et Rundacio ( Parvan, ‘Castrul
dela Poiana,' Anal. Ac. Rom., 1913, p. 103 ff.) ; L. Pompeius Valens from Ancyra
in the territory of Histria {CIL., iii, 12489) ; M. Ulpius Longinus buried in praedio
suo in the territory of Tomi {CIL., iii, 770) ; M. Atius T. f. Firmus, loci princeps,
in the territory of Tomi (ibid., iii, 772); Cocceius Vitales and Cocceia Julia, Mti
ad villam suam, from Ulmetum and Capidava (ibid., iii, 13737) ; Cocceius Elius
who built a grave for Titia Matrina, obita ad vila{m) sua{m) (ibid., iii, 14214, 20).
Some men of higher standing are mentioned in inscriptions : CIL., iii, 12463
names a ‘vilicus L. [A]eli Marcelli c. v.’; ibid., iii, 12419, 14447, and Parvan,
‘Histria iv,’ in Anal. Ac, Rom., 1916, p. 633 (loi)ff., no. 30: ‘termin(i) positi
inter [GJessi Ampudi [vil]|lam et vicanos B . . eridavenses’ (I prefer the well-known
name Gessius to the awkward Bessiis), Besides the Bessi, other native tribes
are mentioned on the boundary stones: Moesi et Thraces {CIL., iii, 749; 12345 ;
12407 ; 14422, 1 ; I agree with Parvan that these stones do not mark the boundary
between the provinces of Thracia and Moesia), Daci (ibid., iii, 14437, 2). It is
probable that the Trullenses (on the Oescus) did not belong to a city territory
(ibid,, iii, 14409 and 14412, 3) any more than did the vicus mentioned in iii, 7466 ; E.
Kalinka, ‘Antike Denkmaler in Bulgarien,* in Schriften der Balkankommission,
4 (1906), no. 128 (a.,d. 153).
On the province of Thrace, D. Kalopothakes, De Thracia provincia Romana
1893 ; A. Stein, ROmische Reichsbeamte der Provinz Thracia, Sarajevo, 1921 ;
E. Kalinka, ‘ Antike Denkmaler in Bulgarien,’ in Schr. d. Balkankom., 4 (1906).
Reports on current excavations are published in the Bulletin of the Bulgarian
Notes: Chapt er VI 559
Arch, Soc. (in Bulgarian with French risumis) and in the Arch. Am. of the
German Arch. Institute (the last m Jahrh., 37, 1922 (pubL in 1934), Arch, Am.,
p. i84 ff.). On the Greek cities of Thrace, F. Mtinzer und M. Strack, ' Die antiken
Munzen von Thrakien/ 1912, in Die antiken Milnzen Nordgriechenlands, voh i\.
A very good survey of the activity of Trajan in urbanizing the Danube lands nia}^’
be found in A. von Domaszewski, Gesch. d. romischen Kaiser, vol. ii, p. 177 ff.
1 . G, R. R., i, 721 (E. Kalinka, 1 . 1 ., no. 55) : Koiiapxta Z^pKo{krj\vri kqI Kotlfijapxla
Z[6X] , o^ao-TTjv^ €vxapi(TTOvpcv bicL iC(o[^p.Y)\r5iV BpepTOTrdpoiP Ka\ €vxapi(rrovp€V
Avpr}\l[cpl Kapbipdj] B€lOvpiko[vJ ycvofjLipcp (pvXdpxip (f^vX^s 'E^p7]Ldos dp^avn iv ripuv dypm
Ka\ imuKSis Kara row vopovs, cp. ibid., 728 (E. Kalinka, 1 . L, no, 100) and 677
(E. Kalinka, 1. L, no. 135): Ti. Cl(audius) Theopompus a-rparrjyos ^Aorrmris we pi
Tl[€]ptpdov, 2r}Xr]TtK7]9 opsturjs, AepOleX^rjrtK^s 7r€[§ta](ri[a]ff. Note the close relations of
the villages to soldiers, ibid., 738 : dya]Brj rvxu I MtapLTjre Zv\ov\Cr)PV Avpri^icp Mo|i;/c£ai/^
ElovXaPov TTprjTOpLav^* eXa^ep evxapLcrrrjpia rrapa KcopLrjrSiP. On the strategiai of the
Thracians, see G. Kazarow, Beifrdge zur KnUurgeschichie der Thraker, p. 19, note i.
Some of the strategiai may have been incorporated in the 2nd cent. a. d. in the
territories of the new cities (Pliny, N. H., iv. ii. 40, knows of fifty of them, while
Ptolemy, iii. II. 6, enumerates only fourteen).
Dittenberger, Syll.^, 880 (ed. 2, 932) ; /. G. R. R., i, 766. Ten villages con-
tributed settlers to the new market-place. A similar ipTropiop existed near
Nicopolis ad Istrum, I. G. R, R., i, 591. Another place of the same type was Dia
in Bithynia, ibid., vol. iii, 1427 ; cp. vol. iv, 863 (Laodicea ad Lycum). The
inhabitants of these market-places were not citizens of a city but are called
ipoLKovprw or olKTjTopw or KaroLKovPTcs, which corresponds to the Latin incolae. The
new town is therefore not a city {ttoXls). It is probable that the emporium Nauna
near Gallipoli in Italy had the same or a similar constitution, CIL., ix, 10; Pliny,
N. H,, iii. II. 105 ; G. Lugli in E. de Ruggiero’s Diz. Epigr., vol. ii (1922), p. 2108.
Cp. also the emporiuni near Placentia, Liv. 21, 57. The Greek name ipirSpiop,
which was used in Thrace, shows that in organizing new market-places of a per-
manent character the Romans followed the already^ existing Greek (probably
Hellenistic) practice. The ifirropta of the Greek half of the Empire may be com-
pared with the early Italian/om and conciliahida (E. de Ruggiero, Diz. Epigr., iii,
p. 198 ; A. Schulten in Pauly-Wissowa, vii, p. 62) : the difference was that the
inhabitants of the provincial ipnopta were not Roman citizens, and that the new
settlements were to a large extent artificial creations, the ultimate object being to
establish a new city around a market-place which was a centre of seasonal fairs ;
cp. the next note. It is interesting to observe that the establishment of ip^wopm,
like the institution of seasonal fairs, is confined to the almost purely agricultural
regions of the Empire, for the purpose was to organize a regular exchange of goods
in places where commercial intercourse was handicapped by the slowness and (in
winter time) the irregularity of communications. Cp. Ch. IX, note 50.
CIL,, iii, 12336; /. G. R. R., i, 674 ; Dittenberger, SylD, 888. It is to be
noted that in 1. 14 the peasants of Scaptopare call themselves landowners of the
village: ohovlpep Kal KSKT-np^iBa ip rfj Trpoy€ypaii\pipri Koapij, cp, I. 57. In 1 . 26 they
mention a seasonal fair which was celebrated every year two miles from the
village. On the seasonal fairs see P. Huvelin, Essai hisiorique stir le droit des
marchis et des foires, 1897, P* would be worth while to collect the evidence
about the fairs of the ancient world more fully than has been done by Huvelin,
whose chief purpose was to characterize the fairs of the Middle Ages and of
modern times. Very interesting, for instance, are the allusions to the nundinae at
Pompeii, particularly the recently discovered enumerating fairs at Pompeii
itself, Nuceria, Atella, Nola, Cumae, Puteoli, and even at Capua and Rome
(M. Della Corte in Riv. Indo-Greco-Italica, 8 (1924), p. 118). Seasonal fairs have
been very important factors in the economic history of almost all agricultural
countries ; witness their development in modern Russia before she became
industrialized. Their persistence in such countries as Asia Minor and Syria (in
connexion with the large temples and the large estates, see my Stud. z. Gesch. d.
KoL, p. 274, and Ch. VII, note 6), and their development in Thrace and Africa
(Ch, VII, note 70) during the period of the early Roman Empire, as well as the
^ ^ Chapter VI
careiiil legislation of the late Roman Empire regarding them (Htivelin, 1 1 ), show
that, while they came to play a secondary part in the more progressive and more
industrialized regions of the Empire and during periods of progressive economic
life in general, they were institutions of great and growing importance in the
purely agricultural districts, and regained importance m every part of the Empire
when economic life became everywhere simplified. Quite different from the
seasonal fairs which developed in agricultural districts were those connected with
the regular caravan-trade, to which such flourishing cities as Palmyra and Petra
owed their origin and prosperity. These fairs are comparable with the great
(and still surviving) fair of Nijnij- Novgorod in Russia at least in its early days.
^ On the cult of the Thracian ^ Heros ’ and on the local shrines of the
Thracians (many of which have been excavated), where native gods were
worshipped under a Greek or Roman disguise, see G. Kazarow in Pauly-
Wissowa, SuppL hi (1921), p. 1132 ff. The sanctuaries are all modest village
shrines, full of votive bas-reliefs of the same shape as many modern Greek-
Orthodox ‘icons'. The Thracian ‘Heros' must not be confounded with the
Oriental mounted god who was worshipped^ mostly by the soldiers^ of the
Danubian army and by veterans and their families, see my article in MS'H, pres^.
a f Acad, Inscr.^ 13 (1923), and G. Kazarow in Jakrb., 38 (1922), p. 184, on an early
Roman sanctuary of this Oriental god and the corresponding goddess near Razgrad.
On Macedonia, besides the chapter in Mommsen's Roman History and
his introduction to the Latin inscriptions of Macedonia in CIL,, voL iii, ^see
J. Jung, Die romanischen Landschafien, P*377ff* ? M. G. Demitsas, 'H MaK^hovia h
Wots ^BeyyopivoLs^ &c., Athens, 1896; H. Gaebler in Die aniiken Munzen Nord-
griechenlands^ vol. iii, Makedonia und Paionia^ 1906. On Paeonia, see G. Kazarow,
Paeonia^Sofis.^ 1921 (in Bulgarian) ; cp. idem in Klio^ 18 (1922), p. 20 ff. On Lissiis,
Apollonia, and Dyrrhachium, see C. Praschniker and A. Schober, ‘Archaeo-
logische Forschungen in Albanien und Montenegro,’ in Schriften d, Balkankom,^
vol. viii {1919), pp. 14 ff., 32 ff., 69 ff. ; C. Praschniker, ‘ Muzakhia und Malakastra/
in Jakresh,^ 21-22 (1922), BeibL, p. 6 ff.; cp. C. Patsch, ‘ Das Sandschak Berat in
Albanien,' Balkankom.^ vol, iii (1904), and M. N. Tod in J, H, S., 42 (1922),
p. 171.
On the municipal aristocracy of Macedonia, the presidents of the Macedonian
Koivov^ see my article ‘ Inscriptions from Macedonia,’ in the Bulletin of ike Russian
Arch. Inst at Constantinople, 4, 2, p. 166 ff. (in Russian), especially the inscriptions
nos. 2 and 2 a relating to C. Popillms Python of Beroea, of the time of Nerva and
Trajan; cp. M. G. Demitsas, 1. 1 ., p. 71, no. 62. His contemporary was Paulus
Caelidius Fronto from Heraclea Lyncestis (P. Perdrizet in B, C. H., 21 (18^7),
p, i6iff. ; cp. M. Holleaux in Reu. it gr., ii (1898), p. 2731?.). At Philippi
a prominent part was played by the family of the Opimii, rich landowners
and benefactors of the city (C/Z.., iii, 656). Rich Thracian landowners of Philippi
are nientioned in CIL., iii, 703, 707. On the Roman character of Philippi see
Ch. Picard in C. R. Acad, Inscr., 1923, p. 395. A prominent man of the end of
the 2nd cent, and the beginning of the 3rd was T. Aelius Geminius Macedo of
Thessalonica, the first president of the Panhellenion from this city (M. N. Tod
in /. H, S., 42 (1922), p. 167 ff.). His gift of 10,000 feet of lumber for the con-
struction of a basilica may indicate that he owned a large forest estate. In
C/L., iii, 14206, 4 (Dessau, 5981) an estate of Claudianus Artemidorus s. p, c.
and in iii, 14206, 12, another of a certain Caesius Victor are mentioned. The
large landowners in the cities which were not Roman colonies belonged mostly
to the class of iv^Kriqiievoi Tco^aiot, e.g. Beroea (M. G. Demitsas, 1 . L, p. 70, no. 58).
The persistence of the tribal and rural organization of Macedonia is attested by
the division of the large territory of Beroea into ^vXai, which had geographical
names and corresponded probably to the pagi of the Danube provinces (see my
article quoted above), and by the frequent mention of tribes. In the above-
mentioned inscription of Heraclea the cost of repairing the roads is imposed by
the emperor, in his letter, on the landowners of the city (two-thirds) and on the
tribe of the 'Avravoi (one-third) ; ip the latter M. Holleaux recognizes the well-
known 'AtiptovoL In another inscription on the same stone Caelidius Fronto
Notes : Chapter VI 561
performs the gymnasiarchy both for the city and for the tribe of the Lynkesti
AvyKrjarrw^. It is therefore probable that the city of Heraclea included in
her territory =the country of the Lynkesti, who were not citizens of the city,
one part of the tribe of the "Ariurapoi being attached to the city in the same
way as the Carni and Catali were attached to Tergeste. A very curious dis-
tinction between the cVapxtKot and the TroXtrat is made in the most interesting of
the inscriptions of the Orestis (A. M. Woodward in J. B, S., 33 (1913), p. 337 if.,
and cent. a. d.). As a third category of landowners, not identical either with the
eTTapxt-KOL or the TroXlrai, are named the Oresti (1. 23). I cannot help thinking that
the aggressive € 7 rapxi<o( were the Roman landowners of the territory (ol ivKCKrr}-
/xeVoi), who belonged to the province but did not belong to the city, while the Oresti
were the members of a tribe attached to the city. They were entered in the
census rolls of the city as holders of parcels of public land. Cp. the kolvov ’Opea-roov
(A. J. B. Wace and M. S. Thompson in Ann. Brit School Athens^ 18 (1911-12),
p. 179, no. 23) and the Dassaretii and their Trpoo-rar/??, M. G. Demitsas, 1. L, p. 371,
no. 330 (2). Both in Macedonia and in the neighbouring districts of Thessaly
life seems to have been mostly rural, as is shown by the frequent mention of vici
in the documents recording a delimitation between the city territories in Macedonia
and Thessaly. We have three imperial decisions on this subject, all of the time
of Trajan and Hadrian, C/Z,., hi, 591 (Trajan), 586 (12306) (Hadrian), and A. J. B.
Wace and M. S. Thompson, 1. 1., 17 (1910-11), p. 193 if., where in 1. i4ff. reference
is made to the delimitation first made by Amyntas^ father of Philip II : ‘ inscriptos
esse f(i)nes convenientes defini(t)ione regiae factae ab Aniynta Philippi patr{a)e
inter Dolichanos et Elemiotas’, cp. G. Kazarow, in B. C. 47 (1923), p. 275
on another stone of the same time recording a delimitation between Geneatae
and xini. Mentions of vici: CIL., hi, 6^6; A. Salac in B. C. iZ., 47 (1923),
p. 63, no. 23 : ‘ M, Bietius Cerius vet(eranus) vicanis d(e) s(uo) ’ ; and, ibid., p. 65,
no. 24, a votive stone to a local goddess set up by * vicani Sc ... . Nicaenses et
Coreni et Zcambu followed by the names oi curatores^ all Thracian.
Dio Chr., Tars. pr. {Or. 33), 25 (on Thessaly and Arcadia) ; 26 (on Macedonia) ;
CD. the well-known statement of Plutarch, De def. or, 8, and O. Seeck, Gesch. d.
Unterg. d. ant Welt vol. i, p. 321, note 32.
Dittenberger, SylB, 827 ; E. Bourguet, De rebus Delphicis imperatoriae aetatis^
1905, p. 74 ff. (letter of Hadrian). Cp. Bourguet, 1. L, p. 94 ff. (general con-
clusions). There was no doubt a revival of the sanctuary in the 2nd cent. a. d.,
especially under Hadrian (the worst time had been the ist. cent. a. d.), but this
revival was based almost wholly on gifts of the Roman emperors and of some
members of the Roman and provincial nobility (especially Herodes Atticus and
his family).
Dittenberger, 800; cp. A. von Premerstein in Jahresh,^ 15 (1912),
p. 200 ff. ; see especially 1. 12 ff. : eVe^c^nro Se koi rap Upareiap NtfcatrtTTTTos' ras AecTTrotpa^
OPTOS ^OXvpL^mKov iviavTov prjBepbs deXopTos 7 rpo(X€\BHv, Ta>p re P-h Treaoprop tols
pvcTTJjpLois arredcDKe CK rod Ihiov pi\ov ra (pLCTK^.
I cannot undertake here the task^ of putting together the rich material
on the economic life of Greece in the imperial period which is stored in the
volumes of I. G. The work is worth doing. One part of this material, con-
cerning Athens in the early Roman period, has been investigated in a masterly
way by S. Shebeleff, History of Athens from 22p to ji B. C, St. Petersburg,
18^ (in Russian). I see no indication in the sources that the conditions of
agriculture in Greece in the 2nd cent. a. d. were desperate. It seems as if
there had been a notable improvement as compared with the conditions of the
ist cent. B. c. described by Cicero or with those of the ist cent. a.d. as stated
by Dio. Such an impression may be derived from a careful study of the
inscription of Thisbe (Dittenberger, SylL\ 884), and is confirmed by the fact
that Greece had sufficient numbers of wealthy citizens to support the institution
of the Panhellenion created by Hadrian (see M. N. Tod in f. H. 5., 42 (1922),
p. 173 ff., who quotes the bibliography of the question and gives a full survey of
the epigraphical and literary evidence). The main feature of the Panhellenion
2354-2 0 0
562
Notes: Chapter VI
was the great games, and they were supported and financed by the presidents
and members of the council (arwetpot) of the Panhellenion. It is noteworthy that
in the list of these presidents and crvveBpfn or JIapeX'k7}pss (compiled by Tod, 1. L,
p. 177) the leading part was played by rich men from Greece Proper, who
probably lived mostly on the income from their lands. It seems likely that the
improvement was due, at least in part, to the efforts of the emperors of the 2 nd
cent., Trajan and especially Hadrian, see Ch. VIIL
VII. The Roman Empire under the Flavians and the
Antonines. The City and the Country in the Asiatic and
the African Provinces of Rome.
' Studien z. Gesch. d. rom. Kol, 1910, p. 283 ff. New documents and valuable
observations bearing on the social and economic conditions of Lydia in imperial
times have recently been contributed byj. Keil and A. von Premerstein, ‘ Bericht
tiber eine III. Reise in Lydien/ in Denkschr, Wien. Akad., 57 (1914) ; cp. the
inscriptions of Lydia in /. & R. R., vol. iv.
2 See the inscription of Ephesus belonging to the time of the Emperor Vaiens,
A. Schulten in Jahresh., 9 (1906), p. 40 ff.; R. Heberdej^, ibid., p. 182; Bruns-
Gradenwitz, Fontes, ed. 7, p. 270, no. 97. The inscription speaks of the public
land of Ephesus which became the property of the ratio privata. It is worthy of
note that in this late time the land was cultivated to a great extent either by small
tenants, who were citizens of the city of Ephesus, or by rich farmers.
® Dio Chr., rrepl (rwoLKia-pov (Or. 45), 3: ovk t^apvos dpi to Kai (rupomCetv
rriv TToXiv Kol TrXrjBos avBptdTToyv ds avT7)v Barov dvvapai crvvayaydvf Koi ov povovroov €7riX^plo>y
aXX* el Bvvarbp rjv kol irepas iroXeis arvveXBdv dvayKaaravTa (cp. H. VOn Amim, Feben Ufld
Werke, p. 341). Idem, Or. 35, 14 (on Celaenae) : rdi rovro phmXXas t&v dvmvvpinv
iroXem^ tovto Be TtoXXas evBaipovas KOipas VTrrjKoovs Fx^re. Cp. Or. 38, 26, on the Bemrai
tS>v BiBvvmv which the inhabitants of Prusa were obliged to pay to the treasury of
the Nicomedians. An admirable documentary illustration of the endeavours of
Dio is given by some inscriptions of Prusias ad Hypium in Bithynia, /. G. R. i?.,
vol. iii, 69 (distributions by a certain T. Ulpius Aelianus Papianus ; cp. Pros. Imp.
Rom.., vol. iii, p. 458, nos. 537, 538), 1. 19: Ttacnv rot? €VKeKpifi[€VOis Kjal rot? ttjv dyp[o]i-
dav KaroiKovcri (cp. 1. 26, where the same expression is used except that TrapotKovcri
is substituted for KaroLKova-i) \ cp. ibid., vol. iv, 808 (Hierapolis) : koI Bid rjr}? rSiv lBi<ov
aypoiKcov QorjBeta^. The situation of these TrdpoiKoi or kutolkoi of Prusias is illustrated
by another inscription of the same place (ibid., voL iii, 65). We meet here with
special magistrates called ^ivXapxoi (1. 12 ff.), and we are told that they were eVl
ofiovoias pp 7 )vL€voi. I am convinced that A . Korte (.^ t/t. Mittk., 24 (1899), p. 437) is right
in suggesting that these <l>vXapxoi were carrying out a awotKicrfios in Dio’s sense,
including the peasants in the roll of citizens. It is noteworthy that the inscription
of Prusias belongs to the times of Septimius Severus, see Ch. IX. On the social
and economic standing of the ndpoiKoi and KdroLKoi, see my Studien ss. Gesch. d.
rom. Kol., p. 260 ff. ; cp. A. Asboek, Das Siaatswesen von Priene^ 1913, p. 66 ff. ,
and my article in Anatolian Studies presented to Sir William Ramsay^ 1923, p. 376.
Their situation in imperial times was no different from what it had been in the
Hellenistic period. In the well-known Ephesian inscription of the time after the
first Mithradatic war, Dittenberger, SylD, 742, 1. 45 f. : ehai Be koI rove ta-oreXeis Kal
TrapoLKovs KOI iepoiis Kali i^eXevBipovs Koi ^evovsj they rank, just as in the equally well-
known inscription of Pergamon (Dittenberger, Ok gr. inscr., 338, 1. 20), a little
above the public (i, e. the royal or sacred) slaves and the freedmen. The same
position was held by the Kdroimi or jidpoiKoi in Sy Ilium of Pamphylia in the
2nd cent. (?) a. d., as is shown by the three inscriptions of Menodora, daughter of
Megakles, 1. G. R. R., iii, 800-2; in a public distribution the irdpoiKoi received
Notes: Chapter VII 563
the same sum or the same amount of corn as the freedmen and the vindictarii^ while
the members of the senate, those of the gerousia, the members of the public assem-
bly (cKfcXi/crtaota/), and the common citizens received much more; in no. 802 the
TtapoiKOL are not mentioned at all. In the island of Cos we have almost the same
division of the residents of one of the demoi of the city, 1 . G. R. /?., iv, 1087, 1 . 4 £ :
rot KaTOLK€vvT€S €v TO 5 a/i<» ^Nkevrimv Koi ro[t] | iueKrrjfihoi ml roi yecopycvvrels] | iv
''AXevri ml HiXjj, rmv re ttoKitclv ml ^Pcopaioov Kal pL^ToiKcav^ Thus the KaToiKevvrss are the
citizens, the iv^Krrjpiivoi the Romans, and the yempyevvres the piToiKoi. It would be
worth while to collect all the evidence on the subject, which of course cannot
be done here. A good beginning has been made in the excellent article Ki>pr] of
H. Swoboda in Pauly- Wissowa, Suppl. iv (1924), p. 950 ff. ; on the mpai in Asia
and in Syria, p. 961 ff.
^ See my Studien Gesch, KoL, p. 269 ff. (the temples), p. 287 ff. (the emperors),
p. 311 (private landowners). I give here some supplementary evidence on the
last point which escaped my attention in 1910. At Zelea in Phrygia lived a cer-
tain Myrinus (^. C. /f,, 17 (1893), p. 530; I. G. R. iv, 186), In his funeral
inscription his career is described as follows (according to my own restoration
of the text) : ..... Mvpivov 7 rpaypiaT€v\TOv\ KX^avdias) Bdarcrrjs* imB€d[€ypivos nXoas a’sf]
^IraXiav ^Ptaprjvis^ re[ ] iirl r^v AaXptalriaJv, ^Itnpiav, Ai^vpviav / 3 ', *AX€|d?/-
dpeiav TTiv Kar AxyvTTTov Kal ra rovToov dva piaov, ^opiKo. ;^p^/xara Trpd^as err} Xc', avrm
iiroLTjae CSiv. Ziebarth, in note i to Dittenberger, SylL^, 1229, suggests that Myrinus
was a merchant. According to my restoration he was an actor of a noble woman
Claudia Bassa (the family is known as a senatorial family of the 2nd cent. : CIL,,
vi. 3829-31697, Claudius Bassus Capitolinus, cons, stiff, in an unknown year), who
was certainly a rich landowner in Asia Minor ; cp. the inscription of Tralles, AtL
Mitth,, 21 (1896), p. 113, no. 3, set up in honour of a woman who was perhaps the
wife or a relative of Ci(audius) Capitolinus. Rich women of the senatorial class,
connected with Asia, are common ; see, e.g., the inscription .from Tralles (ibid.,
p. 1 12, no. i) in honour of a noble woman erected by Tdios 6 TrpayfxarevTrjs who rdv
duBpidvra j dvia-rrjcrev iv r<p €p[y]M to ldi<a avrijs ( 1 . 16). It is evident that Myrinus
the actor of Claudia Bassa, collected the rent of her estates all his life long
(thirty-five years). He undertook journeys to Italy and to other places to convey
the money to his mistress, and to manage her affairs in other provinces where
she had economic interests, Cp. Cod, TTi. vi, 2, i i (a. d. 395) : ‘ omnes senatores
qui in sacratissima urbe consistunt, licet habeant per longinquas provincias atque
diversas possessiones, aurum oblaticium in urbe persolvant quod a procuratoribus
et actoribus suis ad urbem reditus perferuntur This provincial aristocracy of
landowners was probably mostly of local origin, descendants of rich municipal
landowners We know scores of them, e. g. /. G, R, R., iii, 422 (Ariassus) ; 451
(Termessus) i 498, 499 (Oenoanda) ; 477 (in Lycia) ; cp. 478; 528 (Lydae) ; 576
(Pinara) ; 5% (Sidyraa) ; cp. 585 ; 679 (Patara; the famous Opramoas, whom the
inscription shows to have been a rich landowner); iv, 1302 (the landowner
L, Vaccius L. f. Aem. Labeo of Kyme), &c.
® Some examples may be quoted of temples in Asia Minor which were
attached to cities and yet owned large tracts of land. I leave aside the temples
of the former kingdom of Pergamon enumerated in my article in Anatolian Studies
presented to Sir William Ramsay, p. 370!. A full list would be useful and easy to
compile, but cannot be given here, (i) The Ephesian temple had large lands of
its own, see J, Keil and A. von Premerstein, ‘III. Reise in Lydien,’ p. 82 ff, ; p. 96,
no. 137 ; p. 98, no. 99. (2) Athena at Ilion possessed land, Dittenberger, Or, gr.,
44; Dessau, 8770; /. G, R, R,, iv, 194 and 197 ; cp. Dittenberger, 747
(Amphiaraus at Oropus, a. d. 73). (3) Pergamon, temple of Athena and of
Dionysos, I. G. R. R., iv, 304 and 397. (4) Temple of Zeus at Aezani, CIL,, iii,
f 6 (14191); Dittenberger, Or.gr,, 502 ; I, G, R, R., iv, 571. (5) Aegae in Lydia,
G,R,R,,iv, 1117. (6) Hierocaesarea in Lydia, ibid., iv, 1306. (7) Castabala
(Hierapolis) in Cilicia, ibid., iii, 904. All these temples were attached to a city
and yet owned extensive tracts of land. Still more extensive were the estates of
the independent temples, of which I have spoken at length in my book on the
Colonate.
0 02
564 Notes: Chapter VII
« I shall return to the subject of village life in the eleventh chapter. Modern
books contain no list of the villages which existed in Asia Minor in imperial
times. Those which could be identified with existing remains are enumerated In
the text to the large map of Asia Minor by H. Kiepert, Formae Orbts Aniiqui^
map IX, CD. VIII, and are recorded on the maps. A good list of mrmdai may be
found in the article ' KiroiKot ’ by F, Oertel, in Pauly-Wissowa, xi, p. i ff. The
termmology of rural life in Asia Minor is complicated: KaroiKm^ rpiKwfiia,
T€Tpai<a>pm, TrevTampila^ rfrpanvpyla^ &c., are of frecjuent occurrence. A group oi
villages, e.g., which formed one ^pos |cp. iii, 14191) Is attested at Ginndi,
C/T., iii, 282; 1 , G. R, R-y iii, 154 (near Ancyra); the centre of this group is
formed by SL piiroKmpmv (a. d. 145). As in Gaul, we meet also the mcmi in Bithynia :
^ . ora\ \r}pmv y€LTocr[v]vr} (I. G, R. R-, hi, 50), not to be confounded with the vkmi
of the city of Antioch in Syria. A typical example of a flourishing village is
afforded by the Kwpn in the famous Kaa-rcAov TteBiop (Dittenberger, Or,
gKf 488), It is important to note that the Ka>pj] as such owns land : yepolpiuris
iKKXrjcrtas V7T0 rij? yipovmus | icai r&v Xoiir&v KmpriT 5 >v iravr&iV #cai ^ovkevcrapip&p avrmp.
top m[ap\x\ovTa avrois dypov ip rots Biots opots | [rojjrcp T® \€yopepm ^AyaBmPos:
>a[j>8]pats 1 [o]rTa optpop. This shows that not all villages were situated on imperial
land or on the land of a city. Some may have formed independent territories.
In any case many of them, as in Africa, had the right of a Juristic person, see
E. Weiss in Zeiisckr, d. Sav.-St /. Rechtsg., R6m. Abt, 36 (1915), p. 170;
F. Preisigke, Girowesen, 1910, p. 80 ; M. San Nicolo, Aegyptisches Vereimwesen,
vol. i, 19T3, p. 166 ff; L. Mitteis, Rom. Privatrecht, vol. i, p. 376 ; L. Wenger,
SteUvertretungy p. 113. A good instance of villages attached to cities is Bitten-
berger, Or. gr., 527, or /. G. R. R., iv, 1237, where a magistrate of Thyatira was
honoured with an altar and a statue by the 'Aprjpol and Ndybr^poi cVi rep i[K]hK^(riiL
ml dnoK(iT(i<rT^(rat ra rmp mpthp. Clearly the villages were inhabited by natives.
Good examples of imperial villages are the Xapptdeapol, /. G. R, i?., iii, 17, set up
vrrep t 5 }p ^^orTrorwu (the emperors), cp. 18 and 36 (a.d, 138-61); and Karalar in
Galatia, ibid., iii, 153: Aup[)7jXt[a]|[roi] V 7 r€p\piKr)[s] | t&p KvpL\o 3 p [k(<h)] iavTS>p K(al)
r&p Idicop rleJrpaTTodayp. An instance of a village, the territory of which was
apparently owned by a prominent man of the province of Asia, Domninus Rufus,
Asiarch and straiegos of the city of Sardes {B. M. Catal. Coins of Lydia ^ Sardes,
nos. 206-11 belonging to a.d. 253-68), is furnished by an inscription of Kula,
/. G. R. R.y iv, 1381, recording permission granted to Domninus by the proconsul
to institute a monthly fair in the village. As is well known, similar inscriptions
are very frequent in Africa ; cp. A. Besnier in Daremberg and Saglio, iv, p. 122 ff’.
Another case of a self-governing village on a private estate in /. G. R. R., iv, 1492;
cp. H. Swoboda in Pauly-Wissowa, Suppl. iv (1924), p. 961 ff.
’ On Cilicia, D. Vaglieri in Dist. Epigr.^ vol. ii, p. 222; cp. Ch. V, note 4. On
Cappadocia, idem, ibid., vol. ii, p.psff., and Ruge in Pauly-Wissowa, x, p. 1910 ff.;
CD. my Studien Gesch. KoL, p. 282. The social conditions of Cappadocia are
iflustrated by the short notice in Scr, Hist Aug., Hadr., 7-10: ‘deinde a
Cappadocibus servitia castris profutura suscepit It is evident that servitia means
serfs of the native aristocracy and of the temples. On Commagene and its social
and economic constitution, see the well-known inscription of Nemrud-Dagh
(69-34 B.C.), Dittenberger, Or. gr., 383; B. Laum, Siiftunpn, p. 210, 1. 94 ff:
^aarikiias 5e TrX^^oy | sis o-waycoyaff Kai Trapt^yvpeis | koX Svarias ravras BteXoap Kara | Koipas
Kol TToXeis rots eyyicrra [ repivea-LP. Villages were assigned by the king to the gods,
1 . iqiff. : (S/xotooff de ] KwpaSy ds iy&s KadidpaxTa | baLpofrip romois, prjb^pl | otrtop ear®
prjTe €^BLd\(raa&aL ptjre e^aWorptccKrai | prjre perabiard^ai pr^rc | fiXd\l/at Kara rjpSepa rpoirop
Kd\fJLas eKclvas j 7 rrp6(rodop fy eya> Krrjpa 8aip6p<ap j davkov dveBrjKa. Both passages show
to what an extent life in Commagene was rural, and how largely the main form
of social life was that of a village. Cp. Honigmann in Pauly^issowa, Suppl. iv
(1924), p. 978 ff'. On Armenia, see J. de Morgan, Histoire du peuple arminieny
1919; J. Sandalgian, Histoire documentaire de lArminie des ages du paganisme^
1917; my Studien Gesch. Kol^ p. 282, and F. Cumont, ‘ L’ Annexion du Pont
Polemoniaque,’ &c., in AnatoL Sty p, 109 ff.; cp. idem in C. R. Acad. Inscr., 1905,
p. 93, and Th. Reinach, ibid., p. 332. In the 4th and 6th cent. a. d. Armenia was
still governed by satraps as it had been in the Persian and the Hellenistic periods.
565
Notes : Chapter VII
^ M. Rostovtzeff, Iranians and Greeks in South Russia, Oxford, 1922.
® The division of the land into KXrjpoi with fortified villas, which occupied the
fertile territory of the Heraclean peninsula and were protected by walls and small
fortresses and towers against the inroads of the Taurians, is shown by the
abundant remains of the delimitation walls of the single KXrjpoi, which date at least
from the 4th cent. b. c. and form a well-organized system, see Z. Arkas, ‘ Descrip-
tion of the Heraclean Peninsula and its Antiquities,’ in Transactions of the Hist
Soc, of Odessa, 2 (1845), reprinted in 1879, Nicolaev (in Russian with map);
P. Becker, Die Herakleoiische Peninsula, Leipzig, 1856; N. M. Pechonkin,
* Archaeological excavations on the site of Strabo’s Old Chersonese,’ in Bull de la
Comm. Arch., 42, p, 108 ft. (in Russian) ; c^.Arch. Anz., 1911, p. 206. The remains
of the country houses excavated by N. M. Pechonkin attest an intensive cultiva-
tion of the vine, cp. B. Latyshev, Inscr, Orae Sept Ponti Euxini, voL i, ed. 2, 343,
1 . 10 ft*, (procession of the citizens of Chersonesus with wives and children in
honour of Dionysos). The fertile land near the city is called tt^Uov in the well-
known oath of the Chersonesians, B. Latyshev, ibid., vol. i, ed. 2, 401, 1. 47 ft*. ; on
its division into KXripot (iKar^pvyoi) and the sale or letting of these KXrjpoi ibid.,
vol. i, ed..2, 403.
E. von Stern, ‘ Die politische und sociale Struktur der Griechenkolonien
am Nordufer des Schwarzmeergebietes,’ in Hermes, 50 (1915), p. ibift*.
M, Rostovtzeff, Iranians and Greeks, p. 159 ft*. ; E. von Stern, 1 . I., p. 211 ft; ;
E. H. Minns, Scythians and Greeks, 1913, p* 612 ft*.
This is attested by the well-known inscription of King Rhoemetalces, B.
Latyshev, /. O. S. P. E., vol. ii, 353 (a. D. I51) : Ti^epios *lovXios ^acnXevs [ 'FoiprjTdXKr]S,
(jiiXoKaiG'ap Koi (j)i\XopmpaLos, evcnfiTjs, ras vtto | Arjrobdupov dvareSeicras yeas | cV Biavveois
Ka\ Toiis TreXdras | Kara top irapaKeLpevop T€XapS>\pa peiwdevra arvpadpolltras diravra
Kol irXeopdcras dTrelKaTearTTjcre rrji (ra>a, di €7ri|/zfX€t[a]ff ’A[X]€|^fjV^pov Mvpelvov 1 tov
em rm lepmv. r]pv% pr}v\ | ’A7rfXXri/<»t k', cp. E. H. Minns, 1 . 1 ., p. 655, no. 49. The
word TrpocTTreXdr??? is used in the same sense of serf by Theopompus, in describing
the social standing of the Thracians in relation to their Illyrian masters, see
Ch. VI, note 58. The word Tr^Xarr;? was, of course, used to define the position
of enslaved peasants in the time of Solon.
This picture is based wholly on archaeological material, M. Rostovtzeff,
Iranians and Greeks, pi. XXVIII, i (a landowner in the steppes), pi. XXIX,
T, 2, 3 (battles between Panticapaeans and Taurians and Scythians). Wagons:
E. H. Minns, 1 . 1., p. soft*., figs. 5, 6, cf. p. 310, and E. von Stern in Bobrinskoy
Miscellanea, 1911, p. 13 C {in Russian),
B. Latyshev in Bull de la Comm. Arch., 37, p. 38, no. 2 ; E. H. Minns, 1 . 1 .,
p. 655, no. 51 (Sauromates II) : dedication to Poseidon by the thiasus of the
Gorgippian shipowners and merchants {pavKXr^poi), which mentions that the king
honoured the thiasus and the god by paying an entrance-fee of one thousand artabae
of corn (€l(Tay(»>yiov dpra^ 5 >v x^Xicop). On Bithynia and Bosporus, M. Rostovtzefif,
* Pontus, Bithynia, and the Bosporus,’ in Ann. Brit. School Athens, 22 (1916-18) ;
cp. W. Schiir, Die Orientpolitik des Kaisers Nero, 1923, p. 85 ft*.
I have dealt with the Scythian kingdom ofSkiluros and his successors
in a special book on the political history of South Russia which was ready in
1914 but has never been printed. The capital of the Scythian kings in the
Crimea has been partly excavated {Extract from a Report on the Arch, Excavations of
1S5J, Petersburg, 1895, p. 129 ft*. Russian) ; cp. Compte rendu de la Comm. Arch.,
1889, P» 20 ft*., and 1895, p. 19, also in Russian). The inscriptions found during
these excavations are dedications either by the kings or by a rich merchant
of Olbia (Posideos), all of the 2nd cent b. c., B. Latyshev, L O. S. P. E., vol. i,
ed. 2, nos. 668-73 (from Neapolis), and the introduction of Latyshev; cp. vol. i,
ed. 2, nos. 77, 78, and 168 (from Olbia). There is no doubt that the relations
between Olbia and the Scythian kingdom of the Crimea were the same in
566 Notes : Chapter VII
the Roman period. Large corn-export presumes a fair cultivation of the fertile
land of the Northern Crimea. M. Kostovtzetf, Imnians and Greeks^ p. ' 162.
On the war between the Romans and the Siracians (a Sarmatian tribe)
see Tac,, Ann.^ xii. 15--21. Zorzines, king of the Siracians, offered to deliver
to Aquila ten thousand ^slaves' in return for the lives of the free men, cp.
M, Rostovtzelf, L L, p. 164. The slaves were of course the ircXfiTai, the natives,
like the TrpocrTreXarai of the Ardiaeans, cp. above, note 12.
” M. Rostovtzelf, 1 . 1 ., p. 167 If.
On recent archaeological investigations in Syria, see the works quoted in
Ch. VI, note 4.
JuL, Misop.^ 362 c : fxvpiovs KK-^povs yrjs Wlas KSKrrjphri; cp. 370 p, where it
is stated that three thousand KX^poi, alleged to be unsown (acnropoi)^ were taken
by the rich landowners without payment of a rent, probably as emphyteutic
land (i. e. tax-free for a certain time under the obligation of cultivating it).^ Julian
also speaks repeatedly of the members of the Antiochean senate as very rich land-
owners who opposed the measures taken by him to establish normal prices for
products of the first necessity, Misop., 350; cp. E. S. Bouchier, Syria ^ p. 63,
md Skori Hisiory of Antioch, p, 1^2.
A short description of the villas in the neighbourhood of Apamea and
Antiochia may be round in E. Littmann, Ruinensiatten und Schnftdenkmaler
SyrienSf 1917, p. 31 ; cp. H. C. Butler in the books quoted Ch. IV, note 4.
The description of these villas given by St. John Chrysostom {in Acta Apost,
45, vol. ix, p. 343 d) suits excellently the still existing and beautifully preserved
ruins.
St. John Chrysostom, in Matth,, 66, vol. vii, p. 657 e; 85, vol. vii, p. 810 a.
A typical fortune of a rich senator of Antiochia is described by him in his
sermon in Matth.^ 63, vol. vii, p. 633 c: large tracts of land, 10 to 20 houses
and baths, 1,000 to 2,000 slaves, cp. Rev. J. Milton Vance, Beiirdge zur byzantim-
schen Kulturgeschichie^ i907> p* 6b. The sermons in Maiih. belong to the Antiochean
period of the life of Chrysostom, M. von Bonsdorif, Predigtthdiigkeit des Johannes
Chrysosiomus, Helsingfors, 1922, p. 14 ff.
The classical passage is St, John Chrysostom, in Maiih. ^ 61, vol. vii, p. 614 a If. ;
cp. in Acta Aposty 18, vol ix, p. 150 c, and J, M. Vance, 1. L, p, 48 If. (good transla-
tion of the passage). According to the picture of St. J ohn the tenants of the land
were subject to heavy payments, which were exacted in the most merciless way
(/cat reXeo-fxara ^i 7 }V€Kr} /cat dibopr\ra eTrm^eaat), and to personal services (/cal dtmovlas
cmirovovs imrdrrovai). The exactors were the procurators of the owners (ml rod
Xi/tov TovTOV Kal rod vavayiov ras rmv ImTpdTtcav ^aordvovs kqI tovs eXKvapLovs Kal rds diraiTT}-
freis Kat ras diraytdyds /cal rds aTrapainJrovy Xeirovpyias pLoXXop deBoucdrcs Kal (ppirrovres).
There is no hint of the peasants' being obliged to work for the landowners under
the provisions of a general law. Their obligations seem to have been of a purely
private character,' the most powerful weapon of the rich being loans at high
interest (/cai^a de kqI yePT} TOKap, /cal ovde rols *EXXr)pa>p poptois v€Pop,ifTix€vay Kal BapetcrpLarcop
ypapLpjarVia rtoWrjs yeptopra rrjs dpds awridiacrt’ ovSe yap iKaroarr^v rov itavros dhXa ro
rjfjitcrv rov Trayroi^ airaiTetp ^idCovrai), In the vineyards the peasants worked for
money {dird ph ra>p irovm avr&p Kal iSpiOTCdp Xrjvovs /cal VTroX^wa 7r\r)povvT€Sy avrois Si
oucaSe ouSc aXlyov €la‘ayay€ip iirtTpinovres plrpop . . . /cat oXiyov avrotff vwep rovrov
Trpoa-pLnrovvres dpyvpiop), Cp. the methods of the Turks in Syria at the present day
as described by C. L. Woolley (see Ch. HI, note 24).
Jul, Or., ii, p. 9ID; Lib., Or., iii, 35^; JuL, Misop., 368 If. (the rrXodaioi are
the rich landowners); and St. John Chrysostom, passim. The position of
a peasant was the lowest on the social ladder, less enviable than even that
of the most despised city proletarian, as the peasants were the main taxpayers,
Sozom., V, 4 : ro Si TrXrjSos tS)v ai/p yvpat0, koI rtaialp dnoypd<p€iT6ai Kal
KaBdrrep ip Tats Kcifiais (j>6povs: reXelpi,
Notes : Chapter Cl I
MalaiaSj p. 144 e (under Justinus): «i/€ff be in r&v woXtr&v r&v crcoSeitrmp (after
the earthquake) et n Tjbvp^Or^a-av a^eiXapro koX ecfyevyov koI vtt^vtovp nvTois yecopyol
Kal d7r€(rTrmp i&lp avTo:>v ipovevovres avTOvs, cp. Sozom., vii, 15, about the peasants
killing Marcellus bishop of Apamea ; besides pagan feelings, their chief motive
was hatred of the city lords, who interfered in their life.
It would be useless to enumerate the names of the villages in the territories
of Apamea and Antiochia. Some of these names are recorded by K. O. Mtiller,
Antiquitates Antiochenae^ p. 233, note; cp. E. Kuhn, Stddtische und hurgerUche
Verfassung des rom, Reiches^ vol. ii, p. 317, note 2781 ; cp. p. 321, note 2818,
and Malalas, p, 347. Many are mentioned in the inscriptions of Roman soldiers
(E. de Ruggiero in Diz, Epigr., s. v. Antiochia), some are recorded in the inscrip-
tions of Syrian Christians, residing in Northern Italy (Keune in Pauly- Wissowa,
X, p. 1918 fF.).^ There is no doubt that, besides small free landowners, these
villages were inhabited by some rich men, and that some land attached to the
villages was owned by rich landowners who lived in Antiochia or Apamea ;
see St. John Chrysostom, in Acta Apost, 18, vol. ix, p. 149 e. It is probable
that the ancient village on the site of the modern Niha (C/L., iii, 14384, 2;
cp. 14384, i) with a temple of the local Baal (Hadaran) belonged to the territory
of Berytus. A man who was a decurio, quaestor, and flamen of this city died
in the village of Niha, which shows that he used to live in the village and
had landed property there (ibid., iii, 14384, 3). Small landowners of Northern
^ria appear in an inscription of Bath, Public, of the Princeton University Arch.
Exped. to Syria, Div. Ill, Sec. B (Northern Syria), no. 918 : roXovrphp ecopdsrlovrY
av Trdvrmv 7 rpo? ;(api[z^] | [eycb] Ttaaiv bibonKa rots y€ci)[p6poLs] ; cp. ibid., 881 : Abbosus
the Koopidpxv^} cp. 874, 875.
26 Baitocaece: /. G. R. R., iii, 1020; CIL., iii, 184, Addit, p. 972; Dittenberger,
Or. gr., 262. One of the villages probably attached to the temple of Doliche,
GIL., iii, 3490. An interesting description of two villages in the territory of
the northern Chalcis, Litarba and Batna, may be found in the well-known letter
of the Emperor Julian, see Epistulae, leges, poematia, &c., coll. rec. J. Bidez et
F. Cumont, p. 155, no. ^ {Ep. 27). A large and prosperous village near Baalbek,
Kmprj Xdpcov, is mentioned in I. G. R. R., iii, 1074; ClL., iii, 14162, 2 and p. 2328, 74
(a. d. 172). On Chalcis and Abila of the Lebanon district, see Benzinger in Pauly-
Wissowa, i, p. 98 f., and iii, p. 2091 ; cp. Beer, ibid., ix, p. 2378 ff. A delimitation
of territory between the Caesarenses ad Libanum and the Gigarteni de vico
Sidoniorum, CIL., iii, 183.
2"^ Ch. Ill, note 15, and Ch. V, note 20, and note 33. The villages and estates of
the Palmyrene territory are mentioned in the tariff of Palmyra, 1. G. R. R., iii, 1056,
1. 47 ff. : rmv ^pmrSiP to Kafra] rhv vopop . . . orap efynBev rihv opoap elarldyrjrai] e^dyrjrat,
rovs be els Karampi^opras dteXets elpai las Kal (TVP€(f)d>pr}(r€P avrols.
On the fortified posts of the Palmyrene territory, see the articles on Doura quoted
Ch. Ill, note 15. In the 4th cent. a. d. a certain Silvinus, comes limitis, is praised
in a metrical Latin inscription found in Roman ruins five hours from Qarietein,
the site of the tribe of the NaCaXr^poi (E. Kalinka in Jahresh., 3 (1900), BeibL, p. 19,
nos. 1--4), for having rebuilt one of the forts of the Eastern limes (on the road
between Palmyra and Damascus) and for having made the whole district near
the fort fertile and safe {CIL., iii, 6660-14161; Buecheler, Anthol. Lat, 296;
E. Kalinka, 1. L, p. 34). On the Palmyrene auxiliary numeri in the Roman
army, G. L. Cheesman, The Auxilia of the Roman Imperial Army, 1914, p. 88fF, ;
F. Cumont in Mon. et Mem. P/o/, 36 (1923). These numeri and later cohortes
maintained their strictly national character throughout the imperial period. On
the Syrian and Arabian troops in general, see Cichorius in Pauly- Wissowa, i,
p. 1223 ff,, and iv, p. 231 ff. ; cp. G. L. Cheesman, 1. 1., p. 145 ff I shall revert
in the following chapters to the important part which the Syrians and the Arabs
played in the imperial army of the 2nd and 3rd cent. I may note in this con-
nexion that their importance attests a low grade of urbanization and a purely
rustic and tribal manner of life in the Syrian lands.
5 6 8 Notes : Chapter VII
' On the Damascene soldiers in. the Roman army, see E, de Ruggiero in
Dk. Epigr,, voi. ii, p, 146311:; cp. Benzinger in Pauly- Wissowa, iv, p. 2042 ff.
29 On Emesa, Benzinger in Pauly- Wissowa, v, p. 240 E On the Sampsi-
gerami, Stahelin in Pauly-Wissowa, Zw. R., i, p. 2226; cp. C/£., ill, 14387 a, and
note. The Sampsigerami are mentioned at Emesa even after their dethronement
by Domitian, /. G. R. R., iii, 1023 (a.d. 78/79), 1025 (a. d. 108), Lebas-Waddington,
vol. iii, 2564 (a. D. 182/3). I see no ground for disbelieving the notice of Maialas,
p. 296, that under Valerian one Sampsigeramus led the militia of Emesa against
the Parthians; cp., however, A. von Domaszewski in Arch, fur Rd.^ ii, p. 230,
whose identification of the Sampsigeramus of Maialas with the well-known
usurper Uranius Antoninus (253/4) i cannot accept. On Edessa in Osroene,
E, Meyer in Pauly-Wissowa, v, p. 1933 ff.
The best survey of social and economic life in Palestine in the earlier period
may be found in A. Bertholet, Kulturgeschichte Israels^ 1919, p. 141 ff. The con-
ditions did not change in the Hellenistic and Roman periods, see the short
survey of commerce and industry (no section devoted to agriculture) in E. Schdrer,
Geschichte des judischen Volkes im Zeitalter Jesu Chrisii, ed. 4., 1901-10, vol. ii,
p. 67 ff.; cp. S. Dickey, The Consiruciive Revolution of Jesus ^ 1924, p. 856: and
p. ii5ff. ; and on the coins G. F. Hill, Br. Mus. Catal. of the Greek Coins oj
Palestine, 1914. It might be worth while to collect the whole evidence, including
that of the Talmud, on this subject. Note that according to Cassius Dio (69, 14. i)
Hadrian destroyed fifty Jewish c^povpia (forts or big villages, pr^TpoKtupiai) and
985 villages of importance. And how many unimportant hamlets ? Cf. H. Swoboda
m Pauly -Wissowa, Suppl iv (1924), p. 975.
The Roman veterans at Emmaus: FI. Joseph., Bell, vii, 6, 6, cp. E. Schiirer,
1 . L, i, 3, p. 640 ff., J42. Estates of the Roman emperor in Galilee : Joseph., Vita,
13 (71) : rrapeKaXei yap p€ rov Kaicrapos (tltop Kdpepov iv rals iiviioSep TaXikaias Kmpais
l^ova-Lav avr^ dovvai €K(j)op7]<TaL. I do not think that the imperial corn stored in the
villages was the proceeds of a tax in kind paid to the Roman government ; it is
more probable that it was the produce of the imperial estates in Galilee. Estates
of the royal family: Joseph., Vita, 24 (119), cp. Arch., xiv, 209. The dirxnpopes of
the cities and the officers of the king as large landowners : ibid,, 9 (32) and/a55/w
(John of Gischala, Philip of Gamala, Josepbus himself, &c.). The turbulent pro-
letariate of the cities: ibid., 9 (32-36), cp. 12 (66) (Tiberias): it was composed
mostly of pavrai and airopoi, but also included peasants, ]oscph,, Ant. Jud,, xviii, ii,
3 (37-3S), cp, my Studi€n,p. 305. The same picture applies to the other founda-
tions of Herod. On the Vita of Josephus as an historical source, see H. Drexler
in Klio, 19 (1924), p. 293 ff., and his up-to-date bibliography of other modern
works on the subject. It is evident that the Jewish ruling aristocracy consisted
mostly of large landowners who exercised a kind of protectorate over whole
villages and smaller towns, being the owners of the largest part of their territory ;
cp. the conditions at Antioch as described in note 22. The ties which linked
them to the kings and the Roman government were too strong to permit them to
be real supporters of the national movement in Palestine, which was based
almost wholly on the religious fanaticism and economic oppression of the peasants.
On the aristocracy of Palestine in the time of the Idumaean dynasty, cp. E. Bevan,
Jerusalem under the High-Priests, 1904, p. 155 ff. ; J. ]cxcu\\m, Jerusalem zur Zeit
Jesu, i, ii, 1924 (a book known to me from reviews only).
R. Dussaud et F. Macler, Voyage archMogique au Safa, 1901, and ‘ Mission
dan^ les regions desertiques de la Syrie Moyenne,’ in Arch. d. Miss. Scient, 10
(1903) ; R. Dussaud, Les Arahes en Syrie avant I Islam, 1907 (my quotation is from
this book, p. 5 ff.) ; H. Guthe, ‘ Die griechisch-rOmischen Stadte des Ostjordan-
iandes,’ in Das Land der Bibel, vol. ii, 5, 1918 (where the story of the gradual
civilization of the Trachonitis is told on p. 29 ff according to Josephus ; cp. the edict
of Herod Agrippa, fragments of which have been found at Canatha, Dittenberger,
Or. gr., 424 ; L G. R. K., iii, 1223) ; G. F. Hill, ‘The Mints of Roman Arabia and
Mesopotamia,’ in J. R. S., 6 (1916), p. 135 ff., and Br. Mus. Catal. of Coins of Arabia,
Mesopotamia and Persia, 1923; cp. I^ G.R. R.,ni, 1341; protection of vineyards
Notes: Chapter VII
in the Auranitis near Gerasa by an imperial (?) order. New light has been recently
thrown on the history of the land beyond the Jordan by the discovery of the
correspondence of Zenon, the agent of Apollonius, minister of Ptolemy Phila-
delphus: see M. RostovtzelF,^ Large Estate, pp. and 114; Rev. L. H. Vincent
in Rev, biblique, 1920; A. Deissmann in Byz,-Griech. Jahrh,, 2, p. 275 fF. ;
H. Gressmann in Siizh, Bert. Akad,, 1921 ; Willrich in Arch,f Papyn, 7, p. 61 if.;
A. Alt in Zeitschr. des deutschen Paldstina-Verems, 45 (1922), p. 220 ff. One of the
most striking documents is the letter of the Transjordanian sheikh Tubias to
Apollonius, sent with a party of exquisite slaves (noble boys and girls) to the
influential minister of his suzerain. The extensive slave trade was evidently one
of this Egyptian vassal’s chief sources of income. See C. C. Edgar in Annates du
Service des antiquiUs de VEgypte, 23 (1924), p. 201, no. 84, and p. 95, no. 76. Cp.
F, M. Abel in Rev, bibl,, 1924, p. 566 ff.
The ruins of part of the Decapolis have been recently investigated by
H. C. 'Bntlev, Public, of an American Arch, Expedition to Syria, iSqg-iqoo, vols, i~iv,
1904--5, and Public, of the Princeton University Arch, Exped. to Syria, igo4~y,
Divisions I-III, 1907-16. One of the most characteristic places is the village of Sfa
with its temple and theatre connected with it, H. C. Butler, 1.1., ‘Ancient Archi-
tecture in Syria,’ Div, II, part 6 , p. 374 ff. ; cp. Div. Ill, no. J72 (Leyden, 1916).
MriTpoKOiiJLiai: Phaenae, I. G, R, R,, hi, 1119; ft. Zopaovrjvoop, ibid., 1155. KSftat :
ibid., 1149; 1186; 1192; 1213; 1270; 1284; 1317; 1362; cp. Princeton Expedition,
Div. Ill, Sec. A, 66; 714; 741; 744; 765, ii. Kolv 6 p rrjs kooixt)s\ I.G.R.R., hi,
1143 ; 1146 ; 1186; 1187 ; 1213 ; 1262; cp. Princeton Expedition, Div. Ill, Sec. A, 765,
12 and 13. ’ETTOi/ctov : I, G. R, R., iii, 1132 (Caracalla), ^AptcrrjvoL ral *lax<t>^p^vo\ ol drro
iTTOLKLOv 'ABt^rjvSiv; B. W. Bacon in Am, Journ, Arch,, ii (1907), p. 315 ff. ; itrolKiov
XpqatpLiavov (is eTTOLKLov a private estate or just a hamlet?}. ^vXoi: I. G, R, R,,
iii. II71, ol OTTO ; 1180, (p(v)X(rj9) ^OcraivrivSiP ; 1276, (pvXijs Sofiat-
6r}vciiv. T^scopyoi : ibid,, II 54 > Zopaovi^pStp yeoopyoL ^rparnyoi : ibid., II36, [(TTparriy^os
NofiaSfioj/ ; 1213, arparriyeias Ov\{7rlov) ZKavpiavov ; I247, eOvdpxov (rrpaTTjyov Nopddcov,
cp. 1254, Ol aTTo Wvove Nopdbwv. Updedpot : ibid., I235 (Canatha), Trpoebpos , , . ds TO
Kticrpa rov BearpoetBovs d)Beiov. V€V€dpxV^* Cumont in C. R. Acad. Inscr., 1924,
p. 28 ; cp. the inscription of Pontus, I. G, R, R,, iii, 90.
The delimitation stones between^ the territories of the cities, the villages, and
the private estates in Syria form an interesting series of documents. The earlier
stones belong to the 2nd cent. a. d., CIL., iii, 183 ; Public, of the Princ, Exp,, Div. Ill,
Sec. A, 666, ‘fines M. Herp(i) iusso Avidi C(a}ssi cos. per Favonium Priorem
pr(a)efectum ; ’ cp. A. von Domaszewski, Korr.-Blatt d, Westd. Zeitschr., 1909,
p. 36f. ; ibid., 28, €J76o^] rapiaKov Avprjkiavov (between an imperial estate and
a certain Aurelianus). Cp. the delimitation of the imperial forests in the Lebanon,
M. Rostovtzeff, ‘ Definitio u. Defensio,’ in Klio, ii (1911), p. 387 ff, and ‘ Defensio,’
mjoum, of the Min. ofPubl. Educ, of Russia, 1912 (in Russian). Under Diocletian
a general delimitation of Syria was carried out, I. G, R, R,, iii, 1002, 1112, 1252,
1278, 1364; B. W. Bacon in Amer. Journ. Arch., ii (1907), p. 315 ff. A similar
deiimitation was carried out in Thrace, /. G, R, R,, i, 813. Note the fixing of
boundaries between the territory of a city, Dionysias (Soada), and that of a
village, the *ABdi€vol, ibid., iii, 1278. This delimitation was no doubt connected
with a general census, which is attested by many inscriptions. On this census
and the documents (fragments of census-lists), see in the last instance J. Keil and A.
von Premerstein, ‘ Dritte Reise in Lydien,’ p. 68ff., no. 85 (with full bibliography).
Transformation of a village into a city: W. Kubitschek, ‘Zur Geschichte von
Stadten des r 5 m. Kaiserreiches,’ in Sit^b. Wien. A had., 177 (1916), p. 45 ff
(the tribe and the village of the Saccaei transformed into the city of Philippopolis) ;
cp. I, G. R. R,, iii, 1142 (also 1136-41) concerning the hrj}ios Kaicrapioav.
I cannot collect here all the evidence on the veterans as the village
aristocracy : a few examples must suffice. A veteran was the patronus of
the tribe of the MoCaieBrjvol in a.j>. 21^/4, I, G.R. R,, iii, 1298. Veterans appear
as benefactors of the tribes and villages in many inscriptions, ibid., 1294
(A.D. 156), 1299 (a.D. I70/1), 1301, 1302, 1305, 1310, 1313, 1316, 1317 {iKTiueri
7 ) \lpvr) , . . i{K) KOLvSip dvaXa>paTa>v r^s Kmpi^s {Bqpopmp) id plypiaBcop) Ik irpopoias ^X.
, Motes : Chapter . VII
■m ,
Koppij\mpouw(pi!J.i)w.(i.'kap[ov) in A* D. 294/5), &c.^ The veterans seem to have formed
a privileged class among the villagers: In ibid., 1187, two omrpaviKoi (descendants
of veterans) are contrasted with a ^Qv\evr^$ (member of the village ’^council). We
may say without exaggeration that most of the prominent members of a village com-
munity all over %na were former soldiers. The well-known Stercoria Galiix
from Kotomagus (Rouen) In Gaul may have come to Mothana, where her funeral
stone ..has,, been found, with her husband,- a veteran (Lebas-Waddington, 2036;
. cp. ardi., 1901, vol ii, p. 375if.). ■
^ I have already mentioned the Safaite inscriptions and drawings which
illustrate the life of this Arabian tribe. They are much more numerous than
the Greek texts of the same place. See the works of R. Dussaud quoted in
note 31. It may be noted that the imperial procurators in dealing with the'
natives resorted to the help of interpreters, /. G. R. R., hi, 1191 (Saccaea),
■iiTirpofTtav; cp. W. I. Snellman, De inierpreHhus Rommorum^ &c., 1914, p. 1201.
- ■ On the social and economic structure of Egypt in the Ptolemaic period
see the following recent studies, in which the sources and the older works
are quoted in full : my Siudien Gesck Koi.^ pp. 1-84 ; U. Wiicken, Grundmlge^
vol. I, I, p. 2705' ; W. Schubart, Einfuhmng^ p. ^.osIF. ; M. Rostovtzeff, ‘The
Foundations of Social and Economic Life in Egypt in Hellenistic times,’ in Journ.
of Eg, Arck^ 6 (1920), p. 161 C ; idem, ^ Large Esiaie mEgypiin the jrd cent B.C.,
1922 ; U. Wiicken, ^ Alexander der Grosse und die helienistische Wirtschaft/
in Schmolkrs Jahrbuc!% 45, 2, p. 45 If. ; W. Schubart, Aegypten ■ mn Alexander
,dem Grossen bis Mohammed, 1922, p. 227 C ; F. Oertel in Pauly-Wissowa,xi, 1921,
p. 13 ff. Some new documents 01 the Zenon correspondence have been recently
published by P. Jouguet in Cinquantinaire de VReok des Hautes Rtudes, X921,
p. 215 If; A. E. R. Boak in Aegypius, 3 (1922), p, 284 If. and 4 (1923), p. 38 E;
C. C. Edgar in Annaks du Service des antiquitis de rRgyfte, 22 (1922), p. 209 ff, ;
23 (1923), p. 73 E and p. 187 E ; 24 {1924), p. 18 E; cp. idem in BttJL de la Soc,
arck ct A lexandrie, 19 {1923), p. 114E; W. L. Westerman and A. G. Laird in
Journ, ofEg Arck, g (ig2^% p. 8i E ; W. L. Westermann in Class, Phil, ig {1924),
p. 229 E ; G. Vitelii, A S. /., vii, nos. 854-869. Since the publication of my book on
Zenon’s correspondence two new volumes of important Ptolemaic papyri have been
published: P. Jouguet, P. Coilart et J. I-esquier, Papyrus grecs {Insl papyr. de
lUniv, de Lille), x oh i, 3, 1923, and W. Schubart and E. Kuhn, B, G, u., yol. vi,
1922; cp. also the first three issues ofthe UrkundenplokmdischerZeithy U. Wiicken.
Another important contribution to our knowledge of Ptolemaic Egypt is the
trilingual inscription of Ptolemy Philopator recently found at Pithom, H. Gauthier,
in C R,Acad. Jnscr., 1923, p. 376 E, and H. Gauthier and H. Sottas, Un dicrei irk
lingue en Vhonneur de PtoUmie IV, Cairo, 1925. Like the inscriptions of Canopus
and Rosetta, it is a decree of the priests in honour ofthe king evoked by the greatest
event of his reign, the victory of Raphia, just as in the case of Ptolemy III Euergetes
I (decree of Canopus) the occasion was his Syrian expedition, and in the case of
Ptolemy V Epiplianes the suppression of a revolt and the pacification of Egypt (we
may expect another document of the same type in honour of Ptolemy VI 11 Euer-
getes II, cp. P, TebL 5). As regards my view that there was no real private owner-
ship of land in early Ptolemaic Egypt, see the new facts and documents quoted and
interpreted by V. Struve in Journ, ofthe Ministry of Publ Educ. of Russia, 1915,
January, p. i E ; 1917, July-August, p. 223 E (in Russian), and especially Sethe-
Partsch, ^ Demotische Urkunden zum agyptischen Biirgschaftsrecht, vorziiglich
der Ptolemaerzeit,’ in Abh, sacks, Ges, d, fViss., Phil.-hist. KL, 32 (1920), cp.
P. Meyer, ‘ Juristischer Papyrusbericht II,’ in Zeitschr, fur vergL Rechtsw,, 40
(1922), p. 174 E esp. pp, 182, (Pacht), 203, and 207 ft'. (Lehnsrecht, Tempelland).
I am convinced that these new documents do not invalidate my theory, though
I would now modify some of my statements in regard to details ; cp. Partsch in
Arckf, Papyr,, 7 (1923), p. 259 f. The new evidence of these documents has been
taken into account in the short sketch of Ptolemaic Egypt given in the text.
See the brilliant sketch of A. Moret, * L’accession de la pi^be egyptienne aux
droits religieux et politiques sous le moyen empire,’ in Recueil de J, F, Champollion,
1922, p. 331 ft:
37
Notes: Chapter VII 571
P. Oxyr,^ 1681 (3rd cent a. D.), I. 4 ff. ; icrms^ pe poniCere^ 1 dd€X(f}Oiy ^dp^apov ri|m fj
Alyiarnov dpdvlBpmrrop (hat. There has been very little change since the time of
Ptolemy Philadelphus, Theocr., Id* 15 , 50: dWaknis opaloi, kckq Traiyvia^'ndvTfs ipipoi
(words used by Praxinoa to characterize the native Egyptians). Cp. U. Wilcken,
Arch,f.Fapyr.,'](ig23),p,g8.
On the Hellenization of Egypt and the part played by the Greeks in the
economic, social, and cultural life of the country, see in addition to the biblio-
g raphy quoted in note 35: W. Schubart, ‘Hellenen in Aegypten,’ in Hellas,
>rgan der deutsch-griechischen GesellschafU 1921, no. 8, p. 4 ff. ; P. Jouguet,
‘ Les Lagides et les indigenes Egyptiens,' in Revue Beige dePhilologie et dHistoire^
1923, p. 419 ff. ; H. I. Bell, ‘ Hellenic culture in Egypt,' in Journ. of Eg* Arch., 8
(1922), p. 139 ff. The most difficult question concerns the extent to which the
Greeks were denationalized in the later Ptolemaic period by a gradual infiltra-
tion of the Egyptian (though Heilenized) element, or in other words the extent
to which the upper class of the Egyptians was Heilenized. The fact itself is
evident, but I greatly doubt whether the exclusiveness of the Greeks was
seriously modified by some cases of intermarriage (never legally recognized)
and by the efforts of some Greeks to take a more intimate part in the life of
the Egyptians and even to learn their language. If such a tendency did exist
in the later Ptolemaic period, the process was certainly stopped by Augustus,
as is now shown by the Gnomon idiu logu, the main part of which date s^ from
his time; cp. B. A. van Groningen, Le Gymnasiarque des mdfropoles de lEgypte
romaine, 1924, p. 6 ff. The causes of the discontent of the Egyptians and of
their repeated revolts are well explained in the article of P. Jouguet quoted
above. The main causes, however, were the fact that after Raphia a part of
the Egyptians came into possession of arms, and the hostile attitude of the
priests, who may have dreamed (and not without reason, had it not been for the
Romans) that another Saitic period was approaching (see the two fragments
of a trilingual decree of the Egyptian priests recently discovered at Memphis
and Pithom, which glorifies the King, Ptolemy IV Philopator, and the victory
of Raphia ; note in this decree the Egyptian form of the protocol as compared
with the decree of Canopus— H. Gauthier and H. Sottas m C. R. Acad, inscr.,
1923, p. 376 ff.). Meanwhile they utilized the revolts to obtain important grants
and privileges (see the inscription of Rosetta and P. Tebt. 5). It is hard to
believe, as has recently been suggested by W. Spiegelberg, Das Verhdlimss
d. griech. und. dgypt. Texte in den Dekreten von Rosette und Kanopus (Papyrus-
institut Heidelberg, vol. v), 1923, that the original text not only of the decree of
Kanopus but also of the Rosetta inscription, was the Greek one. I feel convinced
that P. Jouguet’s attack on the ‘rehabilitators’ of Euergetes II is fully justified.
Euergetes made a virtue of necessity : his practice was probably very different
from his words, which as a matter of fact were not even invented by him
but assumed at a very early time the form of conventional expressions used
for amnesty decrees, just like the decrees of the priests and similar Egyptian docu-
ments of the earlier period. The question of the self-government of Alexandria is
treated in full by H. 1 . Beil in Jews and Christians in Egypt, 1924, p. 8ff. I cannot
but think, despite his arguments, that the evasive words of Claudius, col. 4,
66 ff. : Trep'i fie rx]^ ^ovXrjs drt peV ttots cFvpj}df<t \ vplp im rdi>p apxditap fiaa-LKewp ovk
\ lyeip, on Be ejrl rcop | Trpd e/xoO ’Se^aarrStP ovk eix^Tiu €ra(l>S)S oidare, imply a reference
of the Alexandrians to their having possessed a ^ovXr) in olden times. I cannot
believe that they forged the evidence. Claudius apparently did not wish to
proceed with the investigation of this problem. He was not prepared to con-
cede the right claimed by the Alexandrians, and he took the easiest course of
referring to the practice of his predecessors.
On the social and economic conditions of Roman Egypt in general, see
my Siudien Gesch. KoL, p. 85 ff.; U. Wilcken, Grundz*, p. 237 ff. ; W. Schubart,
Einfuhrung, p. 403 ff. ; idem, Aegypten, p. 2271!*,; F. Oertel, ‘Der Niedergang der
hellenistischen Kultur in Aegypten,’ in Neue Jahrh. kl. Alt, 45 (1920), p. 361 ff.;
idem, Die Liturgie, 1917; H. I. Bell, ^The Byzantine Servile State in Egypt,’ in
Journ. of Eg. Arch., 4 (1917), p. 86 ff. It is a pity that papyrologists, while giving
572 Notes: Chapter VII
full attention to the administrative and, in some cases, to the economic aspects of
Egyptian life in the Roman period, still neglect the social problems. The various
articles of A. Calderlnl, short as they are, form an exception : see * La composizione
della faraiglla secondo le schede de censimento delFEgitto Romano^ in Puhblic. d.
Unw,:CaiL dei Sacro Cuore, Ser. Illj Scienze sociall, voL i, i, 1923; Liberi e schiavi
nei mondo deipafiri^ Milano, 1918, and ' Guarnigioni romane contro ii nazionalismo
egiziano^ in Conferenze e prolusioni, 1919, {). 309 if. (the last two are inaccessible to
me). Gp. also the brilliant book of A. Deissman, Lickt vom Osten^ 4, 1923. On
the question how large a part of the Egyptian population was engaged in agricul-
ture, see now, besides the article of Calderini cited above (‘ La composizione della
famiglia’, &c., p. 24 If), the excellent book of Michael Schnebel, Die Landwirischaft
im helimisiischen Aegypien, 1925 (Munchener BeitrSge zur Papyrusforschung und
antiken Rechtsgeschichte, vii), p. 2 ff.
See my article in Gbiting* Gelehrte Anzeigen^ 1909, p. 606 ff, and my
Studien Gesck Kok passim. My point of view has been justified by the
discovery of the Gnomon iditi logu.
The best survey of the Egyptian administrative machinery is F. Oertel,
Die Ltiurgie^ 1917; cp. A. Stein, Untersuchungen zur Geschichte imd ' VerwaUung
Aegyptens unter rdmischer Herrschqft, 1915, e^ecially p. 132 E on the official
languages in the administration of Egypt. On the higher officials of Egypt
and their career, see Ballou in Trans. Amer. Phil. Assoc., 52 (1921), p. 96 ff
Unfortunately Miss Ballou has relied on antiquated editions of sources and on
some anti(mated modern books; cp. H. L Bell in Journ. of Eg. Arch., 9 (1923),
p. 106 ff. See also, on the military organization of Egypt, the excellent book of
5. Lesquier, romaine dligypte d' Auguste a Diocletien, 1918; cp. H. A.
Sanders in Trans. Amer. Phil. Assoc., 55 (1924), p. 21 ff
My Studien Gesch. KoL, p. 85 ff, cp. Lesquier, Dannie romaine dilgypie,
p, 328 ff ; U. Wilcken, Grundz., p. 300, cp. ChresL, nos. 368 and 369, and Grundz.,
p. 403. An excellent general picture of Egypt in the time of Augustus is given
by Strabo in his 17th book, see especially the parallel on p. 798 : ottov odpo KOKtcrra
KOL pqdvfjLOTara rrjv (iaaiKdav bioiKoiv (Auletes) Tocravra TTpoarcobevero, ri x£q pap-laat tu vvv
(Augustus) dta Tocrdvrrjs iirifieXeias olKovojjiovpLfva] cp. Ath. V, 2o6d ; G. Lumbroso in
Aegyptus, ^ (1924),?. 31 f. An important testimony would be furnished to the
efficient care which Augustus and his successors devoted to Egypt, and a further
proof of the thorough application to Egypt of Greek achievements in technique,
which developed but slowly after Euergetes I, if H. E. Winlock is right in main-
taining that some of the technical inventions which are still used in Egypt, e. g.
the threshing machine {plostellum punicum, nawraj) and the water-wheel {mbos,
qadus, saqiyeh), were first introduced into the country in the time of Augustus or
a little later— no doubt by the new landowners, who poured into the country from
all parts of the Roman world just as in the reign of Ptolemy PhiJadelphus ; see
his forthcoming book written in conjunction with W. E. Crum, The Monastery oj
Epiphanius at Thebes. The careful collection of all the available material by
M. Schnebel in his Landwirischaft im hellenistischen Aegypten, 1925 (see the general
summary, p. 356), supports Mr. Winlock's view. But the scantiness of the informa-
tion which we possess about the Hellenistic period prevents us from forming
a final judgement on the question. Not long ago, for example, we were convinced
that the Ptolemies did not make extensive use of camels : now we know that they
did. A very instructive list of landowners may be found in P. Ryl., voL ii, 202
(late ist cent.). Five are Romans, seven Greeks. The Romans are either soldiers
or probably veterans. Some bear characteristic archaic names : C. Valerius,
L, Bruttius. One is M. Antonius— one of the veterans of Antony ? Of the Greeks
one is certainly an Alexandrian (*Q,pmv Avkov Mapmvevd). Does the document really
belong to the late ist cent.? On the KovdoreXeiai new evidence is supplied by
P.O^n, 1434.
The evidence on the ovarLm collected and illustrated in my Studien, p. 120 IF.,
has recently been enriched by a series of papyri of the early first century a. d.,
Notes : Chapter VII 573
which were found in Euhemeria in the P'ayum and probably belonged originally
to the bureau of the chief of police of this village (dpY^oSos). Most of these
documents are petitions addressed to the chief of police of the vofios—the ima-Tart]?,
A few of them went to the British Museum (A Br, Mus,, voL hi, p. xliii, and
p. 129 ff), the largest part to the Rylands Library at Manchester, see P,
vol. ii, 124-52, introd. It is notable how many of these papyri mention the ovariai
in one form or another. Evidently they played a very important part in the
life of Euhemeria in the first half of the ist cent. The account of the distribu-
tion of them given in the text is based mainly on the papyri of Euhemeria.
Another new source of information on the ovcrLai is the accounts of the (nro'hoyoi of
Theadelphia for a.d. 164/5, recently published by K. Thunell, Sitologen-Papyn
am dem Berliner Mviseuniy Upsala, 1924. On p. 72 if. the editor gives a general
survey of the ovtrlai of the imperial period, and interprets the data of the Berlin
accounts. In some cases parts of the ovaimr) yrj of the 2nd cent. a. d. were still
listed as having formerly been private property (ouaia) of the Emperors Vespasian
and Titus. This is a striking proof of the correctness of my hypothesis that, after
Nero, Vespasian and Titus were the only Roman emperors who carried out vast
confiscations of private ova-lai^ and so laid the foundation of the department of the
yrj ovaruiKr}^ which was finally organized probably by Domitian.
The list given in my Sfudien may be replaced by a new one arranged
according to the social standing of the owners. The date of the corresponding
papyrus is quoted only when it helps to identify the owner.
I. Reigning emperors : (i) Tiberius, P. voL ii, 134 (a.d. 34), owner of an
Qvdia which had formerly belonged to Germanicus. {2) Gains Caesar, P. RyL^
vol. ii, 148 (a. d. 40), joint owner with his uncle Claudius. (3) Claudius, P. G. U,,
650; U. Wilcken, ChresL^ 365 (a.d. 46/7), owner of an ohcria which formerly be-
longed to C. Petronius. (4) Nero, B. G. f/., 191 (a. d. 52) ; P. Br. Mus,^ vol. ii, no. 280,
p. 195 (a.d. 55); cp. C. Wessely, Spec, Isag., 20 f.; U. Wilcken, ChresL^ 176
(ist cent). (5) Vespasian: K. Thunell, Sitologen- Papyri (Pap. Berl. Inv., nos.
II537, 11541, 11540, II545), no. 4 R. iii, 22 fi'. : ovan^v {rTporepov) deov Oma-TT{acriavov)
Awvv(rodoi>pi(avrjs) ov(T(ia ^ ; no. I R. iii, 5 ; no. I R. iii, 18 ; no. 4 R. iv, 2 :
ov<jm{p) Ov€(T7r(a(navov) and Titus : P. Oxyr,, 62, 1-2; B. G. P., 979, 5 ; 980, 5, 13
(Mendes) ; K. Thunell, Sitologen- Papyri^ no. i V. ii, 6 : ov(rL<i>{v) (rTporepop) Beov TtVou,
cp. R. iv, 13 ; vi, 15. Whether Hadrian is named as owner of an oldla (P. Fay,^
82, 14 ff., a, d. 145) is still a matter of controversy, see my Studien^ p. 121 ; Wilcken,
ArcL f, Papyr,^ i, p. 552; Thunell, 1 . 1 ., p. 74, note.
II. Members of the imperial family : (6) Livia, P. Br, Miis.^ vol. ii, no. 445, p. 166
(a. d. 14-15), joint owner with Germanicus. (7) Agrippa, P. G, U ., 1047, col. ii, 14.
(8) Antonia Drusi, P. Oxyr., 244 (a.d. 23); P. Pj//., vol. ii, 140 (a. d. 36); 141
(a* D. 37) ; 171, 4. Cp. Avroomav^ ovcria I B, G, U., 212, 5 ; 199, 9 ; 653, II ; 277, 7 ;
P. Fay,, 60, 6; F. Preisigke, S. P., 5670; Goodspeed, P. Chic,, 7, 3 ; K. Thunell,
Sitologen- Papyri, no. i V. ii, t 6; iii, 5. It is more probable that the ovcria
Aprmiavri belonged originally to Antonia Drusi than to the great M. Antonius
or to the younger daughter of Claudius. (9) Ti. Claudius Germanicus (the
future Emperor Claudius), P RyL, voL ii, 148 (a. d. 40), joint owner with
the Emperor Gaius. (10) Germanicus, P. Br, Mus,,, vol. ii, no. 445, p. j66
(a. D. 14-15), joint owner with Livia; P. RyL, vol. ii, 134 (a.d. 34), his ov<ria
owned by the Emperor Tiberius ; C. Wessety, ^ Karanis und Soknopaiu Nesos,’
in Denkschr, Wien Akad., 47, 4, no. 13 (time of Emperor Gaius) ; P. Hamh,, 3, 10, 12 ;
P. G, U., 160, 5 ; 441, 4 ; Goodspeed, P. Chic,, 6, 4 ; 10, 4 ; 31, 7 ; 70, 5 ; 81, 5 ; cp.
an unpublished Louvre papyrus {pxy Siudien, p. 121), and P. G, U., 810, col, ii, 7.
(ii) Children of Claudius (Antonia) by his first marria^ with Urgulanilla and of
Livia, the wife of Drusus son of Tiberius (Julia), P. RyL, vol. ii, 138 (a. d. 34),
joint ownership. It is probable that the two estates of these minors were managed
jointly by a special order of the emperor. (12) Antonia, the daughter of Claudius,
P. Fay,, 40; cp. P. G, U., 280, 4(?) ; Goodspeed, P. Chic., 4, 4(?). The "Aircdwa
of these papyri may be Antonia Drusi. (13) Livia Drusi, P. RyL, vol. ii, 127
(a.d. 29). (14) Messalina, C. P. R,, 243, 8; cp. U. Wilcken, Chrest, 367; P. Flor.,
574 Notes : Chapter VII
40, 8 ; C. Wessely^ - Karanis und Sokn. N.\ no. 4 ; tessera, Dallari, Eumi
■ ■Augustorum Aiexandrmi, no. 6506.
^ . ni. Mimbers of the senaioriai and equesttimt ciasses: (15) Falcidiiis, P.
voL ii, 138, 12 (a, D. 34): Ap 70 ts wpw€pop In the estate no* ii. I am
inclined to believe that oor Falcidius belonged to the well-known family of the
Falcidii of the late Republican period: see F. Muenzer in Pauly- Wissowa, vi.
:(i6) C Maecenas* R Br, Mus,, vol. iii, p. 89 fist cent a. a); & G. U.y 181, 7
(a.d. 57h B89; P. RyL, vol ii, 171, 14 (a.d. S^/t); 207, '8, 26; 383; P. Hamk,
3, 4 ; 34, 10; P Tebk 343. col. iv, 76; P Class. Phil, vol. i, 168; P Chic,, 81, 4 ;
K/Thunell, SiMcig'^K-P^yri, no* i V. ii, 18; hi, 16; iv, 5. Cp. U. Wiicken in
Hermes, (1919), p. m ff* (17) C. and P, Petronii, probably members of the family
of the well-known prefect of Egypt under Augustus, P Ryl, vol. ii, 127 (a. d. 29),
4 IF. : ePTOts afjLfJLiPOiS iErroiKiov IIoTrTilov Kat Taiov JJerpmvicdP ; B. G* U., 650, cp. U. Wilcken,
Chrest, 365 (a. d. 46/7). On the two families of the Petronii of the ist cent, see Pros,
Imp. Rom., hi, p* Cp. also P. Giess., loi, 6, and introd. (18) M. Aponius
Saturninus, P Ryl, voL ii, 131, 14 IF. (a.d. 31) 5 135, gL (a.d. 34). There is no
doubt about the identity of this man with one of the members of the well-known
family of the Aponii Saturnini, P. von Rohden in Pauly- Wissowa, ii, p. 172,
nos. 8-10; Pros. Imp. Rom., i, p. 115, no. 755. (19) Gallia Polla, P Br. Mus.,
voL ii, no. 195, p. 127 ; cp. P Ryl, vol ii, p. 254, and K. Thunell, Siioio^en-
Papyri, no. i V, iv, 8f. ; cp. p. 88. The estate of Gallia Polla passed into
the possession of M. Antonius Pallas. She belonged probably to the well-
known family of the Gallii, partisans of M. Antonius. It is probable that
the estate was originally formed out of lands given by M. Antonius to one
of his partisans: see von der Muhll, Pauly-Wissowa, vii, p. 671, nos. 5 and 7.
(20) lucundus Grypiaiius, P Hamb., 3, 7 ; P. Ryl, voL li, 207, 5: UdKkavro^
(irp 6 T€pov) "lovKovvhov. I should like to connect lucundus Grypianus with the
family of L. Plotius Grypus, one of the generals of Vespasian, Pros. Imp.
Rom., Ill, p. 53, no. 385. (21) Norbana Clara, P Br. Mus., vol. iii, p. 121
(a.d. 65/6); cp. Norbanus Orestes, P Ryl, 180 (a. d. 124). The family of
the Norbani was prominent at Rome in the ist cent. Pros. Imp. Rom., ii,
p. 415, nos. 134-6. (22) Atinii, P. Ryl, vol ii, 427, fr. 21 : 'Artvmpris ov<rias,
cp. T. Atinius T. £ Fabia Tyranus senator in 39 b.c., Pros. Imp. Rom., i, p. 176,
no. 1098. (23) Lurii, P. Hamb., 3, 10; B. G. U., 105; 284 ; P Chic., 32, 36, 39, 41,
43, 48, 49, 50, 78, 87 ; K. Thunell, Sitologen- Papyri, no. i V. iv, 12. Two
Lurii of the time of Augustus are known : one was commander of a portion
of his fleet against both Sex. Pompeius and M. Antonius, Pros. Imp. Rom., ii,
p. 307, nos. 315* 316. (24) L. Septimius, P. Br. Mus., vol. ii, no. 195,
p. 127; cp. P. Ryl, vol. ii, p. 255, 16, owner of the estate of Gallia Polla
before it passed to her. Cannot he be connected with one of the early members
of the family of the future emperor Septimius Severus and of the Septimius
Severus, friend of Statius, Pros. Imp. Rom., iii, p. 212, no. 345 ? An estate of
a Severus is known from many papyri, P Br. Mus., vol. iii, p. 89 (ist cent.);
B. G. U., 31; P. Ryl, vol ii, 207, 25 and 28; P. Chic., 19, 47, &c. ; K, Thunell,
Sitologen-Papyri, no, i V. ii, 19 ; iii, 7. Statius speaks of his friend as a wealthy
landowner. (25) L. Annaeus Seneca, P. Ryl, vol ii, 99; 207, 7, 15; P Hamb.,
3, 9 ; P. Lips., vol i, 115, 6; B. G. U., 104, 172, 202 ; P Chic., see Index ; P. Class.
Phil, vol. i, 172, col. vi, 3 ; K. Thunell, Siiologen- Papyri, no. i V. ii, 20 ; iv, ii.
IV. Freedman favourites of the emperors: (26) Narcissus, P. Ryl, vol. ii, 17 1, i
(a. d. 56/7) ; C. Wessely, Spec. Isag,, 20-1 ; cp. U. Wiicken, Chrest., 176.
(27) M. Antonius Pallas, P. Br. Mus., vol ii, no. 195, p. 127; P Ryl, vol ii, p. 255.
K. Thunell, Sitologen- Papyri, no. i V. iv, 8f. Ti. Claudius Doryphorus,
P. Ryl, vol. ii, I71, I (a*D, 56/7): Bvo'xbM'OPL o\i]KOv6fjL0L rrjs iv ^ ApcnvoLTTjiL [Tifiepiov]]
K\avdtov Aopv(p6pov wporepou Nap/ctcrcrtav^s ovcrias.
V. Rich Alexandrians: (29) G. Julius Theon, archiereus and hypomnemato-
graphos of Alexandria, P. Oxyr., 1434 (7-4 b, c. and a. d. io-ii). On the family^
see B. Grenfell, note to I 10, and H. L Hell, Jews and Christians in Egypt, p. 30 ;
Notes: Chapter VII 575
cp. P, Oxyr.^ 1475. (30) Theon Theonis, P. Ryl,, vol.ii, 145 (a. d. 38) ; cp. P. S. /.,
315 ; SeW 6 KaVAvBos ' A fifimiavov, former gymnasiarch and agotanomos of Alexandria
in A. D. 137/8.- (31) Anthus (oWia ^ AvQiavr])^ B. G. f/.,985; 199; 810; P. Strassb,^
1108, cp. no. 30; the name Anthus was popular among the Alexandrians.
(32) M. lulius Asclepiades, P. Fay., 82 and 87; P. Hamb., 36; P. Br. Mus.,
no. 1912, 17. Probably the well-known philosopher, successor of Areius, friend
of Augustus, E. Schwartz in Pauly- Wissowa, ii, p. 1627. One part of his estate
was owned in the 2nd cent, by the city of Alexandria (oiKo? ttqK^oos "A\€^avhpimv\
cp. U. Wilcken, Grundz., 308), another by the state. (33) Asclepiades Ptolemaei,
P. RyL, vol. ii, 167 (a. d. 39). (34) C. lulius Athenodorus and Ti. Calpurnius
Tryphon, P. Ryl, vol. ii, 128 (a. d. 30). (35) Apion, B. G. U., 8, col, ii, 18 and 24,
(36) Dionysodorus, P. Br. Mus., vol. iii, no. 900, p. 89 (a.d. 94/5 or iio/i);
P. Oxyr., 986, vols. viii-ix ; P. Gen., 38 ; K. Thunell, Sitologen- Papyri, no. 4 R. iii,
22 f. ; no. I R. iii, 5 f. ; V. ii, 17 ; iii, 6 ; iv, 10. It is evident from the Berlin accounts
that the ovo-ia of Dionysodorus was confiscated by Vespasian. (37) Euander
Ptolemaei, P. RyL, vol. ii, 132 (a. D. 32) : tepcw Ti^e plov Knicrapos 2 e^a(rrov, cp. 133
(a.d. 33) and 166, 9 if. (a.d. 26). (38) Philodamus, B. G. ( 7 ., 512 ; 210, 4; 262, 3;
P. Chic., Index. {39) Onesimus, P. RyL, 207, 23. (40) Theoninus, B. G. U., 63 and
382. (41) Charmis or Charmos, K. Thunell, Sitologen- Papyri, no. i V. iv, 6 ; cp. p.
87. Thunell points out that in P. Land., ii, p. 127, no. 195, 17, Charmos is mentioned
as owner of an estate and that a rich surgeon of the name of Charmis in the time
of Nero occurs in Plin., N. H., 29, 22. (42) Socrates, K. Thunell, Siiologen-
Papyri, no. i V. iv, 7. Cp. also the ovorLai ^Avov^a, P. Br. Mus., vol. ii, no. 214,
p. 161 ; ’Ep^prj, B. G. U., 106, 4 ; Aaeelvov Koi 'Hparfos-], P. RyL, VOl. ii, 427, ft*. 15 ;
KapriKiavri, B. G. U., 104, 106, 204, 2o6, 21 1, 438 ; P. CJiic., Index (cp. villa (I^amilliana,
Plin., Ep., vi. 30) ; Upotpr^Tiavri, P. Strassb., i, 74, 4 f. and 78, 5 f. (a.d. 126-128) ;
Thermutharion L3^carionis, P. RyL, vol. ii, 146 (a.d. 39), and 152 (a.d. 42),
cp. Plin., Ep., X. 5. 2. More evidence on these ovcrlai is needed to assign them
to one of our classes. Lycarion may have been an Alexandrian.
VI. Noble foreigners: (43) C. lulius Alexander, P. RyL, vol. ii, 166 (a.d. 26).
I should suggest the identification of this man with the son of H erodes and
Mariamne the Hasmonaean, Groag in Pauly-Wissowa, x, p. 151, Cannot the
word after his name in the papyrus be read | 3 a](rt[Xe<D]ff ? (44) lulia Berenice,
P. Hamh., 8 (a. d. 136), probably a descendant of the mistress of the Emperor
Titus.
The Euhemeria documents of the ist cent, give us a deeper insight into
the questions concerning the constitution and the exploitation of the owiat of
that cent. It is certain that the oWiai were formed mostly of abandoned and
waste K\^poi confiscated by the government, some of them probably owned by the
temples: see, e.g., P. RyL, vol, ii, (a.d. 26) KXrjpos of the 5th yvop, cp. ibid.,
voi. ii, 148 (a. D. 40), 18: I dpvTjcrov iv tols KaroiKiKlois] iddcj)€[(TLj and
P. Oxyr., 1434; P. Br. Mus., vol. iii, no. 195, p. 127 ; cp. P. RyL, vol. ii, p. 254 ff. :
the three estates which are described in this last document consisted of parcels
of yri KkripovxiKT) and IdioKTrjros. An excellent illustration of the manner in which
an ovdla was formed is given by P.Oxyr., 1^4 (a. d. 107/8), where the story of
an estate of C. lulius Theon is told in full. This man applied to C. Tyrannius,
prefect of Egypt in 7-4 b. c., for land cmo Xdyov Kaicrapos. The request was
g ranted, but land was probably not assigned* A second application was sent to
. lulius Aquila, prefect in a. d. io-i i, in which Theon asked for some land belong-
ing to the sanctuary of Isis Taposiris to be granted to his son. This time the
land was assigned : i<tl 4 7 r 6 X(€Oi>s) (probably Alexandria, as Theon was an
Alexandrian) (m-ip (B. Grenfell reads T€[Xca]j') koX iripmv {roKavra) (dpaxpdis) . .
This is exactly the same procedure as I have described in my Studien, p. 95.
It was applied exclusively for the acquisition of land which after purchase
became yi] idttoriKj or IdioKrpro^. Th eon’s land, according to the original pro-
visions recorded in the Edict of Ti. lulius Alexander, was classed in respect
of its payments under the heading of lands taxed at a reduced rate, see the
heading of P. 0 :xyr., 1434 KOV(l)o]r€\€iS>v hv ra dpyvpiKa Koi aeiriKa KaB{r)KovTa) [eV]^do€
XoylC^rai. As regards provenance and legal status, the land of the ovaiaL belonged
Notes : Chapter V 11
to the class of l^imiKT] or IBioKrrjtos^ Individual concessiOES as regards
therefore to the ciasso , v orranted to some of the owners by a special
aieka or may ha . _ , ^ grants, which was an outstanding
charter. The emphyteutic Sed also to the Even
feature, of .grants of pnvatej^^^ n f e pSeXw a large extent by
the %Svol. ii^ 171 (A .1 56/7) the owner (Doryphorus) promised
to hi^lessee to my Mm a certain sum per aroura «r KaTtpyamap Kai xa>;«T«r[,io 4
Se ii, .3. (»;». 3 » » VhreSilirSSETaLrS:
yoL 11, no. i 95 j P‘ r 27 > ^P* • cp/^ond there are S7 ar. of aftrrcXSi^cy,
former class and sh of the latter and 2 ar. under aX^'iSJ'and XP^^r^jp.amthesecoM
'of’SilS were o'iiSlly '.Veii SriJ-houses of the owner and ag*=“t
as^ an^Wiculturai building, see my article in Anatohan Stiidies presented to
“e, rvi^s
a Drivate eS of the ar^d cent.), A. E. R. Boak in j. H S., 41.(1921). P.- 217^
orP P Br l/«s! vol. i, no. 131, p. 166 ff. (A. D. 78/9) : a large private or impenal
farm ‘(accounts ’of the manager and cashier), and F. Fay., 102 (estate of t e
veteran Gemellus, see note 47).
‘5 The new policy is reflected both in the Edict of Ti. lulius Alexander, which
deals mostly with questions concerning the Alexandrians therefore &v
a larve snace to discussing the ovaicu. and the yr) iSkotikj) (Uittenberger, L/r. jg^r.
L 2 r® 66 Tc 5 . U. wWnf'Zu den Edikten,’ in ZMr. d. Sav.-Stf. Rech^g.,
qT&S! pT24ff.), and ’in the papy-ri of the late ist and early ^nd /ent
esoeciallv P. Amh., 68; cp. Wilcken, Chrest, 374 (Domitian) and 5 G. G., 915
cent A D.) cp. P. Oxyr., 1434. The emperors of the end of the ist cent.,
especially Vespasian and Domitian, probably ordered f
revision of existing titles, certainly with the aim of checking the illegal
of land by the powerful magnates and of stopping the sq>^anjienng of pubhc
monev caused by letting good arable land become yri tSion*^. And yet me
prefer did not want to stop the selling of land altogether ; in B.G. U.,
Ee says: | ,rapa8«K.uo«« [y]r fita t&{v) ^6pppp icaB .tos S*
mivMuav) rhv iuMv) WiipSi, p) Sw^ep^s oSara r, irapaSel^K avrns rqv rrpaa^tv
On the Edict of Ti. lulius Alexander see my Studen, p 109
cp. wilcken, Chrest., 375 (a.d. 246) as compared 3^ (a- d- ^sA)- How
deeply the Alexandrians were impressed and shocked by the refoms ot
Vespasian is shown by the well-known demonstrations of the P®P^ti°n of
the city against Vespasian, whom they had at first supported and helped to the
throne.
Notes: Chapter Nil 577
M. Antonius Pallas, owner of a large ohma in the Hermupolites in a, d. 121
[P, Br. Mus.^ voL iii, no. 1223, p. 139, cp. Wilcken, Chrest, 370), was probably,
a descendant, of the famous M. Antonius Pallas and retained at least part of
his estate. The oham Ilpo(j>rjnapf) of Claudia Athenais, also in the Hermupolites,
is mentioned in P, SirassL, 78 (a. d. 127/8), cp. 74 (a.d. 126). Julia Folia,
P.'Lips., 1x3 (a. n. 127/8), bears a cognomen which was used in many senatorial
families. On the Athenaides of the family of Herodes Atticus see *F. Muenzer
in Pauly-Wissowa, iii, p. 2889, no. 407; cp. ibid., p. 2677, nos. 71 and 72.
Claudia Jsidora, owner of a large estate in the Oxyrhynchites at the beginning
of the 3rd cent, may have belonged to the same family, P, Oxyr,, 1630 ; cp. 919, 7 ;
1578; 1046; 1634; 1659, and the inscription in W. Preisigke, S. B., 4961 (of the
time of Domitian) ; cp. Tib. Claudia Eupatoris Mandane Atticilla, F. Muenzer in
Pauly- Wissowa, iii, p. 2889, no. 416.
On the land owned by veterans, J. Lesquier, Larmee romaine (NEgypie, p. 328 ff.
On L. Bellenus Gemellos of Aphroditopolis in the Fayum (about a. d. ioo) and
his correspondence, see W. L. Westerman, Aft Egypiian Farmer (in Bniv* of
Wisconsin Studies in Lmigimge and Literature^ 3). Exactly similar to him is
L. luiius Serenus in a.d. 179 smnmiis curator (treasurer) of the Ala Veterana
Gallica, later decurio, fioaliy a retired tx~decurto living on the income of his
landed property. We possess part of his account-book of a. d. 179 {P. Hamb.y 39)
and a series of receipts for the payment of taxes for his estates (P. Hamb,, 40-53,
a. d. 2i3-"i9). The estate of Gemellus, besides producing corn, specialized in olive-
growing ; the estate of Serenus in viticulture and sheep-breeding. Another veteran
and big landowner, lulius Horion, occurs in a declaration of uninundated land,
P. Oxyr.^ 1459 (a. d. 226) ; his iminiindated land alone amounted to at least twenty-
five arourae m seventeen parcels. The declarations of uninundated land, confined
to the owners of yJ) IdioKn^ros^ are in general a good source of information on the
private estates of the 2nd and 3rd cent. ; see P. Meyer in P. HamL, ii, intr., and
V. Martin, * Un document administratif du nome de Mendes,' in C. Wessely,
Studien mr Palaeographie und Papyr,^ 17 (1917), p. 29 ff. Another excellent source
is the carbonized documents of Thmouis in the Mendesian nome, a lai^e number
of which have been recently published; see V. Martin, 1 . L, and P. KyL^ voL ii,
213-22, intr., p. 290 ff. ; cp. P S. /., ioi-8, and 229-35. Especially important for
our purpose are the land-surveys in Geneva (V. Martin, 1 . L) and P. RyE vol. ii,
216, both dealing with private and not with crown land. I cannot enter into
details but I lay stress on the preponderant part which is played in these docu-
ments by vineyards and olive- groves, of which some are new plantations.
Characteristic of the growth of large private fortunes is the fact that in the land-
survey of Geneva three rich landowners grabbed one of not less than thirteen
(Philoxenus), another of sixteen (Callimachus), and a third of nineteen parcels
or farms. Note the two Greeks and one Roman as large landowners and the
rare occurrence of Alexandrians, the pritpoTroXlraL prevailing (P. RyL, vol. ii, 216,
intr., and notes). An interesting feature is the composition of the private estates.
Like the ova-iai^ they consisted mostly of yij K\f}povxtKb and KaroiKiKr) ; cp. the land-
surveys of Naboo (Upper Egypt), P. Giess., 60 (a.d. 118) and Wilcken, Chrest, 341.
In these documents the ancient terminology is kept in full, and this enables us
to realize how densely populated and intensely exploited was the land in the
Delta in the 3rd cent. b. c. I have no doubt that Ptolemy Philadelphiis carried
out in the Delta a no less important work of improvement than in the Fayhm.
One of the classes of cleruchic land, the enigmatic yrj b€Kapovp(ov*l€TTjpLTa>Vf must
certainly be understood as b^Kapovpwv (b€K)€TripiT!0p and testifies to a division of
land in commemoration of the deceteris [decennalia) of one of the Ptolemies. As re-
gards the nationality of the owners of the y^ Wmrudjy the prevalence of Egyptians,
holding mostly one parcel, Is noticeable in P. Py/., vol. ii, 216. The prominent
part played among the large landowners by actual and former officials is illus-
trated by the life and career of Apollonius, the strategos of Heptakoniia in the
time of Hadrian, as shown by his correspondence now at Giessen, see P. Giess.j 3-27;
A. G. Roos, Apollonius strateeg van Heptakomia^ Groningen, 1923 ; cp. Kraemer in
Phil Woch.j 1923, pp. 702 ff. and 727 ff. The quotation in the text is taken from
2354*2 P P
5/8 Notes: Chapter VII
P: Amk, 79 (A. i>.'i86) ; cp. P. Ryk vol ii, 129 (a. d, 30), a sirutegos as owner' of an
estate in the Fayhm. Other large landowners of the late ist and of the 2nd cent. :
Chaeremon, the gymnasiarch, P. G. £/., 248; cp. 249, 531, 594 j^5?5j and 850
(Groningen, Le gymmsiarque, p. 42 b; cp. in genera! p. 41 IF.) ; Valeria Gai
PS 31 (a.d. 164); cp. B. G. 603, 604; Flavia Epimache, P Te 4 l, 402
(a. D.. 172'); Ti. Claudios Irenaens, P. Meyer in Jams, Arbeikn zur aiien mnd
immUrnischen Geschichte, i, 1921, p. 73 ff, (a. d. 104/5) ; cp. P Osyr., 727 (a. a 154) ;
P Fay., 96 (a, d. 122) and 99 (a. d. 159), and B. G. I/., 3^ (a. d. 148).
On the administration of the former ommi, which now formed a new class
of state land, see my Studien, p. 180 fF.; cp. F. Oertel, LUurgie, p. 94 fi. and
P RyL, vol. ii, 168 (a. d. 120), intr. I have never denied that the mmaml luerBrnTal
were, in the earlier period, men who rented the land from the crown for exploita-
tion. I doubt, however, even after the proofs produced by F. Oertel and the
editors of P. RyL, if the farmers- general of an ovma had the right of sub*!etting
the land without at least officially informing the administration. The evolution
of the system of exploitation of the 77 ovamKr} seems to have been as follows.
In the earlier period (end of the ist and beginning of the 2nd cent.) the land
is leased by the administration of a given ovcria mostly to small lessees (P. Py/.,
vol. ii, 207 ; cp, Wilcken, ChresL, 341). Gradually, however, the system arises of
letting the ovAa en bloc to one man and develops, concurrently with the growth
of the liturgical system in general, into a liturgical lease, while at the same
time parcels of waste patrimonial land are assigned to farmers of state land and
owners of private land ; cp, F. Oertel, 1 . 1 ., and P. RyL, vol. ii, 202, note on
p. 270, and P. RyL, vol. ii, 209 (on imixipKTfjLos and ; cp. Ch. XL It is well
Known that the yrj oixnaKt] was, side by side with the private and public land (77
^acrtliK}} and dripoffla), one of the three large subdivisions of Egyptian land in
general, see, e.g. P. 0. 807 (a. d. 280), line 8fF. : vmp y^s | As ovK€vcj)€pop(u \ ovre
Kara K\7}pOPOfJLt\av (private land) ovre Kara | yecopyiap (pa(n)<iKf) and brj^ncria y^) fj piffBdoaw
(ova-iaKT] yrj). How much waste land there was in Egypt after the great Jewish
war of the time of Trajan, and how difficult it was to find lessees for this land, is
shown by B. G. P., 889 (U. Wilcken in Hermes, 54 (1919), p. iii ffi). From the
last year of Trajan and the first of Hadrian to a.d. 145/6, land which became
epf}pos and a(f)opos ev rS *lovd(atKS) rapd^<p (a. d. 116/117), and which belonged to the
ovaia MaiKrjuariaprj, remains in that condition and lessees cannot be found for it.
On the development of the mefropoleis of Egypt in the 2nd cent, see
P. Jouguet, ‘Sur les metropoles egyptiennes a la fin du 11 “^ siecle apres J. C.,*
in Rev. et. gr., 30 (1917), p. 294 ff. ; cp. the bibliography for some metropoleis
quoted inCh. V, note 5, and H. Rink, Strassen- und Viertelnamen von Ootyrkynchtis
(JDiss. Giessen), 1924. On the Hellenization of the natives, J. Lesquier, Varmee
romaine dPgypie, p. 197 ff. On the service of the natives in the Egyptian army,
suggested by a passage in the Gnomon idiu logu, J. Carcopino in Rev. it anc., 27
(1922), p. 24 ff. Cp. H. A, Sanders in Trans. Amer. Phil. Assoc., 55 {1924), p. 21 ff.
(dispute between two cavalry soldiers about property). Groningen, Le gym*
nasiarqm, &c., p. 6ff., attributes to Augustus the introduction of an organization
of the Egyptian metropoleis on city lines.
^ The dvaxd>pr]cns remained the characteristic feature of Egyptian life even
in the comparatively happy period of the ist and the beginning of the 2nd cent.
It seems, however, as if the mentions of dpaxa>pr)<reif in this period may all be
explained by exceptional circumstances. In C. Wessely, ‘Catai. P. R.’, ii, 33
(ist cent.), in his Studien, &c..., 22, 1923, a mass**dpaxa>pr}a-is is explained by a plague,
probably not a general but a local one (cholera and plague are still endemic in
Egypt); cp. P. Oxyr., 252; Wilcken, Chrest^ 215 (a.d. 19/20). The edict of
M. Sempronius Liberalis {fi. G* U., 372; Wilcken, Chrest, 19, a.d. 154) must
be explained as a measure taken after general disturbances in Egypt in the
time of Antoninus Pius; P. Meyer in Klio, 7 (1907), p. 124; my Studien,
p. 207 ff.; Stein in Pauly-Wissowa, 2 w. R., ii, p. 1428 f. ; cp. P. RyL, vol. ii, 78
(a. d. 157), col. i, 4 ; P. Oxyr., 1438 ; P. S. /., 822 (2nd cent. a. d.) : strike (?) of work-
men in alabaster mines. In general, Wilckert, Grundz., p. 324 ff. It is not easy to
Notes : Chapter Vn
decide whether the documents ofThmouisofthe end ofthe 2nd cent. (B. G. U,, 902,
904, and P.S. lp 101-85 and 229-35), which speak of mass-avax<t)p^(J€ts znd of a whole-
sale depopulation of some villages, are to be taken as a testimony to the incipient
decay of Egypt In general, connected with the growing system of liturgies, compul-
sory work, and compulsory deliveries (see next chapter), or whether they indicate
some local cause (such as the plague of the time of M. Aurelius, the revolt of the
BomoXotj or a local inroad of the sea). As a fact, the management of Egypt by
the government, while of course ruthless as regards taxation and compulsory
work, was efficient as regards, e.g., the maintenance of the irrigation system,
P, Ryl, vol, ii, 81 (a. d. 104), and the other documents quoted by the editors.
®^Tac.j Amt.j 14, 18; Hyg. cond. agr,^ p. 122; cp. for Crete the inscription
in Ann, 1919, 110.^22, which speaks of L. Turpilius Dexter, the proconsul
who on behalf of the Emperor Nero ‘pr[aedia] [p]ublica Gortynio[rum] [pi]era-
que a privatis occupata [restitjuit terminavitque *, and for Cyrene the recently
found inscriptions which speak of the restoration of the Ptolemaeum to the state,
Ghislanzoni in Notimario mr/ieoiogico, 2 (1916), p. 165 ffi ; Ann. ^p,, 1919, nos. 91-3.
3^^ the bibliography quoted in Ch. V, note 4.
On pre-Roman Africa see the brilliant treatment of the scanty evidence in
S. Gsell, Hisioire de i’A/rique^ vol. iv, 1920, p. iff.
Th. Mommsen, Ram, Gesc/n, vol. v, p. 623.
On the early Roman organization of Africa and on the law of iii b. c., see
Mommsen, C/£., i, 200, and his masterly introduction and commentary reprinted
in his Gesmnm, Schrifien^ vol i, p. 65 ff., especially p. iiQ ff. ; M. Weber, Die
rdmische Agmrgeschichte, 1891, p. 152 ff.; my Stndien Gesc/i. Kol^ p. 314 ff. ;
W. Barthel in Bonner JaArMc 7 m% 120 (1911), p. 76 ff. ; and the bibliography quoted
in Ch. I, note 20, especially W. Ensslin in Nene Jahrb.y 54 (1^24), p. 15 ff. On the
pagi of the Muxsi, &c., see R. Cagnat, A. Merlin, L. Chatelam, Inscriptions latines
d^Afriquey 192s, no, 422 (quoted in the following notes as /. L. A.) ; H, Dessau,
I. L. 5 ., 9482; cp. A. Merlin, C, R, Acad. Inscr., 1913, p. 166, and Dessau, LL. S.,
901. On the pagus Gurzensis, CIL., viii, 68, 69, and E. Kornemann, ‘ Die Caesa-
rische Kolonie Karthago,’ in Philol.y 14 (1901), p. 404. Pagus Assaritanus,
L L. A.y 501. Cp. Dessau, /. L. S., 901.
On the Roman negotiaiores in Africa see E. Kornemann in Pauly-Wissowa,
iv, p. 1182 ff. ; V. Parvan, Die Nationalitdt der Kaufleuie, 1909. Of great interest is
the recently found inscription, 306; Dessau, I. L. 5 ., 9495 : ^Augusto
deo cives Romani qui Thmissut negotiantur, curatore L. Fabricio.’ The Marian
veterans received land both in Uchi Majus (A. Merlin and L. Poinssot, Les inscrip-
tions d'Uchi Majusy 1908, p. 17 ff.) and in Thibaris (Dessau, /, L. S., 6790). On
Sittius, T. Rice Holmes, The Roman RepubUcy vol. iii (1923), pp. 246 fi., 272 ff^
The quotation in the text is from him.
On the activity of Caesar in Africa see E. Kornemann in PhiloL, 14 (1901),
p. 402 ff. Of great importance is the well-known inscription CIL., x, 6104, of
44 B. c., mentioning eighty-three casiella attached to the city of Carthage; cp.
a similar mention of a praefectus of seventy-two casiella which may have belonged
to the territory of Mactaris, an ancient Punic city, in CIL.y viii, 235^. The theory
of the colon iae iuliae attached to Carthage was first formulated by E. Kornemann,
1 . 1. It is supported by the fact that three colonies were attached to Cirta (see
note 69) and were called coloniae conlributacy but the evidence for Carthage is
nieagre and far from convincing. The allegiance to the African capital of the
cities which were originally attached to Carthage is attested by the cult of
Carthage in the minor cities of the Proconsular province: see A. Merlin and
L. Poinssot, Inscr. dUchi Majus.^ p. 26 (statue of Carthage dedicated by the
city of Uchi); cp. Dessau, I. L. 5 ., 9398; CIL.y viii, 26239, and L. Poinssot
in Bull. arch, du Com. d. Irav. hisf.y 1917, p. 31, note 2. This cult of Caithage
is, of course, not onl}^ a reminiscence but also a testimony to the growing pride
580 Notes: Chapter FII
of the Africans in their own country. Carthage is now the capital^ overshadowing
Rome. ■ ■ ■
' Pliny, N. M; v. r-30. On the coloniae luUm in Africa, E. Korneiiiann,
‘ Colonla/ in Pauly- Wissowa. On the colonies in Mauretania, J. Carcopino In
BuiL arch, du Com* d, irm, hisL,
The colony of Thiiburbo founded by Augustus existed for a time side by
side with the civitas' of natives. The civitas was granted the rights of a munkipium
by Hadrian. Finally, in the time of Commodus the two bodies coalesced into
onecolonia Aurelia Commoda or Julia Aurelia Commoda^ see L. Poinssot in C. R*
Acad, Inscr.y igi^, p. 4ff, ; A. Merlin, Le forum de Thuburbo Majus^ 1922, p. 13.
On Carthage see W. Barthel, Zur Geschichie der romischen Siddte in Africa, 1904,
p. ipff. On Hadrumetum, CIL,, viii, Suppl, p. 2319. On Hippo, ibid., 25417,
cp. H. Dessau in KHo, 8 (1908), p. 457 if. Note that both Hadrumetum and Hippo
were not cmtates but oppfda libera, and yet colonies were sent to these places.
A similar case is that of Volubilis in Mauretania (E. Cuq, C, R, Acad, Imcn, ig2o,
p. 339if ), though Volubilis was not a colony but a mimkipium civium Romamrum,
/. L, A,, 634 ; cp. 608 and 613, and L. Chatelain in C, R. Acad. laser., 1924, p. 77.
See also the full bibliography on the inscription of Volubilis in Ch. Ill, note 5.
On the double communities of Africa see W. Barthel, Zur Gesch, d. rdm,
Siddte in Africa, 1904, and in Bonn. Jahrb,, 120 (1911), p. 81, note i ; A. Merlin and
L. Poinssot, Inscr, d'tlchi Majus, p. 17 ff, ; L. Poinssot in Nouv, archives d, missions
scienL, 21, 8, p. 65 ff.; 22, p. 171 if; cp. on Thugga, CIL., viii, p. 2615 (intro-
duction to the inscriptions of Thugga). On Sutunurca, Dessau, I, L, S., 9400 ;
I. L. A,, 301 : ^cives Romani pagani veter(ani) pagi Fortimalis quorum parentes
beneficio divi Augusti. . . . Sutunurca agrqs acceperunt'; cp. CIL,, viii, 24003,
24004: ‘civitas Sutunurcenses.’ On Medcli, CIL,, viii, 885; cp. 12387; Dessau,
I, L, S., 6803: ‘ex decreto pagi Mercurialis (et) veteranorum Medeiitanoruni.*
On Sicca, Dessau, L L. 5 ., 6783, 6805-7 ; CIL., viii, 27823 ; cp. Dessau, /. L. 444,
and CIL., 17327 : Aubuzza, Titulitanenses, Ucubi, &c., castella attached to Sicca.
At Aubuzza many Roman citizens formed a pagus, Dessau, I. L, 5 ., 6783:
‘Genio coloniae luliae Veneriae Chirtae novae . , . [cives Romani qui] Aubuzza
consistuiit paganicum pecunia sua a solo |^resti]tuer[unt].^ An interesting instance
of a cmtellum (Roman citizens?) co-existing with a civitas is furnished by Thiges
in Byzacena, CIL,, viii, “23165, 23166^ (a. d. 83 and 97); cp. the caskllum and the
civitas Biracsaccarensium, CIL,, viii, 23849; cp. 23876. The same conditions
prevailed in Mauretania, CIL., viii, 20834; Dessau, 1. L. 5 ., 6885: ‘veterani
et pagani consistentes apud Rapidum.’ Here, as at Medeli, not all the pagani
were veterans. In many places the civitas is expressly stated to consist oi
natives, e. g., at Masculula, CIL., viii, 15775: ‘conventus civium Romanorum
et Numidariim qui Mascululae habitant’; at Sua, Bidl, arch, du Com. d. trav,
hist., 1894, p.’32i : ‘Afri et cives Romani Suenses’; at Chiniava, CIL., viii,
25450 : ‘ ordo Chiniavensium peregrinorum.’
W. Barthel in Bonn. Jahrb., 120 (1911).
On the imperial land and the saltus of the senatorial aristocracy in Africa,
my Studien Gesch. Kol, p. 320 If ; cp. E. Kornemann in Pauly-Wissovva,
Suppl. iv, p. 249 ft. Since the appearance of this book no general work
on the African saltus has been published nor have any important new inscrip-
tions been found. The section on the African inscriptions in W. Heitland,
Agricola, p. 342 ff, gives no new information and suggests no new points of view.
Th^ Le.x Manciana and the inscriptions of Ain el Djemala and Ain Wassel are now
published in CIL., viii, 25902, 25943, 26416.
S. Gsell, Inscriptions laiines de PAlgirie {quoted I. L. AO, 1922, vol. i, 2939,
20885 2989; Dessau, I. L. S., 5958 a-b, and 5959: boundary stones between the
Musulamii, the emperor, and the colonies of Ammaedara and Madaurus ; cp. CIL.,
viii, 28073 ff. A private estate in the territory of the Musulamii, owned by Valeria
Atticilla, is mentioned in L L. AL, 2986; cp, L, Carton in C. R. Acad, Inscr., 1923,
p. 71 ff. As is well known, the saltus Beguensis with the village Casae was
Notes: Chapter Vn
situated Herritorio Musulamionmi’, C/£., viii, 23246. Was one part of the
tribe transferred to the Byzacena? On prae feet i gentium in Africa,
R. Cagnat, Barmie-ronmine dAfrique, ed. 2, p. 263 ffl; cp. Not 1895,
p. 342, and CIL,j v, 5267 (time of the Emperor Nero).
S. Gseil et A. Joly, Khamissa, Mdaourouch, Announa^ i. Khamissa, 1914,
p. 13 ft’ Principes of the Numidae: CIL,, viii, 4884; Dessau, /. £. S., 6800;
C. !L Acad. Inscn, 1904, p. 479; Dessau, /. £. S., 9392 ; cp. C R. Acad. I user.,
1904, p. 484; Dessau, /. L. 5 ., 9391 ‘Genio gentis Numidiae sacrum.’ On the
principes of the tribes in general, S. Gsell, 1.1., p. 15 ff. The part played by
xYieprimipes in Africa and their relation to the military praefecii, generally Roman
officers, are exactly the same as on the Danube, see Ch. VI, note 66. Large private
estates in the territory of Thubiirsicu Numidariim are enumerated by S. Gsell,
1. 1, p. 29ff.
Nybgenii: R. Cagnat in C R. Acad. Inscr., 1909, p. 568 if. ; W. Barthel in
Bonn. Jakrkf 120 (1911), p. 87 ff. Musunii Regiani: /. L. A., 102, 103 ; Dessau,
/. L. S., 9393; CIL.f viii, 23195. Suburbures: Dessau, I. L. S., 9380, 9381.
Nattabutes: J. Toutain, Les citis romaines de la Tunisie, p. 344; S. Gsell, Atlas
arckeologiqne de tAfrique^ feiiilie 18, no.^ 135; C/Z,., viii, 4836, cp. 16911: * Flami-
nali[s] Satiiri [f.] qui flamonium c(ivitatis) N(attabLitum) c{onsecutus) item princi-
patu(m| civitatis suae.^ Nicivibus : S. Gsell, Atlas, feuille 26, no. i6r. Zimizenses
or Zimizes; CIL., viii, 8369 ; Dessau, L L. S., 5961 (a. d. 128): Termini positi
inter Igilgilitanos in quorum hnibus kastellum Victoriae positum est et Zimiz(es)
lit sciant Zimizes non plus in usum haber(e) ex autoritate M. Vetti Latronis proc.
Aug. qua(m) in circuitu a miiro kast(elli) p(assus quingentos).’ Saboides : CIL.,
viii, 7041 ; cp. 19423 ; Dessau, I. L. S., 6857 : ‘ Florus Labaeonis fil(ius) princeps
et undecemprimus gentis Saboidum.’ Chinithi: C/£., viii, 22729 ; Dessau, /. X. S.,
9394. Gens Bacchuina : CIL., viii, 12331 ; Dessau, I. L. S., 4440.
On definitio and defensio see my articles quoted in note 32.
S. Gsell et A. Jol}?', Khamissa, Mdaourouch, Amiouna, iii, Announa, 1916.
R. Cagnat, ‘ La colonie romaine de Djemila,’ in Musie Beige, 1923, p. iisff. ;
cp. idem, Rev. it. anc., igis, p. 34 ff., and 183 ff.; C. R. Acad. Inscr., 1916, p. 593;
E. Albertini, ibid. 1924, p. 253. In one of the inscriptions a veteran settled in
Cuicul calls himself accepiarius, i. e. one who was granted land ; cp. note 60 on
Sutunurca and Ch. VI, note 74, on the missio agraria in Pannonia.
CIL., viii, 8210 ; Dessau, /. L. S., 6864, cp. CIL., 7988 ; Dessau, 5648, and
CIL., 7963, cp. 19849 ; Dessau, 5473.
My Studien, p. 369, and article in Jahresh., 4, BeibL, p. 41, note 9, and p. 43,
notes 12, 13, In the numerous inscriptions of the villages we meet almost
everywhere with magisiri and often even with a council of decimones. Some
recently found inscriptions add much to our knowledge of the vici. Near Semta
a certain Q. Geminius Q. fil. Arn. Sabinus, who had a long and brilliant military
career under the Flavians and Trajan, bequeathed to the Wicani vici AnnaeP
a certain sum of money with the obligation of erecting some statues to him in
the viciis. The acting magistrate is D. Annaeus Arn. Advena (see L. Poinssot
and R. Lantier, C. R. Acad. Inscr., 1923, p. 197 ff.}. It is evident that the vicus
grew up on the private estate of a certain Annaeus {CIL., viii, 23116 and 12065),
was populated by Roman citizens partly from Carthage (the ‘Arnensis’ is the
tribtts of Carthage), and soon developed into a quasi-urban centre ; it possessed
apparently the ius legatomm capiendorum. Similar was the development of
the ‘vicus Haterianus’, another settlement on a private estate. A statue to the
Emperor Hadrian was erected here by the Tives Romani qui vico^ Hateriano
morantur’ {CIL., viii, 23125; Dessau, 6777). Many funeral inscriptions of the
vicus give names of Roman citizens (/. L. A.^ 78}. Another vicus on a private
estate is mentioned in the inscription Ann. 1913, no. 226, where a certain
Phosphorus has built a temple to Ceres, ‘ item vicum qui subiacet huic templo
and ends his inscription by saying ‘ et nundinas instituit qui vicus nomine ipsius
582 Notes : Chapter VII
appellatiir’;,, cp* J. Garcopino in BuiL arch, du Com, d, imv, Msi., 1918, p. 2^2 K
in a vkiis near, or of, Lambiridi two magistri who gave the village ‘ mensiiras
pubiicas frumentarias V were both Roman citizens (P.. Albertini in BtdL arch,
duCom, d. imv. Msi,, 1921, Join, p. viii). A very instructive series of Inscriptions
comes from the fvicus Vereciindensis’ near Lambaesis, which is called also
‘vicus Augustoriim Verecundensis’ and therefore was a village of an imperial
estate. One of these, belonging to the ;time of Antoninus Pius, mentions
^possessores vici Verecundensish CIL,, viii, 41991 ^P* Dessau, 6850.
Another (C/L., 4249; cp. 18490; Dessau, 6852a) honours a citizen of the Ortani
and Falerienses, ‘ Verecimdensium incolae et Oaniini per(petuo) et principi’; cp.
C/£., 4205 and p. 1769; Dessau, 5752. In CIL., 4192, cp. p. 1769 (Dessau,
6851), the ^ordo Verecun(densis) ’ is mentioned; cp. also C/Z,., 4i94“-i849o ;
Dessau, 6852. It is worthy of note that most of these inscriptions date from
the time ofHadrian. On the nundinae in the vici see the well-known inscrip-
tion of the saltus Beguensis, the village of which bore the characteristic name
‘ Casae i. e. houses, comparable with the well-known * Mappalia Siga ’ ; C/Z., 270,
1 1451, and 23246 ; cp. 8280 and 20077 ; Dessau, 6869, and note (‘ vicus et nundinae ’
in the private estate of Antonia Saturnina) ; C/Z., 20627 ; Dessau, 4490 p nundinae ’
ofthetribeVanisnensium, orisitawri/s?); C/Z., 6357; Dessau, 6868: ‘nundinae
habentur in castello Mastarensi’. Cp. M, Besnier in Darembergand Saglio, iv,
p. 122 ff., and Ch. VI, note 89.
On the praefecH iuvenum and the organization of the iuvenes in Africa see
/. Z. AL, 3079, n. ; cp. R. Cagnat in Rev. if. anc., 22 (1920), p. 97 ff., especially p. 100
(inscription of the well-known benefactor of the city of Cuicul^ C. luliiis Crescens
Didius Crescentianus), Still more important is the inscription of Thuburnica,
L. Carton, Bull, arch, d. Com. d. irav, hist.^ 1920, p. xl; Amt, Ep,^ 1921, no. 21.
It is interesting to see that here the praefectus iuvenum is a veteran who had the
charge of enrolling recruits in Mauretania (‘praefectus tironum in Mauretania*).
On the iuvenes cp. Ch. II, note 33, and Ch. VI, note 52.
/. Z. A.j 180, boundary ‘ inter colonos [of Ammaedara] et socios Tal(enses)
My Studien, p, ^20
'V Some recently found inscriptions have supplied us with new and valuable
information on the conductores of the imperial estates. An influential citizen of
Thugga was A. Gabinius Quir. Datus, one of the members of the association
of the ‘ conductores praediorum regionis Thuggensis Z Z. A,, 568, 569; the
stone was set up to him by the association through a special curalorf see
J. Carcopino, Rev. if. anc., 24 (1922), p. 13 ff.; cp. Ann. ip., 1924, nos. 28-30. Another
association of the same type is attested by the inscription, Z Z. Ai.,299^ : ^ T. Flavio
T. f. Quir. Macro II vir(o), flamini perp. Ammaedarensium, curatori frumen[ti] com-
parand! in annona(m) urbis facto a divo Nerva Traian(o) Aug., proc. a[d prjaedia
saltus Hippon[ensi]s et Theve[st]ini, proc. provinc[i]ae S[ic]iliae, collegium Larum
Caesaris n. et liberti et familia item conductores qui in regione Hippon[ens]i con-
sistunt.’ Note the similarity ofthe terminology of this inscription to that used by the
negofialores of Africa of the Republican and the early Imperial periods. The career of
the man is noteworthy. He was probably himself a landowner or a conductorh^Ioxe
he started his career. As an expert in corn-trade, he was appointed by Trajan
curator of supplies which were destined for the city of Rome. Having shown him-
self a good and faithful officer, he was appointed chief of an important district of
imperial and public lands, and finally procurator of one of the most important
corn-provinces of Rome, Sicily. Cp. 1. L. AL, 285 (Guelma, an inscription in
honour of the same man).
It is not possible to collect here the new evidence on the different officials
of the patrimonial department in Africa which has been published since 1910.
It is interesting to find the two procurators of the Lex Manciana {CIL., viii, 25902)
reappearing in an inscription ofthe time of Trajan, Z Z. A., 440. Copious new
information on the tracius of Hippo has been afforded by the inscriptions found
in this city, Z Z. Al, 89, 92, 99, 100, loi, 102 ; cp. 323, 325, 476, 477 (Calama) and
3991. On the regio Lepfiminensis see I. Z* AL, 3062, 3063 ; cp. Z Z. A., 135, and 52.
It
Notes : Chapter VII 583
S. Gsell et A. Joly, Khamissa^ Mdaourouck, Amioumi, iii. x\niiouna, 1916.
R. Cagnat in BuiL arck (L Com, d. trav, hist, 1893, ?• 214 fF., no. 25;
/, L, A., 280 ; A. Merlin and L. Poinssot, Inscriptions d* (Jem Majus, p. 58 ff.,
nos. 40--41. Cp. the family of the Arrii, CIL,, viii, 23831 ; /. 279 ; cp.,
C/A., viii, 23832; voL vi, 1478; voi. iii, 6810-12; A. Merlin in Bull, arch, d, Cofn.
d.irau. A/5/., 1915, p. cxxxvii, and 1916, p. cxxxii. , ,
: L. A. Coiistans, Gigthis/ in Nottv, arch, d, miss, sc., 14 {1916), p. 16 ff.
C/A., viii, 22729; Dessau, A A. 5 ., 9394.
Ch., V, note.is; A A. yl/., 2195.
S. Gseii et A. Joly, Kkamissa, Mdaourouch, Announa, i. Khamissa, p. 29, and
in Ac.fr. de' Rome, 23 (1903), p. ii7f. ; ep. Plin., Ep., vii. 25. 2: f diligens
agricola/
CIL., viii, 11824 ; cp, p.^2372 ; Dessau, 7457, v. 3E : ' paupere progenitus lare
sum parvoque parente | cuius nec census neque domus, fuerat. | Ex quo sum
genitus, riiri meo vixi colendo; | nec ruri pausa, nec mihi semper erat’, and
V. 23 /. : ^ ordinis in teiiipio delectus ab ordine sedi, | et de rusticiilo censor et
ipse iiii.’
The mosaics are enumerated by A. Merlin, ‘La mosai'que du seigneur
Julius a Carthage/ in Buii. arck d. Com. d. irav. hist, 1921, p. 95, ff. ; cp. note 87.
C/A., viii, 1641 ; Dessau, 6818 ; cp. 6775 and 6783 : money was given to the
city for the almienta, ‘legi aiitem debebunt municipes item incolae dumtaxat in-
colae qui intra continentia coloniae nostrae aedificia morabuntur *. It is, of course,
possible that the iiiro/^^ ^vho did not live in the city were citizens of other cities,
but the words used by the donor point rather to those who lived in the country.
The most striking evidence of the persistence of the local cults is the sanctuary
of Saturniis Balcaranensis, discovered and excavated by J. Toutain. No dated
inscription is earlier than the 2nd cent a. d. {CIL,, viii, p. 2441 ff.j.
On mines and quarries in general see A. Arndt, ‘ Zur Gesch. des Bergrechts
von der alteren Zeit bis auf die Gegenwart,’ in Zeiischr, der gesammten Staatswis-
senscha/t, ']o (1914), p. 231 C (with bibliography); E. Ardaillon in Daremberg
and Saglio, iii, 2, p, i84off.; Orth in Pauly-Wissowa, SuppL iv, p. 108 ff.;
Freise, der Berghau^ and Huitentechnik, L Das AUertum, 1908. On
the quarries, Ch. Dubois, Etude sur ! administration et Pixploitaiion des carriires,
dans, ie monde romain, . On the measures of the Roman govern-
ment of the Republican period in regard to mining in Ital3r, E. Pais in
Rend. Lincei,' 5, voL 25 (1916), p. 41 ff. ; M. Besnier, ‘ Uinterdktion du
travail des mines en Italic sous la Republique,^ in Rev. Arck, 1919, p. giff.
The article of Orth, ‘ Bergbau,’ in Pauly-Wissowa, SuppL iv (1924), p. 108, gives
a good technical analysis ; the portions dealing with the economic problems and
the historical development are antiquated and inadequate.
On the organization of mines and quarries in the Roman Empire,
see my Gesch. d. Siaatspacht, p. 445 ff.; O. Hirschfeld, K. Verwaltungsb,, 1905,
p, 144 ff. ; my Studien Gesch. KoL, pp. 353 ff. and 408 f. On Egypt, K. Fitzler,
Steinbruche und Bergwerke im ptolemdischen und romischen Aegypten, 1910. On
the lead mines of Sardinia, Spain, and Britain, M, Besnier, ‘Le commerce
du plomb a I’epoque romaine,’ in Rev, Arck, 12 (1920), pp. 211 ff. ; 13 (1921),
p. 36 ff. ; 14 (1921), p. 98 ff. On tin in Spain and Britain see the excellent survey
of F. Haverfieid and Miss M. V. Taylor, ‘ Romano- British Remains/ in Victoiia
County History of Cornwall, 1924, pp. 10 and 15 ff Export of tin from Britain stops
at about a. d. 50, and the mining is resumed not earlier than the 3rd cent. a. d.
The main reason probably was the competition of Spain in the early Roman
Empire (after its pacification by Augustus) and the troubled state of that province
in the 3rd cent., which made tin-mming difficult there and therefore profitable
once more in Britain. It is well known that Britain prospered in the 3rd cent.,
while the other provinces deca3’'ed.
584 Notes: Chapter VII
' See C/JL*5 iii, 6660 ; cp. 14161 ; E. Kaiinka, W. Kubitschck^ and R. Heberdey
mjahresk,:^ (1900), BeibL» p, 34 W. Prentice, ' Greek and Latin Inscriptions,’ in
Amer.Exped, io^ Syria, voL iii, p. 280, no. 355, an inscription in verse in honour
of a certain Silvinus {3rd cent. a . d. ?), who transformed large tracts of desert
land between Damascus and Palmyra by means of cisterns {lymfm ceksies)
into rich fields and vine3^ards. On the Trachonitis see note 31. On the
culture of olives in Africa, R. Cagnat, ‘L’annone d’Afrique,’ in Mint, de flmt.,
40 (1916), p. 256 For a period as late as the 4th and 5th cent. a,d. the bloom
of African olive culture is attested by many mosaics which reproduce the beautiful
villas that formed the centres of the agricultural estates of the large African
landowners (cp. note 83). One of the best has been recently found at Carthage
(A. Merlin, ‘ La mosaifgue du seigneur Julius a Carthage,’ in Bull arch. d. Com. d,
trm. hist, 1921, p, 95 ft'., and plate). The mosaic shows in the centre a beautiful
villa, in the four corners the four seasons as illustrated by the agrkultiira! work
characteristic of each season (winter represented by the gathering of olives,
summer by cornfields and herds, spring l3y flowers, autumn by grapes), oii^the
sides the main occupations of the landowners (hunting expeditions and dealings
with the coioni for the master, toilet scenes and inspection of the poultry for
the mistress). The scenes where the master is represented receiving a petition
or a written compliment and gifts from a coionns, and the mistress receiving
a kid from a daughter of a colonus vividly remind one of the scenes depicted
by Juvenal and Martial (Mart, iii. 58, and x. 87; Juv., iv. 25-6; Dig., 32. 99;
33. 7, 12, and J.3). The other mosaics (beginning with the 2nd cent a . d .) are
enumerated by A. Merlin, 1 . 1 . ; cp. the mosaics of Zliten in the Tripolitana
(ist cent A.D.) discovered by the Italians (L. Mariani in Rend. Lhicei, 46 (1915),
p. 410 ff. and 45 (1914), p. 43 ff. ; R. Bartoccini in Aegypius, 3 (1922), p. 160 ff.,
figs, 7 and 8 ; idem, Guida del Museo di Tripoli, 1923, p. 18 ff., nos. 19- 22 and tav. v).
On one of the mosaics we see in the background a farm ; before the farm
Libyan coioni are threshing corn on a threshing-floor and near the threshing-
floor is an olive tree. Cp. our pis. XLIV, XLVIl, LVill, and LX.
On the dediiicii see P. Giess., 40, and P. Meyer, Jnr. Pap., no, i (with
a good bibliography); cp. idem, in Zeiischr. f. vergL Rechisums., 39> P. 224,
and G. Segre in Bull d. Ist di Dir. Rom., 32 (1922), p. 207 ff On the
peregrini in the Western provinces, O. Cuntz, in Jahresh., 18 (1915), p. 98 ff ;
cp. Th. Mommsen, Schweizer Nachsiudien, in Gesamm. Schr., vol. v, p. 418 ff
It is probable that the free peasants who lived in the villages both in East
and West, the possessores, bsid a higher legal status than the former serfs in
the East, and that the same status was given to the coioni of the imperiai
domains, at least in Africa. This, however, is purely hypothetical, and cannot
be proved because of the almost complete lack of evidence. The lists of names
of the tenants of the Phrygian imperial estates unfortunately belong to the
period after Caracalla. On the peasants in general, especially on their relations
to the large landowners, E. Kornemann, ‘ Bauernstand,’ in Pauly- Wissowa,
Suppl. iv (1924), p, 83 ff; cp. ‘Domanen,’ ibid., p. 238 ff I quote these two
articles though they reached me too late to be used in the text. As far as
I can see, they contain nothing which would oblige me to alter my point
©fwiew* ■ ■ „ ■
On the strikes in Egypt see note. 50. On the Jewish war of the last
years of Trajan and the first years of Hadrian, see A. von Premerstein in
Hermes, 57 (1922), p. 305 ff Our tradition emphasizes that the government
was supported in Egypt by the Hellenes, not by the Egyptians. The general
statement of Scr. Hist Aug., Hadr., 5, 2, *Aegyptus seditionibus urgebatur’,
cannot be referred to the Jewish revolt only. The religious character of the
sedition in Alexandria in a.d. 122 shows that the participants were probably
not the Greeks but the Egyptians {Scr. Hist Aug., Hadr., 12, i ; Cass. Dio, 69,
8,1 a (vol. iii, p. 229, ed. Boissevain) ; W. Weber, Untersuchungen zur Geschkhte des
Kaisers Hadrian, 1907, p, ii3ff). ^ The reforms of Hadrian, which will be treated
in the next chapter, were certainly intended to pacify the Egyptian peasants.
On Antoninus Pius see Scr. Hist. Aug., Ant. Pins, 5, 5. ‘in Achaia etiam atque
Notes: Chapter VII
Aegypto rebeiliones repressit ’ ; cp. note 50. On the BovkoXoi^ J. Lesqiiier, Darm^e
romaine d'Ngyptej-p. cp. pp. 301 and 402.
On Asia Minor see notea. On Palestine, S. Dickey, The Constmctwe Revolu-
tion 1924, p. 122 fF. On Mariccus, C. Jullian, Histoire de la Gmik^ vol. iv,
p. 192 ff. On the revolt in Dacia and Dalmatia see note 78, Ch. VL
K. ^Biicher, Dk Enistehung der Volkswirtsckaft^ ed. 3, 1901 ; G. Salvioli,
11 capitalismo nelmondo untko^ 1904 (also in a French and a German translation) ;
cp. W. Sombart, Der moderne Kapiialisnms, ed, 2, 1916 ; L. Brentano, Anfdnge des
modernen KapHalismus, 1916 ; Sigwart in Pauly- Wissowa, x, p. 1899 f. ; M. Weber,
Wirischafi ttml Gesellschaft (Grimdiiss der Somalokonomik^ vol. iii, 2) ; vol. ii, 1921,
. p. 21.1 fh ’ '
H. Gummeriis in Paiity-Wissowa, ix, p. 1454.
VIII. The Economic and Social Policy of the Flavians
and Antonines.
^ There is a cr^dng need for a new monograph on the rule of Trajan, the
two monographs of Dierauer and C. De la Berge being now utterly antiquated.
New material of importance for the reconstruction of the Dacian campaigns of
Trajan has been won by a careful study of the bas-reliefs of the monument of
Adamklissi and the column of Trajan by various scholars, especially E. Bormann,
A. Furtw^ngier, E. Petersen, L. Studniczka, A. von Domaszewski, and C. Cichqrius.
Valuable aid towards an appreciation of Trajan’s external and internal policy is
also furnished by the sculptural ornaments of the arch of Benevento, and many
other fragments of sculptural decorations of monuments of his time and that of
Hadrian, such as the two bas-reliefs of the Rostra, some sculptures of the arch
of Constantine, &c. (see in general S. Reinach, Rip. des reliefs^ vol. i, with biblio-
graphy). Further, hundreds of inscriptions illustrate both Trajan’s foreign policy
and his administrative work. The hope may be expressed that the monograph of
R. Paribeni, to which a prize was recently awarded by the R. Accademia dei
Lincei of Rome, may soon be published. See meanwhile the books and articles
quoted in Ch, III, note i, and in Ch. IV, notes 27 and 28, and the good up-to-date
bibliography in F. Liibker, ReaUexicon des kktssischen Alfertums^ 8th ed., 1914,
p. i 075 f.
® Scr, Hist Aug., M. Aurel., ii, 7: ‘Hispanis exhaustis Italica adlectione
contra Traiani quoque praecepta verecunde consuluit’ (in truth neither que nor
quoque are necessary after Traiani ; A. C. Clark suggests that q was the abbrevia-
tion of q{uaere), marking a supposed lacuna, The Descent of Manuscripts, 1918,
pp. 35 and 453) ; cp. Hadr., 12, 4 : ‘ omnibus Hispanis Tarraconem in conventum
vocatis dilectumque ioculariter, ut verba ipsa ponit Marius Maximus, retractanti-
bus Italicis vehementissime, ceteris prudenter et caute consuluit.’ It is evident
that Trajan made extensive use of Spain for recruiting purposes, while not allow-
ing the reinforcement of the Spanish cities by new settlers from Italy, and that
Hadrian was not able to grant the Spaniards any important relief in this respect.
The two texts show what a heavy price Spain had to pay for the privileges granted
her by Vespasian. Cp. Ch. Ill, note 8, and Ch; IV, note 34.
« R Perdrizet in B. C. H., 21 (1897), P* f- i cp. M. Holleaux, in Rev. it gr.,
II, 273 ff. : Ttm I [§€ 8(1 rploTTOV crropwadaL ray odovs KOiv& diaraypaTt IdyjX^a-a^ ) [icejXevo)
Koi ^Avrapoifsi (TvvreXiiv vfi€iv els to. avaXlupara | to rpirov <rvP€i€r(l)€popras’ rj crvveicnpopa
yeviaBca arro | tS>v iv MaKedopiq opriav ^Avravodv* evrvxdTc’ | irpo ty KaXavBS^v lovptcop mro
Avppaxlov, and M. RostovtzefF in Butt of the Russ. Arch. Inst at Constantinople, 4,
p. 171 ff. (in Russian) : inscription in honour of C. Popillius Python, a conternporary
of Nerva and Trajan, who paid for the city the poll-tax mi oBam Ik tS>v IBim iiricrKevd-
586 Notes : Chapter VIII
mivra and sok! corn for moderate prices iv mipoh avnyKalm^^ It is prc^bable that
iji . the, recently published .fragment of a letter of .Hadrian to the city of Beroea
g.ranting remission of some arrears to the mmBptov of the Macedonian mnmvy the
.arrears alluded to were for the construction of roads and the feeding of the troops,
see A. Plassart in B. C. H., 47 (1923), p. 183 ff. Services similar to those^ of Python
were rendered to Heracleia by Paiilus Caeiidius Pronto, whose Inscription was
engraved on the same stone as the_ above-mentioned letter of Trajan. So also
M. Salarius Sabinus was honoured in the time of Hadrian (a. d. 121-1231 j If re
miTepBelnis ] TiXeicrraici? TrapaweTtpaKora ttoXv 1 rijs ownfs ripjjs ivcop6repoi> xal ral? j rod
Kvplov Kalcrapos tS>p (rTpnTev\paT<tiv diobelais rrapaar^opra eh Ta9 | wphtpas cretrov peSii/j-pom)
vy KpiBMP ped, //, Kvdpov pcB. olpov fxerpijTas // iroXi' j reipd^ evmotepop
(M. N. Tod in Ann. Brit School Athens^ 23 (191^19), p. 67 ff.l Cp* Ch. VI, note 92.
A very characteristic general statement, which refers both to Italy and to the
provinces, is given by Siculus Flaccus (Grom, vet., Lachm^.), p. 165, 4; ‘iiain et
^uotiens militi praetereunti aliive cui coniitatui annona publica praestanda est, si
Iigna aut stramenta deputanda, quaerendiim quae civitates quibus pagis huius
modi munera praebere solitae sint k A good monograph on this subject is much
wanted. The archaeological monuments, especially the columns of Trajan and
of M. Aurelius and the ‘triumphar arches of this period, furnish ample illustra-
tion, which, like the epigraphic evidence, has never been collected in full : cp.
Chs* IX and X and our Plates XLV and XLIX. An excellent illustration of the
manner in which the annona for the emperor and his soldiers was collected in
Egypt is furnished by P. S. /., 683. Wilcken in Arch. f. Papyr,^ (1923}, p. 8i|f.,
was the first to recognize that the document refers to the visit of Septimius
Severiis to Egypt in a. d. 199. Cp. Ch, IX.
^ M. Rostovtzeff, ‘Pontus, Bithynia and the Bosporus,’ In Ann, ^Br. School
AihenSi 22 (xoib-iS), p. i fr; cp. U. Wilcken in Hermes^ 49 (1914), p. 120 fr
Pliny was in Bithynia and Pontus from a. d. hi to 113.
^ /. G. R. /?., iii, 173; Dittenberger, Or, gr.^ 544, inscription in honour of
Ti. lulius Severus, a descendant of the royal houses of Pergamon and of Galatia,
f overnor of Syria under Hadrian, and sent by him on a special mis^on to
lithynia to improve the financial situation of the province, /. G. R, i?., iii, 174,
175 ; cp. Cass. Dio, 69. 14. In the inscription 1. G. jR, i?., iii, 173, he is praised as
Kill T<w ahrm erei Ka\ iXmodeTricrapTa btT}veK^s ev t§ tSxp o)(\(t>v 7Tap6d<^ (1* I7) and
fi€F[oF] T€ o-rparevpaTa ra 'rTapax€ipd(ra[p]Ta ep rp 7T6ket Km TTpowep’^avra wapoBempra errl
TOP wpos TTok^op (1. 29 if.). The date is a.d. 114/115 and the occasion the
great expedition of Trajan. The fact that Severus took over the heavy burden
of feeding and quartering a huge army through a whole winter is proof both ol
his immense fortune and of the conditions prevailing in Bithynia. It is no less
symptomatic of the financial situation of the state that Trajan gratefully accepted
such a gift. A special officer of equestrian rank entrusted with the task of pro-
viding the Oriental armies with food when in Mesopotamia is mentioned in an
inscription from Alabanda in Caria, A. von Premerstein in Jahresh., 13 (1911),
p. 204 ff.; cp. A. von Domaszewski in Rh, Mus., 58, p. 224 ff. Practically the
same thing occurred when the army was on its way back, under Hadrian, after
the end of the war in a. d. 117, /. G, R. R., iii, 208 ; R. d’Orbeliani in/. H. 5., 44
(1924), p. 26, no. 9: Latinius Alexander, father of Latinia Cleopatra, another
member of the royal Galatian family, is praised for (1. 3ff.) : eirl rt] rod peyiarov |
ahroKpdropos Kaiarapos Tpatapou [ '^Adpiapov Se/Saerrov Trapoda Kai rS)P | tepSip avrov errparev-
phrmv Bovtos Btavopas rfj TroXei (the better copy of the text is due to Orbeiiani) ;
cp. W. Weber, Unfersuch, z, Gesch, des Kaisers Hadriamis^ 1907, p. 56 ft'. It is
evident that the city was so exhausted by the passage of the ‘ holy army ’ that
Alexander came to her rescue with distributions of food. There is no doubt
that the special mission of Ti. lulius Severus to Bithynia under Hadrian had
almost jthe same purpose as that of Pliny. The latter had to get the country
ready for the heavy task (note that Pliny at the beginning of his career had
been assistant to the master of supplies for the army of Corbulo and later of
Titus, the famous Ti. lulius Alexander, A. von Domaszewski in Rh. Mus.y 58,
1903, p. 225, note i; cp. C/Z., xi, 1031) ; the former was sent to restore the
Notes: Chapter VIII
shattered finances of the province after the war. How burdensome the travels
of Trajan were for the population of the provinces (despite his moderation so
highly praised by Piiny In his well-known description of Domitian’s travels,
Paneg.^ 20), is shown by the letter of the procurator, Caelius Floras, to Opranioas,
the Lycian magnate M theTdeYj Opmmoas, 1897, inscrr. nos. 8, 9, and 13;
cp« L G» R. Ab, iii, 739 (iv, Ch. XIII), and E. Ritterling in RL Mus.^ 37 (1920),
p. 35 ffi). Caelms Fiorus endeavours to spur Opramoas to give the emperor,
on his last journey of a.d. 117, the same reception as had been given to him
by his Galatian rival three years before. Later, a rich man of Palmyra enter-
tained the Emperor Hadrian and his troops during his stay in 130, A G, R. A., iii,
1054; cp. Weber, Uniers,, pp. 122 and 237. Similarly, on the occasion of the
Parthian war of L. Verus, entertainment was provided at Ephesus for Verus
himself by Vedius Gaius in a.d. 162 or 164 (A, A., iii, p. 155 f., no. 72) and for the
Imperial army 011 its way back in a.d. 166 or 167 by T. Flavius Damianus, the
famous and fabulously rich sophist of that city (A. A., iii, p. 161 f., no.
Cp. also I, G., voL iv, 759; Weber, Unters,, p. 183: repair of roads near the city
of Troezeii in Greece before Hadrian’s visit.
^Nerva: Cass. Dio, 68. 2. i ; Plia, AA, viL 31. 4; Dessau, L L. S., 1019;
Dig*, 47, 2r, 3, I ; H. Schiller, Gesch. d. rom. Kaiserzeit, vol. i, 2, p. 540; O. Seeck,
Gesc/h d. Unierg. d. ant. Welt, vol. i, p. 324 ; Th. Mommsen, Rom. Staatsrecht,
voi, ii, p. 955 ; cp. p. 846 ; A. Merlin, Les revers monitaires de lemfereur Nerva, T906.
Tr aj a n : prohibition of emigration, and foundation of colonies m Italy or assigna-
tion of land in Italy to veterans, Scr. Hist Aug., M. Aur., ii, 7 (see above, note 2) ;
Liber coloniarum, ed. E. Pais, 1923, p. 36, 3 (p. 223 L.)— Veii, cp. p. 181 ; C/A., xi, 3793 ;
p. 58, 27 ff. (p. 234 L.)— Lavinium, cp. p. 234 ; C/A., xiv, 2,0 ^ ; p. 62, 7 ff. (p. 236 L.) —
Ostia, cp. p. 242. E. Kornemann in Pauly- Wissowa, iv, article ^ Colonia’, does
not mention the colonies of Trajan in Italy. This is due to the unjustified dis-
belief in the evidence of the Liber coloniarum first expressed by Mommsen, but
Pais seems to be right in assuming that most of its statements are based on good
sources. One of the most important and trustworthy of these sources belongs
to the time of Trajan. On the military colonies of Trajan, cp. Ritterling in Pauly-
Wissowa, xii, p. 1287 ff.— On the slaves and the manumissions, V. Macchioro,
/L’impero Romano nelF eta dei Severi,* m Riv. di St Ant, 10 (1906), p. 201 ff.
The development began early in the 2nd cent. One of the most important
questions connected with the status of freedmen after manumission is their right
to acquire property in the territory of provincial cities ; the question needs new
treatment ; see A. Calderini, La Manomissione e la condizione dei liberii in Grecia,
1908, p. 318 f. ; cp. A. Maiuri in Ann. della Sc. Arch, di Atene, 4-5 (1924), p. 485.
On the alimenia see Ch. VI, note 4. I agree with the point of view set forth
by J. Carcopino in his interesting review of F. de Pachtere’s book in Rev. il. anc.,
23 (1921), p. 287 ff., and I cannot accept the theory of G. Billeter, Gesch. des
Zinsfitsses, 1898, p. 187 ff., that Trajan regarded his loans as a burden imposed
on the munificence of the rich landowners of Italy.
The activity of Trajan is summarized in the symbolical reliefs which adorn
the arch in Beneventum, voted to him by the Roman senate in 114 but completed
in the first years of Hadrian. The sculptural ornaments of the arch represent,
therefore, both a summary of Trajan’s activity and the programme of Hadrian,
who appears twice in the bas-reliefs as Trajan’s associate and heir to his power;
once in the scene of the reception of Trajan by the gods and the city of Rome
at the entrance to the Capitol (bas-relief 2 of the attica), and again in the bas-
relief representing the subjection of Mesopotamia, where Hadrian shows his
disapproval of a policy of further conquests in the East. The symbolism of
the arch is perfectly clear and has been finely explained both by E. Petersen
and by A. von Domaszewski. This symbolism, as I understand it, is as follows.
The main motive is to glorify peace and prosperity established by the great
military activity of Trajan, and maintained and promoted by Hadrian. The inner
front of the arch, turned towards the city of Beneventum and therefore towards
Rome, is devoted to the city of Rome. It depicts the triumphal reception of
the emperor b37' all classes of the population of Rome and Italy; the gods and
Notes: Chapter VIII
588
the city, of Rome, the ^enatf al,
Romania the 'business men of ■ ^ front deoicls the victeries of Trajan
torian guard and .of legions The outer
over Mesopotamia, Parthia, 1 ?mc:neritv established by Trajan throughout the
1910 ; Mrs A. maintenance of the privileges
Site «teV*^ilSses J thfpSulaliX Specially of the Roman citizens both m
the EaS and irthe the leading principle of the
policy of the enlightened monarchy. This tendency &>®tiong y
in the newly discovered Gnomon tint logn ; see the just Toi- ao-ainctt^thp
establish justice in economic relations and to make ‘f j^lja^on
classes gradually to reach the standards which would allow ot their assimilation
by the higher, privileged inhabitants of the Roman Empire.
’ A good survey of the provincial policy of Trajan given ^by A von
Domaszewski, Abhandlungen sur romtschm Religion,
2, p. 173 ff., and W. Weber, ‘Trajan und Hadrian, in Meisfer tier foMW,
p. 69 ff.
* Wpher Unters x> to ft. B. W. Henderson, The Life of Hadrian p. M.
is ve^ brief and inadequate in spite of the excessive length of the book; the
discovery of a Jewish revolt in Mauretania is amusing.
« The standard work on Hadrian, a book replete with facts and acute obse^-a-
tions is W. Weber’s Untersuchimgen sur Geschxchte des Ka^ers H^rmmts, 1^7 ,
cp. E Kornemann, Kaiser Hadrian und der lefzegrosse H’^lonker RomygoS^
G Mancini and D. Vaglieri in E. de Ruggiero, Dts. Epigr vol. 111, p.
W. Weber, Trajan und Hadrian, 1923. On his military policy, E K°rnemann m
Klin n f 10071 D 88ff. On the present state of the question of Hadrians wall
Srita rsee the lucid short statement of R. G. Collingwood in Henderson s
HadXV^, and his article in J. R. S., n (1921). It is. interesting to no e
that Hadrmn’s policy of purchasing P.^^ce, if necessary, —a polic}' which ^^ 1 ^
adopted by his successors and particularly by Commodus ^ ^
which was opposed by the senate and the most prominent men of the Empire
was supported by some philosophers ; see Philostr., Vita ApolL, 11, 26.
On the administrative reforms carried out by Hadrian see the valuable
book of R. H. Lacey, The Equestrian Officials of Trajan
Careers, ^th some noils on Hadnan's Reforms, f "““ton, 1917- On the cmatm^s^
F TCnrnemann in Paulv-Wissowa, iv, p; 1806 ff. On the Xoyurrai m the r-as ,
M N Tod / H S L (VoM) P. I 72 ffi One of the most pernicious novelties
of Hadrian was the use of speaal soldiers, presumably agents of their detach-
ments for the purchase of food {frunimtarii), in the capacity of special agents
Notes : Chapter VIII
(as spies of the emperor and for other purposes), see Dessau, L L, 5 ., 9473,
9474; A. von Domaszewski, Die Rangordnung des romischen Heeres^ pp. 63 and
109. The subject of the fmmenfarii has recently been treated in J, R. S., 13
(1923, published in 1925), p. 168 if., b3r P. K, Baillie Reynolds, who comes to the
same conclusion as regards their original duties. It is unfortunate that in his
valuable collection and investigation of the epigraphical material Mr. Reynolds
has wholly disregarded both the work of Domaszewski quoted above, and the
contributions of O, Hirschfeld, see Ch. IX, note 7, and Ch. XI, note 26. On
Hadrian's reforms in the collection of taxes, see my Siaafspachi^ pp. 395 ff.,
418 ff., and passim.
Stratoniceia Hadrianopolis, Dittenberger, 837 ; 1 . G. R. i?.,iv, 1156,9:
dUma a^uwp fiot Bqksit€ kui avayKaia «[p]rt yeivofjL^vrj TroXei" rd re tIXt] rd €[«] | rrjs
xd>pas Bl 8 o 3 p.L vpip. TIKt] means of course the payments of the rural population
of the territory of the newly created city. On Hadrianuthera, W. Weber, Unters,^
p. 131. The repopulation of Cyrenaica, a counterpart to the repopulation of Dacia
by Trajan, is mentioned by Orosius, 7, 12: ‘per totam Libyam adversus incolas
atrocissima bella gesserunt [the Jews], quae adeo tunc interfectis cultoribus
desolata est, ut nisi postea Hadrianus imperator collectas aliunde colonias de-
duxisset, abraso habitatore mansisset.' The other allusions to the same fact are
collected by Weber, Uniers., p. 119. The friendly attitude of Hadrian toward
the villages of Asia Minor is attested, e. g., by the inscription, L G. R. i?., iv
1492. On the work done by Hadrian in Africa see Weber, Unters.^ p. 203;
L. Poinssot in C R. Acad, Inscr,, 1915, p- 6; cp. A. Merlin, F'omm et maisons
dAlthihuroSy p. 30, and F. de Pachtere in Bull, arch, d. Com, d, trav. hist, 1911,
p. 390. Privileges granted to villages : Dessau, /. L. S., 6777 (vicus Haterianus);
Bull, arch, d. Com, d. trav, hist, 1896, p. 296, no. 13 (group of coloni of an imperial
estate, which later became the municipium Felix Thabbora, C/L,, viii, 23897;
Dessau, AL, 5 ., 8941). Cp. for Kolka F, E., iii, no. 78.
P, Giess,, 60, ii, 25-31 ; U. Wilcken, Chrest, 341, 15. The papyrus ot
Giessen is dated a. d, 118. The offers of the peasants : P. Giess., 4-7 ; P, Brem,,
inv., 34 ; P, Lips,, inv., 266 ; P. Ryl,^ vol. ii, 96 ; cp. U. Wilcken in Arch,/, Papyr,,
5, p. 248 ff., and Chrest, no. 351 ; my article in Arch, f, Papyr,, 5, p. 299 f., and
my Siudien, pp. 165 f., 1 75 ff. ; E. Kornemann, P, Giess,, 4-7, intr. ; W. L. Westerman
in Class. Phil, 16 {1921), p. 1851!'.
P. Jouguet, *Un edit d'Hadrien,’ in Rev, it gr,, 33 (1920), p. 375 ff.; cp.
P. Hamb., 93 (a. d. 121-4}, a memorandum of some npocroBiKol yempyoi to the
prefect Haterius ; are not the rcpocrodcKoi yeapyol the newdy created half-land-
owners, and the dpyvptKol cbdpm, of which the edict speaks, their payments.^
On the 7*7 npoaoBov see the bibliography in the article of Jouguet, 1 . 1 ., p. 392 ff.
It is not necessary to regard the 7rpoffo5i«« as identical with the revenues of the
y^ irpoo-oBov, How^ever, it is probable that the payments made by the y^ Ttpoo-odov
formed part of the TrpoaoBiKd. A special article on the edict of Hadrian by
V. Martin is announced for the volume in honour of G. Lumbroso which is now
in the press.
On the African inscriptions, see Ch, VII, note 62. B. W. Henderson,
The Life, of Hadrian, p. 98 ff.. has contributed to our knowledge some dis-
coveries of his owm : the villa of * Varianus ' and a new name for the law ot
Hadrian riex Hadriana de ruderibus (sic) agris*. He quotes Bruns, Fonfes,
in the 6th ed., and ignores the last supplement of CIL,, voL viii.
See Ch. VI, note 92.
My Shidieu Gesch, KoL, p. 386 ; cp. p. 275.
See Ch. VII, notes 85 and 86.
On the Euboicus of Dion, H. von Arnim, Leben, &c., p. 500 1.
Ivo Pfaff, ‘ Ueber den rechtlichen Schutz des wirtschaftlich Schwacheren
in der rdmischen Kaisergesetzgebung,’ in Sozialgeschichtliche Forschungen (Ergdn-
590 Notes: Chapter Vlll
mngshefk Mtr Zeiischnf. So^. u. Wirisekqftsg.)^ m Greaves, Studies in
the History of Rommt Land-tenure^ voLJ, p. 534 Rttssian}, and V. Duruy,
Histoire des Romains, voL v, Appendix : ^ Snr la formation histoflque des deux
classes de citoyens, designes dans les Fandectes sous les nonis dLmmsiiores et
d' humilioresi Mommsen, S/m/wM P* 225, note 5, and p. 481, note, in dealing
with the different treatment of the two classes from the point of view of criminal
law, points out that the terms homsHores and humiUores date from the 3rd cent. a. d.
OiWaw, A voi iii, 38. Fish-regulations, A. Wilhelm in JahresL, 12 (1909),
p. 146 ff. : the letter of Hadrian drew its inspiration from some laws in the spirit
of Plato, Leg,^ xi, p. 917, b-c ; see e.g. Alexades, in Kaibel, Fr.^Com. Gk, voL ii,
p. 8 ; Athen.j p* 2^, A-b : ri6t}(n yap wi/l popop j rmp ix^vorroiik&p mris tipi
I Ix^mv itortpriffas arrodSif eXarropos ] ctxre ripijs eh ro deaptarripiop | evBvs dwpdy€(r0m
TovTor. The bankers of Pergamon : Dittenberger, Or,gr, mscr,^4S4. The problem
of the food supply, as we have often pointed out in this volume, was one of the
most difficult questions with which, the Roman Empire had to deal, the difficulty
being largely due to the slowness and the high cost of land transport* The con-
ditions certainly led to much profiteering and speculation, and consequently to
the oppression of the poor by the rich. It is not surprising that Hadrian was not
the first to interfere with free trade in foodstuffs by means of special regulations.
1 have collected the evidence bearing on the regulation of corn-prices in iiiy
article ‘ Frumentum' in Pauly-Wissowa, vii, p. 143 (Tiberius, Tac., Ann. ii, 87;
Nero, Tac., Ann. xv. 39; in Asia Minor, Euseb., Ckron., ii. 152, Schone). Measures
of a more general, though local, character were taken frequently by the emperors
in connexion with local famines. In Ch. V, note 9, I have referred to the new
evidence of a Latin inscription of Antioch of Pisidia, belonging to the time of
Domitian, which speaks of measures adopted by the governor against profiteering
in time of famine, and to the steps taken by M. Aurelius in Northern Italy under
similar conditions. The examples of Domitian and M. Aurelius were frequently
followed in later times : see Dig. 7, i, 27, 3 ; 50, 4, 25 fcp. my article in Fauly-
Wissowa, vii, p. 186), where permission is granted to the cities to buy from the
possessores of their territory a certain quantity of corn at reduced prices (the /r^-
mentum emptum of the time of Verres in Sicily, the o-Iroy dyopacrrGs of Egypt).
A similar measure is recorded at Cibyra in L G. i?. R.) iv, 914 (time of Claudius) :
d de r^v dvavKaioTara tq>p cV rah TTpecr^eiais eTnTivxOePTOip, rjrrjpipop dird Tij^epiov KXavblov
KaLcrap 09 aTrecrKevdaBaL Tifiepiop NeiK^fpopop 'n"pda-[(ro]pTa rrjly] ttoKiv KaS* eKacrrop eras
Brjpdpta Kai 'Kapfidpopra, Aral rrjv rod creirov rrpdcrip yeiveaQat ev dyopa Afa[ra]
poBi<op e^doprjKopTa rtepre e/c Trdcrris rijs x^'>pasr. It is not easy to gueSS the
reasons of the dismissal of the procurator and to judge whether there was any
connexion between his exactions and the ordinance regarding the corn trade in
the city. ^ We may suppose that the procurator favoured illicit speculations in
corn. With the emperor and his chief assistant in this department, the praefectus
annonae, lay the final decision of questions connected with the victualling of the
cities, which affected not only the cities concerned, but to some extent the whole
state. One of the most important was that of granting or withholding permission
to import corn into the cities from outside. To the evidence on this subject which
is quoted in my article ‘ Frumentum ' in Pauly- Wissowa, vii, add Epict. i, 10,
2 and 9-10 (speaking of the praefectus annonae ) : dpoiov ovp ianv iprev^lhop rrapd
TLPos Xa^oPTa dvayiyvdi(TKeiv napaKaXm ere i'TVtrpe’^aL poi airdpiop e^ayayeip and F.
iii, no. 16 (corn from Egypt for Ephesus) and the parallels collected by J. Keii
(Tralles). An excellent example of profiteering on a large scale to the detriment
of a city is afforded by the well-known oil speculation of John of Gischala, which
is told by Josephus, Fita, 13 (75). John bought up the oil in his own town for
a ridiculously low price (four drachmae for 80 xesiai) and sold it in Caesarea at the
rate of one drachma for 2 xestai. We do not, however, know how much he paid
for transporting the oil to the city. We may note in this connexion that the
emperors of the 2nd and 3rd cent, a. d. were extremely active in building large
I ranaries in the provinces, especially the corn-producing provinces, of the
Empire. Their main purpose was, of course, to facilitate the victualling ot
the capital and of the troops. But the fact that in a. d. 199 the city of Cuicul in
Notes : C hapter VIII
Numidia built extensive horrea {Bull arch, dii Com,, 1911, p. 1 15) testifies to
the interest which the provincial population had in the construction of such inland
storehouses.^ C|). the new inscriptions recently published (with parallel examples)
by E. Albertini in C /?. /iisrn, 1924, p. 253fif.
The evidence on the rule of Antoninus Pius is carefully collected and fully
treated by E. E. Bryantj The Reign of A ntomnus Pius, 1895.
On the military activity of M. Aurelius see the text to the excellent publication
of the bas-reliefs of the column of M. Aurelius by E. Petersen, A. von Domaszewski,
and A. Calderini, Die Reliefs tier Marcus-Sdule, 1904; cp. A. von Premerstein,
^ Untersiichuiigen ziir Geschiehte des Kaisers- Marcus,’ in Kiio, ii (1911), p. 355 ff.,
and 12 (1912), p. 139 fii ; P. E. Matheson, Marens Aurelius mid his Task as Emperor,
1922; J. Schwendemann, Der historische Wert der Vita Marci bei den Scriptores
■Hisiorme Augusiae, 1923,
L G,^R, /?M iv, 1290, with the new reading of the inscription by A. von
Premerstein in Kiio, 12 {1912), p. 165 ; cp. J. Keil and A. von Premerstein, Zweite
Reise, pp. 34 and 36 : S€#c]o7rp6>T€u<rai'T/i r^v ^[apvr]€poi/ TTpa^iv Ba(rT€p\viK]r)P, The
compulsory loan paid by Ostia: CIL,, xiv, 375; Dessau, L L, S,, 6147, 40:
^ [proptjerea quod cum res piiblica [pjraedia sua venderet ob pol[ljicitationem
belli navalis/ &c,
Cass. Dio, 72. 32. 2~3; 72. 19. 1-2 (p. 274, Boiss.) ; Sen Hist. Aug., M. Aur.,
23. I and II. 3, Cp. J. Schwendemann, Der hist, Wert, der vita Marci, p. 50.
Cass. Dio, 71. 3. 2 (a. d. 168).
Sen Hist, Aug,, M. Aur., ii. 7.
Sen Hist, Aug,, Comm., 16, 2, Pesc. Niger, 3, sf. ; Herod., i. 10.
Cass. Dio, 72. 4. 1-2; cp. J. Lesquier, Varmie romaine dVRgypte, p. 29!.,
and pp. 391 and 402.
29 Iyq Brims, ‘Marc Aurel,’ in Vortrdge und Aufsdize, 1905, p. 291!!’.;
W. W. Buckland, The Roman Law of Slavery^ 1908; Ph. Lotmar in Zeitschr,
d, Sav,-St, f Recktsg., 33 (1912), p. 340 Hi ; H. D.Se^dgwick, Marcus Aurelius, a
Biography, 1921. Similar was his attitude towards the tenants of the large
imperial estates in Italy. We learn from the Sen Hist, Aug, M. Aur., ii, 9, that
the curatores viarum received from him a commission to inspect the revenues of
the imperial estates situated in the districts through which the roads under their
care passed- Was not the aim of this measure to protect tho^ coloni against the
farmers-generai of the estates ? Cp. Mommsen, Siaaisr, ii, p. 1081, note i ;
Schwendemann, 1 . L ; and the well-known inscription of the saltus Burunitanus
(Ch. IX, note 8). The beginning of the trouble with which this inscription deals
dates from the reign of M. Aurelius. The oppressive behaviour of the conductores
was certainly due to the pressure put on them by the imperial administration,
a pressure occasioned by the ever-increasing demand for corn and money for the
troops. The measures of M. Aurelius were intended to prevent an outbreak of
discontent among the tenants.
O. Seeck, Gesch, d. Unierg, d, ant Welt, voL i,^ p. 318 fi'. ; G. Sigwart, ‘ Die
Fruchtbarkeit des Bodens als historischer Faktor,’ in Schmollers Jahrhucher, 39
{1915), p, 113 ff. ; idem in Pauly- Wissowa, x, p. 1899 ff, ; V, G. Simkhoyitch,
‘ Rome’s Fall reconsidered,’ in Political Science Quarterly, 31 (1916) ; cp. idem,
Toward the Understanding of Jesus, &:c., 1921, p. 84ff. '; T. Frank, An Economic
History of Rome, 1920, p. 288 ff.
C, Theod,, xi, 28, 13 (a. d. 422), statistical survey of the cultivated land of the
ratio privaia in Africa Proconsularis and in Byzacena, The careful investigation
of this text by W. Barthel in Bonn, Jahrh., 120 (1911), p. 50, shows that the
statistics attest a very small percentage of waste land and indicate an intensive
cultivation of the soil. If the population was poor and labour scanty, it was
therefore not due to the exhaustion of the soil. Cp, Ch. VII, note 87,
Notes: Chapter Fill
.o J f of the interests of the state or the community
over tSse'&e iSiviSTs emphasized by M. Aurelius, see v,. 44 5
vh 4? xL 4; cp. iv. 29 (those who are opposed to it are «o<rf«xv).
^ The R*man not X^tAL^LraraCT of the picture
did not belong to the tern ^ ^ Xhe great landowners of the ist cent. b.c.
and their temtones, but at the expense o^ Imperial land-holding within city tern-
in sippl iv (.9^4), p. n.o K
« On the angareiae (nTynpeim) in Egypt see -^^Schuba^^^
mmrung, P-j«^4^Xrfstk of time that Mamertinus
fnlueTcl"' JtheXctiXS dtcip|ne ff
gives the evidence about the compulsory deliveries of foodstuffs, &c.
“ F. Oertel, Die Liturgie, p. 621?.
" r"‘“
i ir/pTcf
Cp. L. Poinssot in BulL de la Soc, Ant^ i924» P*
I'iff
:V' I
37 On the associations of shipowners see Ch. V, note 22. It
teristic of the conditions of the 2nd cent, that the praeficius ««««>««« o( I’s:
citiris etiam fmplorantibus auxil^ aequitatis cum quadam. denuntiatione ces-
sXi orXdiem obsequi si permaneat iniuria, peto ut tarn mdemmtati rationis
™ seSXhominum qui annonae deserviunt consulatur,’ &c. On the
identity of the lulianus of the inscription ^ith the^r«.^g«s of 2
cp. Hahnle in Pauly-Wissowa, x (1917), P- T Y^,;tJ'ir'’Asthele-i^S
Wissowa, article ‘Claudius’, no. 189; cp. also Ch. IX, 4 ^
^m7Pirn<5 in rep-ard to the associations was rather iiDerai {see next
Snts^n ’X sef^iL'of the state were .taken bl Hadrian and developed
(M. Aurelius and L. Veras).
Notes : Chaptet' Fill
» o. Hirschfeldj K. Verwdiungsb., p..'i9off* It is. very probable that.the
management of the messenger-service Sy the state involved the organization of
some state depots of horses and other draught animals at the stations. The animals .
were brought from the imperial estates and were state property. This is shown
by an inscription of Dacibyza in Bithynia, /. G. R. i?., iii, 2, which has recently
been completely restored and briliiantly explained by J. Keil in Jakresky2.i (,1921),
p, 261 C : hyuBj} T Udpm 9 Jnkws ^UvXmpbs Kal 2[. , , ,]Xi(is {TTpaTmTai cnreipyjs
€KTif}S of cVt rmp arrarimpmp t<Sf mr&p ml vovpipmv ml ol ol ewetTrSiPTes
ffvvmpla €hxttpi(TTomip A€y[«oJvXX^ Impe’Kipr^ icrr^pmp Kaicrapos, The inscription
belongs to the 3rd cent, it enumerates the officers of a post-station ; two actam
et numerarii sMiomim, cavalry soldiers, a certain numDer of drivers, and the
manager of the imperial herds, m^hose dity it was to provide the stations with
draught animals, it is very tempting to refer this organization to Septimius
Severus, but its beginnings may have been earlier, its first introduction into
Italy being due to Nerva and its gradual extension to the provinces to Hadrian,
Antoninus, and Severus. By ^gradual* I mean an increase in the number ot
roads and stations provided with a supply of draught animals and drivers.
But there is no doubt that the provisions of the government never met all
needs, and that the state stations remained an exception.
There is no adequate treatment of the history of the liturgies in the
urbanized Eastern and Western parts of the Empire. The best (but now
wholly antiquated) survey is that given by E. Kuhn, I){e siadiische imd burgerUche
Verfussimg des romischen Reicks bis mif die Zeiien Justmians, 1864. Kuhn, how-
ever, gave a systematic, not an historical, treatment of the problem based on our
juridical sources and representing therefore in the main the situation as it existed
in the period after Diocletian, The first attempt at an historical treatment is
W. Liebenam*s SiMieverwaiiung im romischen Kaiserreiche^ 1900, which is still
the best book on the subject. Liebenam carefully collected the epigraphical
evidence and endeavoured to arrange his material according to historical require-
ments, but he did not grasp the very great importance of the introduction of the
principle of personal, not collective, responsibility in the field of tax-collection, &c.
Since Liebenam nothing of importance (except for Egypt) has been written on
the liturgies as they developed In the cities of the Empire. On the Spanish
cities see Ch. VI, note 2^. Some new and interesting points of view concerning
the development of the liturgies, and the meaning of the word, have been recently
suggested by J. Partsch in Arckf. Papyn 7 (1923), p. 264 fif., in a review of Oertel’s
book.
My Gesck der Simispachi^ p. 4i5 fi'.; O. Hirschfeld, K. p. 68 fi'. ;
my articles in E, de Ruggiero's Diz, Rp^gf^>y voL iii, p. 107 If., and in Pauly-
Wissowa, vi, p. 238^ If. Within the territories of the cities, i. e. in the country
parts, the responsibility for the collection of taxes lay on the representatives
of the villages : see J. Keil and A. von Premerstein, Dritie Reise, p.
My Gesck der Stautspacht^ p.374ff ; O, Hirschfeld, AT. Verwaltungsb.^^. 77 ff;
and my article ‘ Fiscus ’ in Pauly- Wissowa. The transition from^ the collec-
tion of the taxes by companies {societaies publkanorum) to collection by half-
farmers, half-officials has recently been illustrated by two inscriptions of Africa :
one is /. L. A., 257, a dedication to Venus Augusta by two promagisiri soc{iorum)
nil pittblicorum) Afric{ae) (ist cent. a. n., time of Claudius?), the other is an
inscription of the time of Septimius Severus in honour of M. Rossius Vitulus
who ended his career (at least at the time of the erection of his statue in Bulla
Regia) with the post of a procurator I HI p. A. (/. L. A,, 455). Cp, for Asia
F. F, iii, p. I3if., no. 45 — a pronmgister in a.d. 103-114. My remarks on Nero's
proposal concerning the veciigalia are based on the well-known passage of
Tacitus {Amt. xiii, 50), and the interpretation of it which has been suggested
to me by J. G. C. Anderson. * According to Tacitus ^ he writes, ‘the reason
why Nero considered the question was ‘‘crebrae populi flagitationes,’' and
Nero’s action was an impetus^ on which the Senate had to throw cold water,
by pointing out that an empire cannot be run without revenue. “ Pulcherrimum
2354-2 Qq
Notes : Chupter V^HI
id donum generi mortaHum da^et” ar. ^^arufestly f f ’Jrr"
was bored by the Nero’s
Sponsible benevolence, a ' enioeror took some importani steps
aSyisers. however, through an rfthe em|etor toolt^ ^ P
to improve the collection of ‘axes 1 lac., ^
mission was created for this pu P . . po„Kr-Wiesnwa vi. n. a'soi :
P? 57 f 59 ran^^^ ‘ Fiscus’ in Pauly-Wissowa; vi, p. 2391
O HiAchfeld, 'Kms.Perwalfungsb., p. 81, note 3, and p. 89, note 3.
1“ ThU ;« the famous cessio bonorum. For its history new niatenal has
s^SH S sc iWwir Sj'l
Caraealias rescript _ n : L. Guenoun, La cessto bonorum (1913),
/. W P Rechtsunss. 30, p. 282; A. Stemwenter m
a2*'{’iQ2o) p. A. G. Roos in Mnemosyne,
p. 48511'.
O. Hirschfeld, K. Verwaltungsb., p. 74, note 6.
44 Cpf. nrecedins note: cp. my Gesch. der Skiaispacht, p. 417; E.
7«/i«st 5 fi902) P t97ff-; W ulh^x.2m,mdievemalt,mg, pp. 421, 490, and 552
(list of ScxaTTpWTOi)*
« In the early imperial inscriptions of the East the 8cicd7rparot never appear.
O Seeck it is true speaks of the decnproiia as existing in Asia Minor as early
O. beecK, It is irue, sp'-yf-s . , (n.yAXa 'hvjSna) mentioned
O. Seeck It IS true speaKs o. ‘“j,; ^ ^ mentioned
Anton u, fioSjianuS, not of M. Antornus the mnmvtr. h
oVthVEmXr'fSl-^M Antonlus’Gor^ not of M. Antonius the triumvir. In
C I. G. wz, the mention of an Antonius and of an Asinnia does not help
us in dating the inscription, as these names were very^ common m Asia Minor.
Leaving aside the vague and doubtful ahusions of hi. Joseph^, ^^he e^lmst
!rS)1f“h'rjSrr, d\Tph“reTby Ge™'or.Sn?.?/ Moo i
menillned moch’more freqnentl^ in nnd after the time of Hadrian. Sj “ Lyoia.
I G R iv, 640 (Arnea), b^Kairp^TEvaravra iiTTo ETOOV irj , ibid., ^49 Uaeoessubj
^p E Hulk inArU, 5 (1902). p. 198, note 3, and p. 206: he <°refathers of the
man were bcKimpcnot, he himself was €iico^a7rp<»Tos; cp. ibid., 539, perhaps in
Phrygia (Hierapolis), ibid., 818, C. Agellius ApoHonides &^Ka^pmr€vaavra mi
rr° ^ -r... ^\ntr>fif^i.arnvTa Kai E^eraoTnv yEVop^vov Km epy^Trt-
P
Hi
''■H
wm
mm
^bl<r*^^I228 Asclepiades Tryphonis bEKanpcoTEva-aum err? i Kcii eTnboorei Km KvpLaKais
bwvporbx'-s yp-iftififwni/ra rrjlaTpiS^ (probably not later than the 2nd cent.) and
Laevianus, ibid., 1290, [8«]a5rp(»r£u<raifTa Tqv 0 [npvT]€pai> irptigtif Ba(^f/j[wK]i}if, cp.
A. von Premerstein in Klio, 12 (1912), p. 165 ; Laevianus was certainly a con-
temporary of M. Aurelius; in Andros, /. G., vpl. xii, 5, 724 (Antoninus) and in
Palmvra /. G. R. R., iii, ios6, i, 8. Note that m many of these inscriptions the
rank of the ScKfiirpwros is not very high, and that the office is often connected with
the performance of KvpiaKal ffpfuii, i.e. responsibility for compulsoiy wor / _
pulsSTeliveries by the people. However, the bulk of the inscriptions (see
the lisfin W. Liebenam, P. 552) belongs to the early and^late ^ cent.
CD e. g., the series of inscriptions of Prusias ad Hj-pium, I. G. R. A., 111, to, 03,
65,’67, knd most of the inscriptions of Thyatira; and at this time the decafroita
appears as the highest office of the city.
iiim
Notes : Chapter Fill
In A. D, 73 a rich citizen of Cibvra gave a capital sum to the city to cover
the cost of the gymnasiarchy, L G, N. i?., iv, 914; B. Laum, Siifimtgepi^ no. 162.
Trajan: Bithynla,^ Plin., £/., x. 113; Aquileia, CIL., v, 875; Dessau, 1374.
Hadrian : exemption of the new city of Antinoupolis from liturgies, P. Oxyr,^
1 1 19; U. Wiicken. C/l rest., 2.91^ h ^5* ort wpStrov JX^P Beos 'A^patvos . . . €Vopo6€Tr)(T€P
Ttapa vopois pip rjpip apxf^p Kai Xitrovpyfip, itaumv Be aTTn^hd^Bf} tcop Trap’ dWois
dpX^iP re Kal XeiTovpymv, Hadrian also freed the philosophers, the rhetors, the
teachers, and the doctors from dyopavoptmPf lepo(rvpd>p, €Vt<jrn^pt«v, crirmfias, iXampia^,
Kol prjre Kplpetp, p-qre tt peer fie veiv^ pf^re els frrpareiap KarnXeyetrBai aKovros, pfjre els dXXrjv
avrovs iWYipearlap edpiKrjp ^vrtva dXXrjp dpayKaCeaBai, Dig.^ 27. l. 8. This shows that
Hadrian realized how heavy the burden of liturgies had become. But granting
privileges was not a remedy. It aggravated the situation of those w^ho had no
privileges, and it was, of course, a compensation for other services rendered
by the privileged to the state. This was the reason why the same privileges
were granted to members of some associations which worked for the state:
the ‘ fabri et centonarii Dig>, 27. i, 17, 2 ; cp. the inscription of Solva, O. Cuntz,
in Jaltres/hy 18 (1915), p. ^ C ; cp. Dig.y 50. 6, 6, 12 ; the ‘ negotiatores qui annonam
iirbis adiuvant, item navicularii’, Dig^^o. 6, 6, 3; the^* frumentarii negotiatores’,
ibid., 50. 5, 9, i; »the ^ coiidiictores vectigalium publicorum ibid., 50. 6, 6, 10.
Antoninus Pius: C/Z.., v, 532, 2, iff, especially ii, ‘[e]t sin[t] cum quibns
miinera deciirionibiis iani iit paucifs onejrosa honeste de pI[e]no compartia-
mur*. Cp. the endeavours of Aelius Aristides to free himself from the
municipal burdens with the help of his Roman connexions. Latimn mams:
O. Hirschfeld, K. Veru’altHngsb.^ p. 74. M. Aurelius; the semfits considium
de sumptibus iudontm giadiatoriomm miniteptdis^ CIL.^ ii, 6278 ; cp. p. 1056 ; Dessau,
L Z. 5 ., 5163 ; Bruns,' Fonfes, cd. 7, no. 63 (p. 2071, 1 . 23 ff. ; ‘ censco igitur inprimis
agendas" niaximis impp. gratias qui salutaribus remedis, fisci ratione posthabita,
labentem civitatium statum et praecipitantes iam in ruinas principaliuni viro-
runi fortuna(s) restituerunt,’ &c. Another copy of this S. C. has been recently
found in Sardis: J. Kcil and A. v. Premerstein, Ztv.Reise, p. 16; Dessau, /. Z. S.,
9340.
IX. The Military Monarchy
^ The best monograph on Commodiis is J. M. Heer, ^ Der historische Wert
der Vita Commodi,’ in PkUoF SuppL, 9 (1904) ; cp. O. Th. Schulz, Das Kaiserhatis
der Aniomne mtd der letzie Historiker Roms, 1907. On the mood of the senate
after the conclusion of peace on the Danube, J. M. Heer, 1 . L, p. 41 ff.
^ A. von Domaszewski, ‘Der Truppensold der Kaiserzeit,’ in Neue Heidelb
Jahrb.^ 10 (1901), p. 230.
® Sen Hist Aug,^ Comm., 16, 2; Pesc. Nig., 3, si; Herod,, i. 10 (Gaul and
Spain) ; for Africa Sen Hist Aitg.y Pert., 4, 2; j. M. Heer, I. L, p. 107. On the
revolts of a military character see Ritterling in Pauly-Wissowa, xii, p. 1307
(Britain, Germany, and Dacia).
On the ‘classis Africana Commodiana Herculea^, Sen Hist Aitg,^ Comm ,
17, 7; J. M. Heer, 1 . 1 , p. 108 ff. ; A. Audollent, Carthage ronmne, p, 359;
R. Cagnat, ‘ L’annone d’Afrique,’ in Mem. de V Institute (1916), p. 25 J. Vogt,
Die Alexandrinischen Munzen^ 1924, p- 154 ff* is evident both from the literary
and from the numismatic evidence (especially that of Alexandria) that Commodus
organized the corn fleet of the second greatest corn-producing province of the
Empire, Africa, on the pattern cf the oldest and best organized corn fleet of Rome—
the Alexandrian. This fleet was organized for the service of the state as early
as the Ptolemaic period. The creation of the African fleet followed on the
revolt of part of Africa, and was caused by bad crops and disturbances in
Qq^
596 Notes: Chapter IX
Egypt. Tills coiicliision, of mine has been recently corroborated by the in-
vestigations of J . Vogt, 1. L How far the service of th e two fleets was compulsory,
we do' not know. But Callistratus in Dig., 50. 6. 6. 5, emphatically insists upon
the public and compulsory character of the service of the shipowners in general,
whether organized on the Alexandrian model ^or not. In any case it was
a munns fmUcuni and it was no doubt a Xiirovpyia in Alexandria as earl}^ as the
Ptolemies.
, . The metrical inscription (C/£,, vi, 9783 Dessau, /. L. S., 7778) runs ^ d. 111. s.
lulio luliano viro magno philosopo primo hie cum lauru(m) leret Romanis iam
relevatls, reclusus castris Inpia morte perit’. I think Bang in Hermes^ 53
(19x8), p. 21 1 ff., is right in connecting the death of lulianus with the events
after Commodus^ death. It is very probable that the philosopher was one of
the street- preachers known to the mob and was therefore seized and killed
by the praetorians ; cp. Tertullian, 46: 'quis enim philosqphum sacrificare
aut deierare aut lucernas meridie vanas prostituere compeilit? Quin inimo et
deos vestros palam destruunt et superstitiones vestras commentariis quoque
accusant laudantibus vobis. Pkrtque etiam in prmcipes latmni SHsimeniibiis vobis!
The words of Tertuilian remind one of Cassius Dio’s description of the behaviour
of the philosophers in the time of Vespasian and Domitian. Did Tertuilian meet
such philosophers in Carthage ? It was A. von Premerstein, ^ Zu den sogenannten
Alexandrinischen Martyrerakten,’ in PhiloL, SuppL, 16 (1923), who connected
the trial in Rome before the Emperor Commodus, of which the so-called acts
of Appian speak, with that emperor’s persecution of the family of Avidius Cassius,
I am inclined to think that Tertuilian speaks of the same event, which happened
in the last years of Commodus, when he says {ad Scap,, 2) : * sic et circa maiesta-
tem imperatoris informamur, tamen nunquam Albiniani, nee Nigriani, yel
Cassiani inveniri potuerunt Christiani.’ It is hard to believe^ that in mentioning
the Cassiani he alludes to the time of M. Aurelius. It is well known that
M. Aurelius did not persecute the members of the family of Avidius Cassius^
whereas it was natural for Tertuilian to mention the Cassiani after the Nigriani
in inverse chronological order if the persecution of Commodus, in which mauy
other men were involved, took place on the eve, so to say, of the persecution
of the partisans of Niger and Albinus. The visit of Septimius Severus to
Alexandria may have been connected with this affair. ^ I cannot believe with
Premerstein that Appian was a mere witness in the trial of Heliodorus. The
city of Alexandria was probably involved in the affair and accused of having
supported the Cassiani. Appian was both a delegate of the city and one ot
the prosecuted. Was not the affair of Alexandria part of the widespread con-
spiracy against Commodus, and Heliodorus one of the candidates for the throne ?
Appian endeavoured to show that in his attacks on Alexandria Commodus was
actuated by mere greed. Cp. J. Schwendemann, Der hist, Wert der Vita Mara\
pi 107 ff.
® I deal with the religious policy of Commodus in a special article in/. R, S.,
13 (1923), p, 91 ff. ; cp. J. M. Heer, 1. 1., p. 70, note 158 a ; A. von Domaszewski,
Religion des rom, Heeres, iSg^, p. 54; J. M. Heer, 1. 1., p. 94 ff. The concessions
of Commodus were made in connexion with the revolt of the army of Britain,
which was quelled, not without difficulties, about a. d. 187 ; cp. M. Platnauer,
The Life and Reign of the Emperor L, Septimius Severus, p. loi, and R. G.
Collingwood in J. R'. 5., 13 {1923, published in 1925), p. 69 ffi
J. M. Heer, 1. L, pp. 47 and 68 ; cp. Cass. Dio, 79. 14. i, on the career ot
Oclatianus Adventiis, who was a miles frumentarius and advanced under Macrinus
to be princeps peregrinorum, with O. Hirschfeld, Die kais. Verwaltungsb,^ p. 309,
note 3. Cp. also Cass. Dio, 79. 14. 3, on the career of Marius Maximus who
eV fii<T6o(f)opiKS earpdrevTO Kai ra rSsv drjpiiav tpya Kai irpocrKOTroup Koi ^KaTOvrdpx^r [of
the frumentani}] eTreiroL^KCL, Cp. the inscription of Aphrodisias (Th. Reinach in
Rev, el. gr.j 19 (1906), p. 145 ; Dessau, /.£. S., 9474, cp. C, L G,, 2802) : iKaroprapxov
fppovpevrdpLov dyvS>s Kol ardpeicos dvacrrpafpivra iv rr^s ’Acrias Idyet. The inscription
(of the time of the Severi ?) shows that a centurio frummtarius had to deal with
Notes : Chapter IX
the whole of the province of Asia, and that he had various opportunities ot
oppressing the population {hyvms) and had to face dangers (fighting those who
took to robbery ?).
» On the inscription ^of the ^saltus Burunitanus^ see the bibliography quoted
in my Siuikn Gesdu KoL^ p. 321, note i; the text is given in C/£., viii, 10570
and 14464; cp. 1445 1 ; Dessau, /* £. S,, 6870; Bruns-Gradenwitz, Fonies, td, 7,
p. 258, no. 86; P. Girard, Texies de droit Rofmin, 4th ed., no. 10, 'p. 199 £ The
inscription of Gazr-Mezuar, C/£., viii, 14428; cp. W. Heitland, Agricok, p. 342 ff.
quotation is a translation of Ch. Ill, i. 18 C: ‘subvenias, et cum homines
rustic! tenues iiianum nostrarum opens victum tolerantes conductori profusis '
largitioiiib(us) gratiosis(si)mo inipares aput proc(uratores) tuos simu[s], quib(us)
[pejr vices succession (is) per condicionem conductionis notus est, miser[eari]s ac
sacro rescripto tuo/ &c.
^ The most recent and the best monographs on the rule of L. Septimius Severus
are J. Hasebroek, UntersHda^n^'e^i zur Gesdiichte des Kaisers Sept imms Sever ;
cp. idem. Die Fdlschmg der I-ita Nigriimd Vita Alhini in den Scr. Hist. Ang., 1916 ;
and M. Platnauer, The Life and Reign of the Emperor £. Sepiimms Severus^ 1918.
These books give a full and up-to-date bibliography. Add V. Macchioro, ^ L’ im-
pero Romano neir eta dei Severi/ in Riv, star, ant, 10 (1905), p. 201 ff., and ii
(1906), pp. 285 fil and 341 ff.; G. A. Harrer, ‘The Chronology of the Revolt of
Pescennius Niger/ in J. R. S.^ 1920, p. 155 fi'- ; Fluss in Pauly-Wissowa, Zw. R,,
ii (1923), p. 1940 ff. ; and on lulia Domna, M, G. W. Williams in Amen Jonrn. Arch.,
6 IT902), p. 259 ff, and G. Herzog in Pauly-Wissowa, x, p. 926 ft’
On the controversy see M. Platnauer, LI., p. 162 ff.; cp. his article in
/. R, S., 10 (1920), p. 196. Front the time of Gibbon (History of the- Decline and
Fall of the Roman Empire, voL i, p. 125) the general conviction has been that
Septimius’ rule was fatal for the Roman Empire. The last to emphasize this
plaint of view was A. von Domaszewski, Gesch. d* ronu Kaiser, voL ii, p. 2^,
Platnauer calls his pointed and, of course, exaggerated statement ‘little more
than nonsense L His own point of view is summarized in the quotation given
in the text from /. R. S., 10 (1920), p. igS, There is no doubt that he is utterly
mistaken in idealizing the personality and the rule of Septimius* In basing his
personal power, which he wanted to pass on to his sons, on the support of
the army, in bribing and spoiling the troops, Septimius broke definitely with
the traditions of the Antonines. It is a different question whether it was possible
to maintain their traditions any longer and whether sooner or later the Roman
Empire was not bound to become a military autocracy. In any case, by his
usurpation of power and by the treachery which he committed towards the senate
and Albinus, Septimius entered consciously on the new path and inaugurated the
new phase in the history of the Empire which led directly, through a prolonged
military anarchy, to the Oriental despotism of Diocletian and Constantine. I see
no reason why another pair of emperors of the type of Trajan, Hadrian, and
M. Aurelius should not have prolonged the quiet and comparatively prosperous
period in the history of the Empire for some scores of years, had it not been for
the ambition and the unscrupulous policy of Septimius Severus.
Large confiscations after the victory over Pescennius: Cass. Dio, 74. 8*
4 and 9; Sen Hist Aug,, Sev., 9. 7, ‘multas etiam civitates eiusdem partis
iniuriis adfecit et damnis’; cp. Cass. Dio, 74. 9, 4; Herod., 3. 4. 7. On the
policy of Septimius after the victory over Albinus, J. Hasebroek, 1 . J., p. loi ff.
On the policy of barbarizing the army, A. von Domaszewski, Rangordnung,
pp. 83 ff. and 122 ff. Against his exaggerations see H. Dessau in Hermes, 1910,
p. I ff., and M. Platnauer, 1 . L, p. 158 ff. (where Dessau’s article is ignored). In his
chronological survey of the rule of' Septimius Hasebroek has often occasion to
speak of the emperor’s military reforms* In the main he shares the views ot
V. Domaszewski. However exaggerated some statements of v. Domaszewski may
be, he has proved that Septimius took a decisive step towards the democratiza-
tion of the army, and especially the corps of officers. Dessau may be right in
emphasizing that this democratization was not achieved at one stroke. But it is
598 Notes: Chapter IX
almost absurd to deny, against the direct evidence of our sources, the difference be-
tween the provincial troops and the pre-Severan praetorian guard. The Noricans,
the Spaniards, and the Macedonians of this guard were the descendants of Roman
colonists, who were either of Italian origin or wholly ^Romanized provincials,
most of them city residents, while the 'Danubian legions were composed of
Thracian and Illyrian peasants who hardly spoke Latin at all : yet they now
became the seminary of the centurions and officers. In the eyes of the popula-
tion of Rome these men were pure barbarians (there is no sense in the remark
of O. Schulz, Vom Primipat sum Dominate p. 25 ff., note 48)» There is no doubt,
too, that Septimius demoralized the soldiers both by lavish gifts and an increase
of their and by lowering the standards of discipline. It is enough to pass
in review the donatives by which he quelled the frequent revolts and bribed
the soldiers (Srr. Hist Sept. Sev., 7. 6; Cass. Dio, 46. 46. 7, and Scr. Hist
Aug,, Sept Sev., 8. 9 ; J. Ilasebroek, I. 1., pp. 41 and 46 on the revolts, and pp. 24
and 129 on the gifts) and to note the behaviour of the soldiers in Rome (Scr, Hist
Aug,, Sept Sev., 7. 2-3, ‘tota deinde urbe milites in templis, in porticibus, in aedibus
Palatinis quasi in stabulis manserunt, fuitque ingressus Severi odiosiis atque
terribiiis, cum milites inempta diriperent vastationem urbi minantes and before
Hatra (Platnauer, I. L, p. 121), Striking also is the emphasis laid by the bio-
grapher of Pescennius on his strict discipline and the model behaviour of his
troops in contrast to the lack of discipline in the army of Severus, Scr, Hist Aug,,
Pesc. Nig., 3,6 ; 4, 6, &c. As regards the * equestrianizing ’ of the administration,
add to the facts collected by Platnauer and Hasebroek the substitution of pro-
curators for proconsuls (C. W. Keyes, The Rise of the Equites in the Third Century
of the Roman Empire, 1915, p. 3*’fF., and J. Keil in K £*., iii, p. 139 f., no. 54,
and p. iiof, no. 20). We cannot, however, speak of any radical change in the
constitution of the body of senators. The predominance in that body of men of
Italian origin over provincials (Sintenis, Die Zusammmsetzung des Senats nnter
Septimius Severus und Caracalla, 1914, Diss., p. 29), in contrast to the polic}^ of
Trajan and the Antonines, shows his distrust of the representatives of the pro-
vincial aristocracy. Of two evils he chose the lesser. The Italians were at least
nearer and less opulent. Among the provincials he preferred the Orientals to
the senators of the West, and in this preference he was certainly guided by other
considerations than mere regard for the sympathies of his wife. The only demo-
cratic step which he took was the introduction of some primipili into the senate
(A. V. Domaszewski, Rangordnung, p. 172; Fluss in Pauly •Wissowa, Zw. R., ii,
p. 1981). For the marriage of soldiers and residence in the cambae, J. Hasebroek,
L 1,, p. 127, and F luss in Pauly- Wissowa, Zw. R., ii, p. 1992. There is no doubt
that the majority of the soldiers were unmarried and continued to live in the
camps; cp. Cass. Dio, 78. 36. a, and Herod., iii. 8. 5, and Stuart Jones, Companion,
P. 240.: ■
J. Hasebroek, 1. L, p. 44 f. (earljr period), p. 88f. (consecration of Commodus),
p. 92 ff. (the religious character of his reverence for the Antonines). The main
point in the policy of Septimius was his effort to legitimatize not only his
personal power but his dynasty by emphasizing his descent from M, Aurelius,
who left his power to his son, and his reverence for Commodus. That is why
he gave the name of Antoninus to Caracalla and why he ruthlessly exterminated
all the partisans of his presumptive heir, Albinus. On the dynastic policy ot
Septimius cp. J. Vogt, Die Alexandrinischen Munsen, 1924, p. 166 ff. How firmly
the senatorial aristocracy clung to the idea of adoption as opposed to the idea
of the hereditary transmission of the imperial power is shown by the part played
by this idea in the writings of Vopiscus, the biographer of the later emperors
of the 3rd cent.; see E. Klebs in Hist Zeitschr,, 61 (25), p. 231, note 6; cp.
E. Hohl in KUo, ii (1911), p. 292 f. On the crowns of the flamines of a province
adorned with busts of the imperial family, G. F. Hill in Jahresh,, 2 (1899), p. 245 ff.;
cp, idem in CataL of Coins of the Br, Mus,, Lycaonia, p. xvii, and in Anatolian
Studies pres, to Sir 14^, Ramsay, p. 224, and the recently discovered mosaic of
Aquileia published by G. Bnisin in Not d 4 Scavi, 1923, p. 224 ff., with appended
plate fig. 6. 1 am inclined to recognize in the old man with the diadem of
Wotes : Chapter IX
the Aquileian mosaic the flmnen of Aqtiileia, and in the three busts which
adorn the diadem the portraits of Septimius, Caracalla, and Geta. It is worthy
of note that It ‘is from the 3rd cent, that the domus divim appears along with
the emperor in all dedications. Earlier it was rather exceptional.
'' M. Platnauer, I L, p, i8f. As regards the protection of the humiliores
we may quote the opinion of Ulpian. Uipian’s belongs of course to
the time of Alexander, but his opinions were formed earlier and reflect the
tendency of the militarY autocracy in general. Dig,, i. 18, 6, 2 (UIp., 1. i,
Opinionum)', 'ne potentiores viri humiliores iniuriis adficiant neve defensores
eorum calumniosis criminibus insectentur innocentes, ad religionem praesidis
proviociae pertinet/ and ibid., 4: ‘ne tenuis vitae homines sub praetextu ad-
ventiis officiorum vel niilitum lumine unico vel brevi siippellectili ad aliorum
iisus translatis iniuriis vexentur, praeses provinciae providebit ’ (the text is sound;
lumine imico vel brevi sitppelieciili is a picturesque way of describing the arbitrary
behaviour of the soldiers : they would use even the single lamp and the few pots
of the household as If they were their own).
On the edict of Subatianus Aquila see B, G. U,, 484 (a.d. 201/2) ; P. Gen,, 10 ;
P. CatL, ii, 1-7; P. P/or., 6; my Sfudien Gesc/u Kol, p. 209 ff.; IT. Wilcken,
Chrest,, no. 202, p. 235 (EinL). The edict was certainly connected with the
regular census, but the frequent references to it show that the conditions ot
the land were very bad and that avax<^pr^€is became a real plague. The ex-
pressions used by the peasants of Soknopaiu Nesos quoted in the text (Preisigke,
5. P., 4284 (a.d. 207); cp. P, Gen,, 10; my Studien Gesch. KoL, p. 167 ff.;
W. Zucker in Philo!., 1910, p. 455 ff.) and their appeal directly to the emperor
suggest that Septimius during his stay in Egypt (a.d. 199-200), like Caracalla
later (P. Giess., 40, ii, 15-29), published one or more edicts endeavouring to
liquidate the state of anarchy in the country after the revolt of Avidius Cassius,
which was followed by the persecutions of Commodus, and after the war between
Pescennius and Severus, which led to extensive confiscations and exactions.
A newly published papyrus P. S. /., 683 (cp. U. Wilcken in Arch, f, Papyr,, 7
(1923), p. 84 f.) furnishes important evidence on this subject. During his visit to
Egypt Severus intended to inspect the whole country. Preparations were made
for his journey. It meant a heavy additional burden for the population. As
usual, the maintenance of the emperor, of his suite, and of his soldiers was
imposed on the cities and villages of Egypt, which had to make proportionate
payments in the form of cows, calves, goats, corn, hay, wine, &c. Our document
is the report of the village scribes to the siraie^s regarding the distribution of the
payments (cVt/jteptcr/xos:) among the villages. But, before dealing with the main
subject of their report, the village scribes quote in full a special letter of Arrius
Victor, the epistrategos, to the straiegoi of the Arsinoite nome. The mere fact of
this quotation shows how unusual the document was. And in fact it is a peculiar
piece of official literature. The epistrategos asks first, in the usual way, for
a report from the straiegoi on the distribution of the payments rliv] app&yav ro'is |
Tfixmp (L 12}. With the next paragraph the novelties begin. It is stated
in 1. 14 f. that money had been advanced by the treasury to the governor for the
payment of the goods, probably those which had been delivered by the people
{npocrBipres rots ypKjfxpuiai Kai to e^oobiacrBep j apyvpiop €v irpaxpeia ck rov lepoirart v | Tapelov
(Is iTomi Ktii rlva etdq exoapr^ae). With 1. 17 begins a new sentence expressing very
peculiar ideas. ‘ As the natives, I think says Arrius Victor, ‘ have shown care
in providing supplies for the most noble soldiers, it is likewise necessary for us to
take care of (or * to protect ’) them ’ (w(nr€p yap olpat n[p]6voiaP iTroif^aapro I [oi ijpx^pt^^f'
Tov ra eVt(T)(J[d]fi;a wap€<rx^r.€Pat | ['r]pi[ir] yevptOTarout oTparico(ra}i£, ovtcd Ka\ | ovt^p [fVrt]-
p€Xr}Bri[pat ajpayralop ia-Tt), It is a pity that the end of the document is in such a bad
state of preservation. No doubt in the following lines Arrius Victor specified
what he meant by protecting the people. One of the measures in question, how-
ever, is intelligible (1, 26 ff.). The imfieptcrpuk^ or distribution of payments, must
be published (TrpoBetpat) in every village, and if anybody has any complaint to
make he may come forward (ml ct tij p,€p^^a(r6m €x^i ] irpoariXBj}), Wilcken thinks
that all these humanitarian phrases and acts were means adopted by the governor-
6 oo Notes: Chapter IX
genera! to protect himself against coniplaints to the emperor during his visit
I am indined, however, to believe that Arrius was acting in accordance with
special orders issued by the. emperor himself, who wdshed the people to be pro-
tected against needless oppression when it was necessary^ to resort to the
unavoidable evil of ordering the levy of an annoma. Arrius,^ of course, makes no
mention of imperial instructions, but such instructions might have been com-
municated: to the prefect of Egypt verbally and transmitted by him to his chief
assistants~the governors-general of the epistmiegiaL However, even if we
assume that Arrius acted on his own initiative—which is most improbable as the
money for the could not have been assigned without a special order of
the prefect— the fact that he assumes such a humanitarian tone shows that he
desired to act in the spirit of the emperor and by his order to protect the hiimt-
bores against the poientiores.
J. Keil and A. von Premerstein, Dritte Reise^ nos. 9, 28, and 55; cp. Zweiie
Rmsiy no. 222; /. G,R, i?.j iv, 1368. The first quotation in the text is from no. 28
(p. 24 ff,), L pfF. : m\ rovro dmbovras pilyicrrjot xal 0€i6tarO't rmw r^Trore
avTOKpaTOp^p, wp6s rs roi»[s' j vperejpovs vopovs^ tS>p re Trpoyop&p vpS>p ml irpm r^p itpi^pmr^lp |
Ttept irdvras btKaio(rvvr}py pHcrjcravras oi»!f del ft€[tlorr5cr]aT€ uvroi re ml wap rh
^atriXeias wpoyopiKop vplStP j 7«Vo]ff, &c. The words are in remarkable conformity
with the leading ideas of Septimius. The peasants appeal to the beneficent
laws of the emperors and to their justice, and insist upon the fact that in this policy
Septimius follows the example of the Antonines, his ancestors. The seconci
quotation is from the same work, no. 55 (p. 37 ff.), 1. 51 : 4^vydBas (re} yepea-Bat rmp
hecrwoTiKSiP ;^o>pi<k>iJ', ev ols | {«)ai eyepvrjBripLep Kal eTpd(pr}p.ep Kal ck wpoySpoup | hapevoptes
y€ 0 pyol ras wlcrreis Trjpovpep rep | deo-wortKip Xoytp, There is a Striking Similarity
oetween the tone and the expressions of this petition and those 01 the saltus
Burunitanus.
M. Platnauer, 1 . 1 , p. 189 ff, covers the policy of Septimius towards the
provinces with a rose-coloured veil when he speaks of its ‘beneficent character'
and of ‘an era of peace and prosperity for the provincials’. J. Hasebroek,
LI, p. 132, ill emphasizing the prosperity of Africa and Syria, keeps closer
to the facts (cp* G. A. Harrer, Studies in the History of the Roman Province oj
Syria^ ^915)* In addition to the evidence adduced by Hasebroek, we may remind
the reader of the great care which Septimius took of his own native city. The
recent excavations of the Italians at Tripoli show that with Septimius a new
era began for the modest cities of the African coast, especially for Leptis,
We should add the Danubian lands. See the enumeration of the cities
which possessed the ius Italicum and colonial rights in Dig,, 50. 15. i (Ulp.,
L i, de censibus) and 8 (Paulus, L ii, de censibus), I would not attach too much
importance to the well-known picture of Tertullian, de pallio, 2: ‘quantum
reformavit orbis saeculum istud I quantum urbium aut produxit, aut auxit, aut
reddidit praesentis imperii triplex virtusl Deo tot Augustis in ununi favente
quot census transcripti ! quot populi repugnati 1 quot ordines illustrati ! quot
barbari exclusi ! revera orbis cultissimum huius imperii rus est, eradicate omni
aconito hqstilitatis et cacto et rubo subdolae familiaritatis convulso, et amoenus
super Alcinoi pometum et Midae rosetum.’ This rosy picture has a special
purpose and probably refers to Africa only. Note especially the emphasis
laid on the further urbanization of Africa and on the privileges granted to
the cities. But in some other passages Tertullian uses different colours and
predicts the near collapse of the Roman Empire, see Tert., ad Scap,^ 3 ; cp. 5,
and especially the picture of the ruthless persecutions of Septimius’ enemies
throughout the Empire and of the spirit of protest which these aroused even
in the city of Rome, in Ad nat, L 17; ApoL^ 35: ‘sed et qui nunc scelestarum
partium socii aut plausores cotidie revelantur, post vindemiam parricidarum
racematio superstes » ^ * ipsos Quirites, ipsam vernaculam septem collium
plebem convenio an alicui Caesari suo parcat ilia lingua Romana? testis est
Tiberis et scholae bestiarum.' The -last remark refers to the punishment
applied to the sharp tongues of Rorqe^ The policy of Septimius Severus towards
Syria was not a new departure. M. , Aurelius and Commodus granted colonial
6oi
Notes: Chapter IX
rights freely to the cities of Mesopotamia, and so did the immediate successors of
Septimiiis._^ Almost all the important cities of Mesopotamia received such rights
(Carrhae, Edessa, Nisibis, Rhesenae, Singara, Donra). This, of course, Is ex-
plained by the situation of these cities on the border of the enemy’s land, and' the
grant probably implied not only the bestowal of the title but also the settlement
of veterans of the Roman army^as colonists, cp. note 52, On the recent excava-'
tioiis at Tripoli see R. Paribeni in Dedalo^ 5 (1925}, p.
In book 50 of the Digest f which deals with the organization of municipal
life in genera] and particularly with the liturgies, most of the regulations date ,
from the earlier part of the 3rd centuiw. . On some points reference is made to
the constifutioms of the Antonlnes. The earliest systematic treatment of the
relations between the cities and the state, especially In regard to the mumra^
Is that of Papiriiis Justus, who collects the regulations drawn up by M. Aurelius
and Verus. It is evident, however, that the real work was done by the jurists
of the time of the Seven. In the title 'de muneribus et honoribus', Dig., 50. 4,
most of the quotations are taken from Ulpian and some of the fundamental ideas
from Callistratiis and Papinian, Later, a final systematic survey was given by
Hermogenianus and Arcadius Charisius, although the institution, which grew
up gradually, was never thoroughly and methodically organized from the
theoretical point of view. The distinction between mimera personalia, patrimonii,
and }nixia remains vague. The origin of this distinction certainly goes back to
the great Severan jurists and was based on municipal practice and probably
on experience in Egypt. The great part pl^ed by Ulpian in systema-
tizing the munera is shown by many of his ‘ Opinions One of the most
interesting is Dig., 50. 4, 15; * praeses provinciae provideat munera et
honores in civitatibus'aequaiiter per vices secundum aetates et^ dignitates, ut
gradus munerum honorumqiie qut antiquitus statuti sunt, iniungi, ne sine dis-
crimine et frequenter isdem oppressis simiil viris et viribus res pubiicae desti-
tuantur ’ ; cp. the attempt at a classification of the munera by Callistratus,
Dig., 50. 4. 14, I fil It is worthy of note that Ulpian ( 1 . 2, Opinionum, Dig., 50.
2, I) also records for the first time the theory of the ihia as applied to the
decuriones and the practice of forcing them to remain in their places of residence :
^decuriones quos sedibus civitatis ad quam pertinent relictis in alia loca transmi-
grasse probabitur, praeses provinciae in patrium solum revocare et muneribus
congruentibus fungi curet’
Dig., 50. 4, 18, 26 (Herennius Modestinus) ; 50. 12, 10 (the same) 50. 4,
3, 10 (Ulpianus) ; 50. 4, i, i (Hermogenianus) ; 50. 4, 18, 26 (Arcadius Charisius
quoting Herennius Modestinus). The first inscriptions of Asia Minor to show
the changed aspect of the decaproiia, after it became a regular liturgy in the
2nd cent. a. d., are those of Prasias ad Hypium, all of them of the time of
Caracalla or a little later, /. G. R. R., iii, 60, 61, 63, 64, 65, 67. To the same
time belong similar inscriptions from Syllium, ibid., 801, and Aspendus, ibid., 804,
and those of Thyatira, another abundant source of information on the history of
the decaproiia, 1 . G. R, R., iv, 1248 ; cp. 1228 (after Caracalla), 1261, 1265, 1273
(ail of the 3rd cent, a, d.). It is no accident that the first dated mention of
heKairptaroi in the role of presidents of the municipal council is in a. d. 207,
/. G., xii, 7 , 240, 2 : yvmfiT] arparrjymv Kal ScKOTTpcartoi' expinroau de Kal Ttjv TrpvraptKrjv
iiovcriav ; Cp. 239, 12 : Bvyarijp dpdpos dfKmrpdrrou Kal dpxti^oy (member of the same
family) and 395 (Aegiale, the same time). The position of the h^KdirpyroL at '
Chalcis (Euboea) after a. d. 212 is identical, /. G., xii, 9, 906, 5: €l(Trjy^(rapipci>p rov
8eKatrpdiTov KX. ’‘Apvprov Kat OvXmov nap<j>iXovt Cp. 14; (rTp(gT]yovpTOS rod beKairp&rov
A. Nooumw Avaraviov', Cp. ibid., no. 295 (Eretna) and xii, 8, 646 (Peparethus).
On the BeKawpcoTOL in Egypt, F. Oertel, Die Liturgk, pp. 21 1 ff. and 432 f.
"" 50* 6 , 6 , 3ff. (Callistratus, 1 . i, ae cogniiionibus) i ‘ negotiatores qui
annonam urins adiuvant, item navicularii, qui annonae urbis servtunt, immuni-
tatem a muneribus publicis consequuntur, quamdiu in eiusmqdi actu sunt, nam
remuneranda pericula eorum, quin etiam exhortanda praemiis merito placuit,
lit qui peregre muneribus et quidem publicis cum periculo et labore fungantur
6 o 2 Notes : Chapter IX
a doinesticis vexaUmiibus et sumptibus liberentur : ■ cum non sit alienum dicere
etiam hos rei publicae causa, diiin aouonae iirbis serviunt, abesse.^_ Immmiitati,
quae navkulariis praestatur, aria forma data est/ &c. We cannot speak of an
enslavement or complete iiaiisaiion of the corporations, even those of ship-
owners, in the 2iid and the early 3rd cent., but the pressure on them was
hard and became ever harder. The fact that the nammiarii Areiaimses threaten
a strike does not mean that strikes were either allowed or forbidden. As
a matter of fact, strikes are always the last resource of those who have no other
means at their disposal But the fact shows that membership in the ‘ collegia
naviculariorum * was not yet de iure compulsory and hereditary (though it may have
hton de facto), I do not see how one can speak of a collective responsibility of the
nmicuiarii either in the early or in the later Empire. The responsibility always
remained personal. In the development of the ‘collegia naviculariorum' there
was no such thing as collective responsibility being replaced by individual (as in
the case of the city councils), or vice versa. The movement was In the direction
of making the service of individual navicularii to the state, which in fact was
of secondary importance in the early life of the corporations, more and more
prominent and therefore compulsory. I cannot believe that the corporation
was responsible for the activity of its members : every member was responsible
for himself. The corporate organization was due, so far as the members were
concerned, to the natural desire to act together in cases of emergency, and, so
far as the state was concerned, to the wish to have good lists of men on whom
it could rely in case of need. Cp. E. Groag in Vierieljahrschr, f Soc, 14, M Vr/-
2 (1904), p. 4831
Cp. Ch. V, note 22, and especially Ch. VIII, note 37.
22 eh. VIII, note 40.
23 Ch. VII, note 74. Dig., 49. 14, 3, 6 (Callistratus, rescript of Hadrian), and
50. 6, 6, 10 (Callistratus, rescript of M. Aurelius).
2^ Dig^., 50. 6, 6, 10 (Callistratus, 1 . i, de cogniiionibm ) : ‘ coloni quoque Caesaris
a muneribus liberantur, ut idoniores praediis fiscalibus haberentur’; cp. the
rescript of M. Aurelius and L. Veras, Dig,, 50. 1, 38, i: ‘colonos praediorum
fisci muneribus fungi sine damno hsci oportere, idque excutere praesidem adhi-
bito procuratore debere' ; my Siudien Gesch. Kol., p. 374, note i, with p. 2921 ;
Keii and von Premerstein, Driiie Reise, p. 42^. How heavily the municipal
liturgies bore on the colorti is illustrated by the following words of the petition
of Aga Bey, Keil-Premerstein, Dritie Reise, 38, 1 . 33 ff.: ictoXDorm Be tqv ek
ra Bea-TTOTUca e^oBov Koi els riftas yeLpOfxeuiqp vtto (r)e riop KoWTprmPit>p
ml rSip eTTi TTpa^fAcrei dpxSiP fj Xewovpymp tovs v\p^T€povs evox^ovpTtop khI (rKvXkdvTcop (stc)
yem[p\\yovs, &C.
23 Dig,, 50. 6, 6, 12, see especially the end of the paragraph : ‘sed ne quidem
eos qui augeant facultates et munera civitatium sustinere possunt, priyilegiis,
quae tenuioribus per collegia distributis concessa sunt, uti posse piurifariam
constitutum est.’ Callistratus in this passage certainly refers to documents similar
to the rescript of Septimius and CaracalTa to the city of Solva (on which see
Ch. VIIIj note 41); cp. especially the following words of this rescript: ‘ii quos
dicis diviti(i)s suis sine onere [uti publica subire mjunera compellanturf and
‘alioquin [tenuiores perfrjuantur vacatione quae non competit beneficiis coll(egio-
rum) derogari.^
*3 See the articles of P. Jouguet and others quoted in Ch. VH, note 49. New
light has been thrown on this question by the investigations of Hasebroek, 1 . L,
p. and by the papyrus P.S.L, 683, which show that Septimius visited
Egypt, not in a. d. 202, but in 199/200, and that therefore the grant of a ^ovXb to
Alexandria may have dated from the same year; cp. U. Wilcken in Zeitschr. d,
Sav.-St.f. Rechtsg., Rom. Abt., 1921, p. 138, note 2, and Arch.f. Papyr., 7 (1923),
p. 85.
2 ~ Ch. Vll, note 3.
Wofes: Chapter IX 603
The material is fully collected by J, Hasebroek, L L, p. 102 ff. I need not
enumerate the documents again. M. Platnauer, 1. L, p. 205, has collected only
part of the evidence and endeavours to minimize its importance. I "would draw
the attention of the reader to the utterance of Tertullian, ad Scap,y 5: ‘parce
provinciae quae visa intentione toa obnoxia facta est concussionibus et militum
et inimicorum suqrum cuiusque/ The persecutions of Christians assumed the
same forms of arbitrariness and corruption.
One of tiie most efficient agents of Septimius in the matter of war exactions
was M. Rossius Vituliis, whose inscription has been recently found at Bulla Regia,
/. £. A.j 455. This man had a brilliant military career and was twice praeposdm,
or procurator, mpmnae expediiioms, once during the march of Septimius on Rome,
and again during his war against Albinus; cp. J. Hasebroek, 1 . 1 ., p. 29, note 5.
At the time of the ‘ march on Rome ’ Vitulus was first master of supplies and
later chief of the exchequer {procurator arcae expeditionalis), i.e. he first extorted
the supplies and later the money from the cities and the people of Italy.
Dig., 4^. 16, 2, 4-6, de re especially 4. 9-13, and 5 (Arrius Menander,
de re militari) ; cp. the treatise de re militari of Aemilius Macer, a contemporary
of Caracalla and Alexander, Dig., 49. 16, 12, and 13. The other quotations under
the title de re militari are taken from Aelius Marcianus (time of Septimius),
Papianus, Paulus, Ulpian, and Herennius Modestinus. Many of the robbers
(iatrones) who devastated Italy and the provinces in and after the time of
Septimius were probably deserters ; compare especially the war of some detach-
ments of the army of Germany ^adversus defectores et rebelles’, CIL., hi, 10471--
3; Dessau, I. L. S., 1153 (found at Aquincum). The inscription of Lydia runs as
follows: 'AyaBfj 1 IttI Trpvrdi'em A. ^67rr{ip>iov) A.vp{7jkiov) j veipoTipov)
p7j(v6s) d AvplriXios:) ’‘EppdXaos ] ^PovutIkov ^dmKSP mrep dpxijs | Xoyicrrttas xaSc^s edol^e rofff |
Kcaprjrais (dijvdpia) diaKdaia TrepTfU/copra els r^p toap retpmpmp crvpreXeiap. 1 cannot help
thinking that the inscription belongs to the time soon after 212; cp. my article
in J. R. 5 ., 8 (1918), p. 26 ff.
Keil-Premerstein, Driite Reise, no. 9, p. ii, 1 . 16 ff. ; dyaBov pip ovBepos yetpo-
pepoi atrjtot, dwiroicFTOLi Be cf^oprioLS K(m) ^r]pid>pa\arip evcreiopres rrjp K0iip7)p ^s crvp^i\p€ip
e^apaXovpepTjp avrrjp els ra dpe\rpa BaTravrjpaTa tS>p €7rt[BTj'jpovvT(op | #c(at) TrXrjdos
tS>p KoXXr}Tid>poi>p «|7ro[o-r«p€7cr^]rt[r] pip Xovrpov Bi aTTopiap, j d'jTOcrT€pe'ia[&]€ [5e tS)P
TTpos TOP ^l\op &C. Ibid., no. 5^, p. 38, 1 . 21 ff. ; iKtrai Bi rijs yperelpas
yeiPopeBa, BeidraroL tcop TramoTe avTOKpa\[T\dpcov, Betas /cat dvvTrep^XrjTov ^aaiXeias, Kal {
[rojiff yea^pytas KapArois Ttpocrex^^v K€K(ioXv\[pi\€Pot Toi>v KoXXTjrioiVcoP Koi rd>v dpriKa"
Beorrmlrap direiXovprciip Kal ^peip rot? KaraXeiTTopelpois top nepl yjtvxfjs klpBvpop /cat pq Bvpa’'
p€POL{(s)) j Ik rou KoaXyeaBai rqp yr\v epya^eaBai pqBi rats 5€|[(r]7rort/cats eiraKOveLp aTTOtpopais
Kal •^rpj}ot 9 TTpos 1 [r]a i^qs, Kal BeopeBa evpevq (sfc) vpds irpoaeaBai rqv | Beqcriv qpd>p, &C.
On the colletiones, who appear only in the Lydian inscriptions and in the papyrus
of A. D. 206, A Oxyr., 1100, see Keil-Premerstein, 1 . L, p. 43 ff.; M. Rostovtzeff in
/. R, 5 ., 8 (1918), p. 33 ; A. Garroni, in Rend, Lincei, 25 (1918), p. 66 ff. The chief
offenders were the military police force, and in the atmosphere of lawlessness
created by the civil war and by the policy of Septimius it was probably impossible
even for the emperors, not to speak of the procurators and the governors of
the provinces, to prevent them from doing mischief. On execution against
the person in connexion with cessio bonorum see F. von Woess, ‘Personal-
execution und cessio bonorum im romischen Reichsrecht,’ in Zeiischr, der Sav,-
St,/, Recktsg., 43 (1922), p. 485 ff. The abuses practised by police officers in the
provinces did not, of course, begin in the reign of Septimius, nor was that
emperor the first to create new names for the agents of the police force, see
Epict. iii. 24, 1 17 : Bp d’ dmi^ irepturoLqcrq to dXvirop Kal d(l>o^op, €Ti croi rvpappos earai ns
ly Bopu(p6pos q Katcraptcivol q opBipartcup Brj^eToi ere q ot eTTidvoyres ev ra KamroiXim enl tols
OTTTiKiois {o^<j)mois ?) top TqXiKavrqv dpxhv itapa toO Aids* eLXqrjydra ; The term opBipariap is
certainly provincial slang, derived from the Latin ordinatio (or ordinaius), just as
KoXXqritav IS probably derived from collatio.
There are no good monographs on Caracalla. O. Th. Schulz, Derromische
Kaiser Caracalla, 1909; cp. idem, Beitrage zur Kritik unserer literarischen Ueberlie-
6 o 4 Notes: Chapter IX
femng fur.dieZmi von Commodus" Sturm bis mf den Tod des M. Aurelius Aniomnus
{Caracalla)^ 1903, and Das Kaiserhms der Antomne und der kiste Hisioriker Roms^
1907, are based on the literary evidence only.^ All the ‘ Syrian * *emperors are
treated, from the point of view of their relations to the Christian church, by
K. Bihlmeyer, ^Syriscken ’ Kaiser zu Rom (211-2^^) und das Ckristeniimi^ 1910.
' I cannot deal here with the much vexed problem of the sources, and
especially with the question of the origin and the character, of the well-knowii
collection of biographies of the Roman emperors known under the name of
Scripiores Historiae Augustae (see Ch, X). Whoever the authors or the author
of these biographies were and to whatever time they or he belonged, it is evident
that in the earlier lives (with the exception of the secondary ones, the so-called
-Nebenvikn, which are notoriously a late compilation) an excellent historical
Latin work of the early 3rd cent, was used. Whether this work ended with
the reign of Septimius or included the period down to Alexander, is a matter
of controversy. I am convinced that large parts of the lives of Caracalla,
Elagabal, and Alexander were based on the narrative of this last great historian
of the Roman Empire. The opposite point of view, however, seems to be pre-
vailing^ among recent scholars: see the summary of A. von Domaszewski,
*Die Topographie Roms bei den Scr, Hist. Aug./ in Sitzb, Heid, Akad.j 1916,
Abh. 7, p. 4 if., and cp. the monographs of O. Th. Schulz (quoted in the preceding
note) and K, Hdnn, Quellemmiersuchimgen zu den Vilen des Heliogabalus und des
Severus Alexander^ 1911, and W. Thiele, De Severn Alexandra imperaior(\ 1909.
On Herodian see E, Baaz, De Herodiani foniibus et aticiorifafe, 1909 ; E. Sommer-
feldt in Philol^ 73 (1915-16), p. 568 ff. ; A. G. Roos mj, R. S., 5 (1915), p. 19X ff.
Cass. Dio, 77. 10, 4 (Boiss,, vol. iii, p. 383) ; /cat yap IKeye ^ro'kkmts on ovdlm
mBpconoap tiKriP Ipov dfyyvptoy i^eip tpa avro rots (TTpaTLoorais ’k ral Trore rijs
^lovXias imnjJLT]crd(rrj9 avr^ on iroXka is avrovs dprjki(rK€^ /cat clTrovarjs ovkIB* ijplp o0r€ diKaios
o 0 r (idiKos TTopos woXctTrerat” aire/cptVaro, to Set^as, ort Bdpufi, pjjrep* eo>s yap ap
rovTo €x<i>pep ovBip rjpds xpmdtrm On Caracalla^s attitude towards educa-
tion and the educated classes, Cass. Dio, 77. ii, 2-3. On his tendency to pose as
a common soldier, Herod., iv. 7,6: /cal Ttdvrm p.iv tOsp TtoXvriXmv diTeixe.ro* Sera Se
evreXearara /cal rois TteveurdTOis r5>v arrpariosTSiV evpap^, rovrots ixpijro" orvarTpandiTr^s ri
vir avToi^p pdXXop 7 ^aatXevs KaXovpevos ;(atpet>> TTpoa-eTTOLelro, On the enormous ex-
pense of the pay and the praemia of the soldiers, Cass. Dio, 77. 24, i (Boiss.,
vol, iii, p, 402J ; A. von Domaszewski in Neue Held, Jahrb.^ 10, p, 236 ; idem in
Rh, Mus,^ 58 (1903), p. 223, especially the inscription of Varius Marcellus, Dessau,
IX. S.,47a
Even in the excerpts ot Xiphiiinus and the so-called Exc. VaL we have
a full and substantial summary of the system of taxation and exactions adopted
by Caracalla: see Cass. Dio, 77. 9 (Boiss., vol. iii, p. 381 ff.): oiiros odv 6 (pika-
Xe^np^poraros ^Apt 0 pJpos is ph rovs (rTpandras cpiXapaXoiT^s rjv^ rovs be Xotnovs ndvras
dpBpdmovs epyov elxe irepibveip diroorvXdv iKrpvxeiP, ovx rjKLarra rovs ovyKkrjriKOvs (XiphiL).
X<T>p^is yap Ta>p arecjidvap tS>p xP^^i^P ovs las /cal irokepiovs rtPcis del vtK&p TroXXaKis jjrei
(Xeyea de ovk airrd tovto to r&p arepaPeuP noirjpa ttootop yap rovro ye ierrip ; dXXa rd tcop
X prjpdrtop irXrjBos rcov in opopan avrov dibope'piop, (^ois) oretpapovp at irdXeis rovs
avTOKpdropas elSBaartv), rcov re iTnrrjbei<op {annona) d iroXXd /cal napraxoBev rd pep
jTpotKa rd be /cal TrpoaavaXicTKopTes iareirpao'iTopeBa^ <(d) irdpra iKelvos rots crTparid>rats
exapiCero tj /cal iKair^kevep^ /cal rcop bSptxsp d /cal napd r&p Ibicor&p tS)p nXovxritop /cal
napd rcov dr^pcdv TTpoo-jirfi, tS>v re reXSiP r&p re dXXooi' d Kaivd irpoaKaribei^eVy Kal rop
rris beKarijs ^p dvrl rrjs HKoarTijs virep re Td>p direXevBepovpivoyp /cal vnep rdiv KaraXeinopipoyp
run Kkrjpcop Kal bmpeds eTroir^cre wdcrrjs (Exc. VaL and XiphiL),
See the remarks of A. von Premerstein, ^ Alexandrinische Martyrerakten/
in PhiloL^ Suppl., 16 (1923), p. 75, and Ritterling in Pauly-Wissowa, xii. p. 1318.
Cp. the edicts of Caracalla, P. Giess.^ ii, T6ff ; U. Wilcken,, Ckrest., no. 22, and
P. Oxyr,^ 1406; P. M. Meyer, /wm/. jPap.^ no. 72. Compare the behaviour of the
soldiers of Elagabal towards Antioch : to save the city from being sacked, a huge
donative was given by the new emperor, which was afterwards exacted from the
city in the form of a capital levy, Cass;* Dio,* 79. i, i.
Notes: Chapter IX 605
Oil the consfiiuiio AHio^timana see the bibliography quoted by P. M. Meyer,
ftirisL Pap,, no, i. R. von Scala, in Aus pkr Werkstatt des Horsmls, 1914, p, 30 if.,
endeavours to show that Caracalla^s grant was the completion of the great work
done b3^ the emperors for the Roman Empire, inasmuch as it put an end to all
politicaj distinctions between the various groups of the population of the Empire,
He forgets that in the 3rd cent Roman citizenship did not mean very much,
that it was probably not extended to everybody, and that the extension did not
affect the soda! problem. Quite recently G. Segr6 has pointed out that the usual
explanation of the text of the P* Giess. not only contradicts the explicit statements
of Dio (77. 9, 4 and 5, cp. 52, 19, 6) and Ulpian {Dig. i. 5, 22, 17) but is not
derived from the text as it stands {Bull. d. IsL di dir. Rom., 32 (1922), p. loi ff. ;
cp. Bonfante, Sioria del dir. Rom., ed. 3, 1923, i, p. 358), Dio and Ulpian
emphatically state that Roman citizenship was granted to all the inhabitants of the
Empire, while the text of the pap^mus emphasizes the same point and adds that
the new grant would not chan^ the legal status of the various TroXmviinTa except
those of the dediiicii {cp. A. Beltrami in Riv, di H/., 45 {1917), p. 16 ff,). The
matter must remain obscure so long as we do not know exactly who the dediticii
were. That is a problem still unsoTved. If the TrokireOfxara of the dediticn were
the am fates peregrinonim, even Segre’s translation does not settle the question
how the inhabitants of the Empire who did not live in the territories of cities
were treated. If those r^oXir^v^iara comprised the villages on the imperial estates
and such as did not belong to the territories of the cities, the question
arises, what is meant by the changes in their constitution and what are we to
understand by the TroXiTcvimra themselves ? What was the constitution of the
villages ? Norn liquet A further step in the process of degrading Roman citizen-
ship was taken by Alexander Severus when he allowed Roman citizens to makq
their last wills and testaments in Greek. A Roman citizen was no longer
supposed to know Latin. Wessely, Stud. Pal, xx {Cat P. R., i), no. 35;
cp, Kreller, Erbrechtiicke Untersuchungen, 1919, p. 331.
On Macrinus and his son Diadumenianus, H. J. Bassett, Macrinus and
Diadumemanus (Diss., Michigan), 1920. The low standard of military discipline
under Macrinus is striking, see e. g. Cass. Dio, 79* 27, i. Despite his flirting
with the senate, he followed in the main the policy of his predecessors, as
is shown by his appointments of men of humble origin to the highest posts ;
see H. J. Bassett, L I, , p. 57.
On Elagabal there are many recent monographs which are mostly of no
historical value: G. Dnviqviety Heliogabale, 1903; O. F. Butler, Studies tn the
Life of Heliogabalus, in University of Michigan Studies, 4, 1910; J, Stuart Hay,
The Amazing Emperor Heliogabcdus, 1911 ; j. Cl. Smits, De fonhbus^ e ^tbus res
a Heliogabmo et Alexandra Severo gesta colliguniur, 1908. On Julia^ Soaemias,
G, Herzog in Pauly- Wissowa, x, p. 948 ff. The behaviour of the soldiers during
the short rule of Elagabal was as violent as under Caracalla and Alexander :
see the account in Cass. Dio, 80, 2, 3, of a violent fight in the city of Rome
between them and the people.
On Alexander Severus see W. Thiele, De Severo Alexandra imperatore, 1909;
K. Honn, Quellenimtersuchungen zu den Viten des Heliogahalus und des Severus
Alexander im Corpus der Scr, Hist. Aug., 1911, Honn’s monograph is the best
on the subject, though not so good as the monographs of Heer on Commodus
and of Hasebroek on Septimius. In analysing the Latin biography of Alexander,
Honn goes too far in his scepticism, especially in regard to the accuracy of its
statements on the emperor’s reforms, ^ Many of the items in this list are cor-
roborated by Dio and Herodian and receive still more important confirmation from
the inscriptions and the juridical sources, of which Honn makes very little use.
The parallels which he cites from the Codex Theodosianus to prove the late origin
of the corresponding chapters in the biograpl^ are mostly unconvincing. I believe
that most of the data about the reforms of Alexander are genuine and trust-
worthy, On Julia Mamaea see M. G. Williams in of Michigan Studies,
6o6 Notes : Chapter IX
1, 1904, p. 67 ff. ; G. Herzog in Pauly-Wissowa, x, p. 916 fl. On the administra-
tive policy of Alexander and on the personality of his assistants and officials^
A. SteiHj ‘ Die kaiserlichen Verwaltungsbeam ten nnter Severus Alexander {222-
235),’ in yj Jahresb, der L Deutscheu Stmisreakchule m Prag^ 1912.
n Gass. Dio, 80. 3 and 4. i ; Zos., i, S2; K. Hdnn, 1 . L, p. 70. On the repeated
levies of soldiers in Italy, and the formation of a new legion (//// liaika), see
E. Ritterling in Panly-Wissowaj xii, p, 13^.
Herod.,, ii. 4, 6.
O, Seeck, Gesch. d. Unterg, d. miL PPeig voL i, p.^384j 12, and p. 532, 21.
Interesting projects relating to the depopulation of the Empire and especially of
Italy were again in the air in the reign of Alexander (as in the time of 'frajan
and of Hadrian). Cassius Dio in the well-known speech put into the mouth of
Maecenas advocates, e.g., the creation of a state land-bank {52. 28, 3 ft'.):
rolyvv ere nposTOv piv Amivr&v ra KT^pnrn to. ip brjfiocrit^ opra (rroXXa Sf ravra 6pS>
8ia Tovs TioXifxovs y^yovoTa) ttX^p oXiy&P rmv Ka\ whvv ^di (miymmPy
Kal TO apyvpiov rovro Trap irri perpiois rial tokois (K^apuarai, ouro) yap re yi} ip€pyos iorrar,
dicrirorais avrovpyo'is: boBiicra^ iKapot a<f>opp^v Xa^6tfr€s emrop^Tfpoi yfv^cropTai, to re
bijpoiTiop biapK?} fcal aBdvarov TTpocobop e^^eu Cp. Srr. HisL Alex. Sev., 4O, 2 and
note 56. For the disappearance of live stock in Italy, Set. Hisi, Aug., AI. Sev., 22, 7.
Pemiria hominum, both in the cities and in the country, is the outstanding feature
of the times of the Severi, Dig., 50, 6, 2, i (Ulp., I, iv, de officio proconsuiis) :
^impuberes qiiamvis necessitas penuriae hominum cogat, ad honores non esse
adniittendos rescripto ad Venidiiim Rufum, legatum Ciliciae, declaratur.^ On
Venidius Rufus see Pros. Imp. Rom., iii, p. 395, no. 245.
For requisitions of camels, P. Basel. {E. Rabel, Papyrusarkiimien der
dffeHtlichen Bibliothek der Universitdt Basel), no. 2, dating a. d. 190 ; B. G. U., 266
(a.d. 215-216), cp. P. Gen. 35; P. Fior., zyQ (a. d. 203); J. Lesquier, Uarmee
romaine dilgyUe, pp. 370 and 372; F. Oertel, Die Liturgie, p. 88 if. Exaction ot
hides: B. G. u., 655 (a.d. 215) ; cp. P. S. L, 465 (a.d. 265), Exaction of palm
wood for spears : C, Wessely, Cat. P. R., vol. ii, 92 (3rd cent.). Compulsory pur-
chase of corn : P. Amh., 107 and 108 ; B. G. U., 807 ; P. Ryl., vol. ii, 85 ; cp. 274,
275; P. Oxyr., 1541; P. TebL, 369; P. Amh., 109; B. G. 6^., 842; U. Wilcken,
Chrest, 416-18 (a.d. 185 and a.d. 192). Delivery of cows, calves, goats, hay,
and wine for the soldiers: P. S. /.,&3 (a. d. 199), cp. note 15. Liturgies com-
pulsory on the propertied classes: in P. Ryl.,vQ\. ii, 77, col. li, 35 if (a.d. 192),
one of the members of the Greek community of Hermupolis agrees to undertake
the (rT€(i>avr}<f> 6 pos i^riy^rda and to pay two talents a year, if he should be freed
from the compulsory lease of imperial land ; cp. my Studien Gesc/t. Kol., p. 1%,
note I. The habit of giving up one^s property to escape the burden of liturgies
became widespread in the time of Septimius: see the rescript of Septimius
and Caracalla (a. d. 200) in L. Mitteis, Chrest, no. 375 (cp. P. RyL, vol. ii, 75
(2nd cent.), and the rescript of the same emperors on the cessio bonorum m
P. Oxyr., 1405; cp. C. P. R., 20; U. Wilcken, Chrest, 402. Note the promise ‘
in P. Oxyr., 1405, I. 10: ^ 81 imTupIa crov tovtov ovblv ^Xa^rjcrerai, ovbi th to | ora^pa
vppuaBi^o-ei which implies a very brutal practice. In 1 . 23 read ovk dvaXoySp ovdi
irpds [IH I pipos Ttjs X^tTovpyias. On the cessio bonorum in general see the biblio-
graphy quoted in Ch. VIII, note 42. The obligation of cultivating the waste land
becomes one of the heaviest burdens in the 3rd cent. In P. S. I., 292 (3rd cent.)
Aurelius Hermias surrenders his property and humbly begs the procurator
(1. 18 il.) : dpayKaim rrapa ra era txprj Karatpevym i^iarapopepos avrois . . . | ex^iv p€ to
aS)pa dpfTnjpinfrrop Kal avv^picrrov, tva bid (rffv cf)tXapBpoifl\ 7 riaP doxXtjro^ ip rrj Trarpibc
(Tvp€(j7dmL bvvrjBS).^ In the new councils oPthe cities there was a constant fight
between the presidents and the members, and between the members themselves.
It is easy to understand that the bone of contention was the liturgies. See the edict
of Caracalla, P. Oxyr., 1406, 6 (a. d. 213-217) : idv ^ovX^vTrj^ top IjrpvTaptp Tj
ttjp Tv^tj . . . ] | 6 /ueV ^ovXijs a[7r«XXo]|f€rat mi eh tiTipop
xd>pap [mTa<rTr}]\(Terni. Under such conditions the country was far from safe.
Notes: Chapter IX 607
Robbers abounded, as is shown by the letter of Baebius Juncinus to the strategm,
wP, Oajt., 1408 I a. d, 210 -214), in which the prefect repeats an order to all the
magistrates, rmv ava^^rti(r\tv^ 7 rot^ara<rBai (L 13). To the letter is ap-
pended an edict which^ fulminates ^against those who shelter the robbers, 1. aaC.:
TO Tom Xf/OToiS* rmi* bmaarBaL 7ra[<n | <j)av€p6v , , . do-l]
{woSf^OjUlflW TToXXoi TpOTTOC ol pip yhp KOiPmvOVVTCS T&iP d^lKplptlTmP V7rO^€XOVTaij See, J
cp. Olp. c, vii 'de off. proconsulis ’ Dig., i. 18, 13 pr. (in almost the same
words) and Marc. Dig., 43. 13, 4, 2; O. Hirschfeld, 'Die Sicherheitspolizei Im
rdmischen ^ Kaiserreichf in Kkme Sckrifien, p. 593, note 4. It is worthy of .note ,
that a special river-police force (frorapo<l>vXaKla), 'v^ich first appears in the second
half of the 2nd cent., assumes ever-increasing proportions and importance in the
period of the Severi, see P. Fior. 91 ; P. 5. /., 734 (a.d. 218-222) ; cp. P. Gen., i,
and CIL., ii. 1970; U. Wilcken, Gnmdz., p. 392; Oertel, Liturgk, p. 272;
P. Meyer, Grkcmsche Texie am Aigypien, p. 160. The fact shows how unsafe was
the river and what a serious handicap this insecurity was to the sound economic
developnient of Egypt. Benefaction of Aurelius Horion to lighten the burden
of the inhabitants of some villages in the Oxyrhynchite nome, especially the
burden of frapa<j>vXaKr} (the obligation to act as guards, (j>vXaK€s, of various kinds) :
P. Oxyr., 705 ; U. Wilcken, ChresL, 407 (a. d. 202). In his request Horion says :
Kmpai Ttms tov papov « , , <T^[o]dpa i^tifTBivtpTav ivox^ovpevoi wo tcI)v Kar iros
X^iTovpymP TOV t€ rapetov Kal tt^s 7rapa[<^]ii{Xjaic^9 twv roTrmv, KivSvvevovcrt re r» p^p
japilcp irapaTToXecrBai, rt)v Si vp^ripap yiijv dy^dspyrirov KaraXmetP (1. 69 ff.).
JJapniropTri} {prosecuiio) of the troops and of military supplies, and the repara-
tion of roads: L G. R. P., iv. 1247 (Thyatira), a.d. 215; 1251 (ibid.), of the same
period; cp. Dig., 49. 18, 4, i (Ulp. 1. iv, de officio proconsuUs), where no im-
munity is to be granted to veterans in respect of the roads and the angariae.
In the first of the inscriptionsquoted above Julius Menelaus entertained Caracalla,
and was sent three times as ambassador to the emperors ; in the second C. Perelius
was sent to Caracalla rttpl In I. G. R. R,, iii. 714, one of the residents ot
Sura in Lycia repeatedly entertained the imperial officers.^ A series of inscriptions
of Prusias ad Hypium speaks of wapdirep^is a-rparfvpdtQiP in the time of Septimius,
Caracalla, and Elagabal, ibid., iii, 60 {Septimius), 62 {Septimius, Caracalla, and
Elagabal), 66 (Septimius and Caracalla), 68 (of the same period), and 1421, 1. 81
TrapaTTep^jrayra ra Upd crrpar€vpaTa TToXXdmf, PfOSeCUtio Ufinonae : ibid., iii, 407 (Pogla),
in or after the time of Caracalla ; cp. 409, L 8: itip'^apta dppoavav €ls rd ^AXe^avSpecop
iBpos and M. Rostovtzefi*, in Num, Chron,, 20, p. 96 ff. ; 1412, 1. 3 : dvv(ovapxT}ca[il |
Xeytwert a' Kai /S' SioSotf [im] Ulpa-as, cp. Ritterling in Pauly-Wissowa, xii, p. 1322 ;
1033, cp. Dittenberger, Or. gr. imer,, 640 (Palmyra, under Alexander Severus).
See also C. L G., 5465 (Acrae in Sicily) ; cp. /. G. R. R., i. 497, where a certain
Alfius Clodius is praised for his embassies to the emperor koI 7' Trapairopms, which
I am inclined to explain as /cat (rpls) wapoTropTr€{va-a)$. The management of the
supplies was generally entrusted to the most skilful and most loyal officers,
A. von Domaszewski, in Rh. Mus., 58 (1903), p. 218 ff. The exactions of the
imperial officers have already been spoken of, but some further facts may be
added. In one of the villages of Syria the visits of the soldiers became such a
nuisance that Julius Saturninus was obliged to protect the village by a special
letter, Dittenberger, Or. Gr. Inscr., 527 ; the inscription shows that the soldiers
were wont to take up their quarters in the houses of the provincials ; ^ cp. Cass.
Dio, 78. 3, 4 (Boiss., vol, iii, p. 405, of Caracalla’s Parthian war) : ^ a woV ovv^
Toiovrop ol fidp^apoi 6pS>pT€S ovra, Kai iKeipovs^ rtoTiXovs piv aKOvovres ca/aq e/c Si St)
T^sr Trporipn? rpv(f>^^: (rci t€ yap dXXa Kal iv olKiais ix^'*'P<t.iov, Travra ra rmv
PoSoKovyroup cr<l>ds a>s rat thia dpaXiorKovres) Kai ck novoop r/)? re raXaimopias rrjf
Tore avTOig napoverris ovreo Kal rd erSpara rerpoxiopipovs Kal rds xftvxdsr reraTreipwpevov^
ftiorre prjSip rmv Xrfppdrmp ert, a ttoXXo del nap avrov iXdp^avov, irponpap aiorBopepoi,
eTr^pBjjarap Kal orwaymPiards aurous* dXX’ ov TroXeplovs e^ovre^. The passage illustrates
the complete demoralization of ^racalla’s soldiers, who were accustomed to be-
have as if the province were a conquered land. The same attitude on the part
of the troops is attested by the episode related by Dio, 79. 4, 5 (Boiss., vol. iii,
p. 458) in speaking of the murder of M. Munatius Sulla Cerialis by Elagabal
6o8
Notes : Chapter IX
(a. D. 218/219) ; on m mrnv €#c air^wri^e rm£ ffTimnmms
KiXnmh otmh$ li^ra t))p ip BiBvvm ip § rtva vtrerdpa^ap inmvmv^ Ritterling in
Panlj-Wissowa, xii, p. 1323. Cp. Ch. VIII, note 5.
50. 5, 2, 8 (Ulp,, 1 . iii, Opimmmn): ^ qul piieros primas litteras
docent, immunitatem a cmlibns immeribus non habent: sed ne cni eoruoi id
qnod supra vires sit indicator, ad praesidis religionem pertinet sive m cmiaiibus
sim m^tms primas litteras magistri docent.’ . On the role of the village schools
in, Egypt see C. H. Oldfather, The Greek Literarj Texis from Greeo-Ropnan Egjfi
■(llmv, of Wisconsm Studies in Soc, Sc and History^ 9, 1923).
J. Carcopino, ‘Les castella de la plaine de Setif/ in Revue Afrkaine, No. 294,
1918 ; cp. Idem, in Rm. it. am., 25 (1923), p, 33 ff., in C. R. Acad. Ihscn, 1919, p. 386,
and in Syria^ 6 (1925), p, 30:£, esp. p. 52. Life on an estate situated on the
border of the desert is excellently illustrated ^ the sculptures on a funeral
monument of a local landowner at Ghirp^ in the Tripolitana, a few of which have
been published by H. Mdhier de Mathuisieulx in Nouv. arck.d. miss, sc., 12 (190^1),
p. 3if., pis. X and XL The type of husbandry recalls that which prevailed in
S. Russia (see our pis. XLV and XXXyi).^ An estate of the same sort, which
was owned by the father of St. Melania, is described by St. Augustine, ch* 46;
cp. F. Allard in Rev. d. Quest Hist, 81 (1907), p. 11, note 2. In a recent article
Carcopino has produced evidence which shows that the Severi did not confine
their policy to the region of Sitifis but extended it to the southern regions of
modern Algeria (Rev. arch,, QD (1924), p. 316 ff., esp. p. 324). He quotes numerous
inscriptions (partly unpublished) which speak of coloni and condmtores in these
areas and one (/. L. A., no. 9) which mentions a numerus coionorum at Si-Aoun
in Southern Tunisia at the beginning of the reign of Septimius.
On the new settlements and on the relations of the settlers to the land see
the evidence collected in my Studien Gesch. Kot, p. 383 ff. The land was either
granted to, or bought by, the new settlers, just as in Egypt at the same time ;
cp. note 52,
Scr. Hist Aug., AI. Sev., 58, 3: ‘ sola quae de hostibus capta sunt liniitaneis
ducibus et militibus donavit, ita ut eorum essent, si heredes eorum militarent,
nec umquam ad privates pertinerent, dicens attentius eos militaturos, si etiam
sua rnra defenderent addidit sane his et animalia et servos, ut possent colere,
quod acceperant, ne per inopiam hominum vel per senectutem possidentium
desererentur rura vicina barbariae, quod turpissimum ille ducebat.’ Cp. K. H 5 nn,
I. L, p. 103 ff., especially notes 207 and 208, and the military diploma, CIL., iii,
p. 2001 : ‘praeterea [liberis eonindem] decurionum et centurio[num qui cum
filis in] provmc(ia) ex se procreatis [milites ibi castelljani essent.’ The passage
from the Scr. Hist Aug. and the inscription illustrate one side of the policy of
the Severi—the transformation of the soldiers on the frontiers into peasants,
a phenomenon which we meet both in Africa (the burgi) and on the Rhine
and Danube limites (the burgi of the Danube and the castella of the Rhine),
cp. notes 50 and 51. The inscriptions of Africa quoted above reveal another
aspect of the same policy — the militarization of the peasants, the creation in
the border-lands of the provinces of groups of militarized peasants who should
defend themselves and their settlements, and at the same time furnish the troops
of the province with a large number of good and reliable soldiers devoted to
the emperor and to his house. In Africa and in Thrace, as well as in Egypt,
the chief importance was attached to these elements — the castellani seminaria
militum, as in Germany to the milites castellani, themselves soldiers and fathers
of future soldiers.
^ On Thrace see the inscription of Pizus, Dittenberger, SylH no. 880;
/. G. R. R., i, 766. There is no doubt that the iiMiropiov of Pizus, of which we
possess the charter, was one of a series of similar foundations planned and,
to a certain extent, established by Septimius during his stay on the Danube ;
see the beginning of the letter of Q. Sicinnius Clarus, appended to the charter
and to the list of residents in the new ifiTtoptov^ 1. i5fF. : rp rrpoo^ltei rSiv txraOpmv
Notes: Chapter IX 609
^or^€[j'] f)[l] Kvpioi peyitTTBi j Kai Bdoraroi atroKpdropes j bia Travros re rod eavrap
tSov\r}Bepr€s cV rr] avrfj €vnp€\7r€ta diapehm r^p avrSv | eirapxeiap, Trpoaera^ap rd
bp\ra euTTopia e7r>^cj>ap€cr7epa v7r[ap]|ai, Kal ra prj itporepov ovra y(P€<i6la]t' Kai yeyopev. The
term epndpiop meanSj of course, a market-place (the Latin fomm), which was
neither, a village nor a city. ^Epnopia are also a-raSpoi^ stationes^ in the military
sense of that word. The numerous fayours granted to the inhabitants of these
epitopuiy 1. 49!!'.: rovrenTiV | rsokeiriKOv treirov dv€i<r<j>opUip | koI ^ovpyapmp
Kal dpyap€iS>p dpeariPf show that the new settlers formed a privileged
class in the pro\unce. The only reason which I see for the grant of such
privileges was the military importance of the new centres of half-urban life thus
created. I feel no doubt, therefore, that the iprtopia of Thrace corresponded to
the casielia of Africa and were intended to provide the Empire with good soldiers,
who in their fortified towns should form the bulwarks of the Roman Empire
against the barbarians, and so play the part of the colonies of the old glorious
times of Rome. This view is confirmed by the fact that the new settlements
received no municipal organization, but were ruled by special presidents {ronapxoi
^ovXevrai) who received the right of jurisdiction by letter, in this respect re-
sembling the praefecii of the earlier Roman colonies in Italy ( 1 . 25 ff.). It is
evident that the burdens from which the new settlers were relieved pressed
the more heavily on the villages and the cities of the province. The ipnopia
were free from payments of municipal taxes *in kind, from conscription for the
various bodies of military and civil police — a burden which lay so heavily, for
instance, on the villages of Egypt — and from the obligation to furnish drivers
and draught cattle for the cursus publicus* On these privileges see M. RostovtzeH
in y. R, 5 ., 8 (1918), p. 29 ff. ; on the TroXemKos* crelrosy idem, Studien^ p. 302. The
ipnopia must not be confounded with the hurgi^ the small forts and towers on
the frontier, manned by special soldiers settled there and combined with special
corps of native cavalry used for the post-service — the veredarii. We find such
forts on the Danube, on the Rhine, and in Africa (/. R, 6\, L c.). In the charter
of Pizus it is stated explicitly that the inhabitants of the eprropia are not required
to perform the duties either of the burgarii or of the veredarii. The last effort
of the Roman Empire to urbanize the provinces and to create a new class of
privileged citizens was strikingly different from the efforts made by the en-
lightened monarchy. The emperors of the 3rd century recurred to the methods
of the Roman Republic and of the early Principate, and renewed, in modified
forms, the attempts to Romanize the Empire by means of military colonies.
Septimius and Alexander were the last emperors to send out real colonies to
already existing cities, e. g. to Uchi Majus and Vaga in Africa (A. Merlin and
L, Poinssot, Les inscriptions d^Uchi Majus, p. 21).
On Germany see E. Fabricius, in Hist, Zeitschr., 98 (2), 1907, p. 23 ff. ;
A. von Domaszewski, ‘Die Schutzgbtter von Mainz,’ m Abhandlungen zur
romischen Religion, 1909, p. 129 ff.; idem, ‘Die Juppitersaule in Mainz,’ ibid,,
p. 139 ff. ; E. Sadee in Bonn, Jahrb,, 1923, p. 109 ff. Cp. Ch. VI, note 44.
On the KoX^plm in Egypt, E. Kornemann in Rlio, ii (1911}, p. 390; U. Wilcken,
Grundz., p. 403; idem, ChresL, no. 461 ; J. Lesquier, Larmie romaine dX&gypte,
p. 328 ff. Note the parallel phenomenon in the civifates of Gaul in the ist cent. a. d.,
emphasized by Kornemann. The policy of Septimius, as I have said, was
mutatis mutandis a renewal of the policy of Sulla, Marius, Caesar, and Augustus,
Septimius indeed refrained from creating in this way any real urban centres ;
his measure was intended, not to promote the development of town-life in
the Empire, but to create apart from, or along with, the municipal elements
a new privileged aristocracy of military settlers, closely connected with the
members of the new dynasty and with its policy^ Yet, in the main, the purpose
of the colonies of Sulla, Marius, Caesar, and Augustus was the same. In this
connexion I may emphasize the fact that Septimius, during his stay in
Alexandria (a. d. 199-200), closely studied the economic situation of the country,
and started afresh the policy of reclaiming temporarily unproductive land by
distributing it and selling it to the soldiers and by revising the conditions
on which crown-land was leased to the large and small tenants. The confisca-
2354.2 R r
6io Notes : Chapter IX
tions of which we have previously spoken- mm have increased Ihe area of the
estates directly owned by the einperors in Egypt. It was probably for this
purpose, and to check the influence of the prefect of Egypt, that Septiinius
created the new post of financial manager of the Egyptian land, the or
raiiomlis^ to whom he granted the title of vir perfeciissimus or hmiuthmrm...
The first mGoXmm of Egypt, Claudius Julianus (from a. d. 202), had been prmfecim
emtonm in 201 and therefore was w^ell acquainted with the resources and tlie
administration of the country. See P. Giess.^ 48; W, Zucker in Siisb, Beri,
Akad., 1910, p. 713; A. Stemin^nrA/ PapyK, 5(1913), p. 418; U, Wilcken,
Grimdz,^ p. 157. Cp. Ch. VIII, note 37. I shall return to this policy of Septimius
in dealing with certain documents of a similar kind belonging to the time of
Philip ; see Ch. XI, note 57. It is striking that in both series of documents the
mBdkims appears in association with his assistant, a Roman procurator. In the
reigns of Septimius and Julianus the holder of this office was Claudius Diognetes,
who acted on behalf of Julianus and appears in documents which deal with the
uninundated land, both private and imperial, P. HamL^ ii, cp. 12, intr. On the
land sold to private proprietors, mostly soldiers or veterans, see Ch. V!I, note 44.
On the uninundated land, W. L. Westermann, in Ckss, PhlL, 16 (1921 1, p. 169 ff.
Westermann has made it very probable that, by taxing the uninundated land
highly, the Roman emperors intended to force the owners and the tenants of
the land to irrigate it artificially and not let it unsown. This policy may have
been started at an early date and may already have been employed by the
late Ptolemies. But it was not till the second half of the 2nd cent. a. d. that it
was vigorously pursued, as is shown by the extant declarations of iininiindated
land (see Ch. Vll, note 47), which all belong to the second half of the 2nd cent,
and to the 3rd, and in every case mention special orders of the prefects (or, after
Septimius, of the KaBokiKh^)* These orders made such a declaration obligatory
and were certainly a novelty. This category of land was the bHe noire of the
Egyptian peasants, who were accustomed to easy work on flooded land, and
it is very probable that one of the chief duties of the new official appointed
by Septimius was to find cultivators who should be willing to invest money
and labour in it. Such cultivators were to be found among the soldiers and
the veterans of the Roman army, who were enriched by the emperors of the
3rd cent, at the expense of the rest of the population. Have we not here
the same principle which so clearly marks the policy of the Ptolemies in regard
to the dry and uninundated land ? See W. L. Westermann in C/ass, PM., 17 (1922),
p. 21 ff., and M. Rostovtzeff, A Large Estate^ 1922, The difference was that the
land put under cultivation by the Ptolemies was virgin land, while the Roman
emperors endeavoured to reclaim waste and abandoned areas which had been
under cultivation before. Finally may be mentioned a fact already alluded to in
note 17. It is interesting to observe that many inhabited places in Mesopotamia—
some of them cities, some in all probability mere fortified villages — received the
title of colony at the end of the 2nd cent and in the 3rd. These cities included
Doura (Europos). It is very probable that the grant of the title was connected
with the settlement of Roman veterans in those places, and that the Severi
pursued the same policy in Mesopotamia as in all the border lands of the Empire.
See F. Cumont in 5 ym, 5 (1924), p. 346ff.
See Ch. VI, note 52.
Cass. Dio, 78. 6, i (Boiss., vol. iii, p, 708) ; Herod., iv. 7, 3.
See Ch. VII, note 71, especially the inscription of Thuburnica : * C. Herennius
M. f. Quir. Festus veteranus leg, x Fretensis honesta missione diniissus, praefecius
tironum in Mauretania, praef[ec]tus iuventutis, iivir bis.^ Evidently there was
an intimate connexion between the recruitment of soldiers and the associations
of young men. Compare also the emphasis laid by the Severi on the inventus
imperii on their coins (H. Cohen, Monn, imp., Caracalla, no. 115 f. ; 405 ff. ; 411 f. ;
Geta, 217 f.). Caracalla and Geta, like Gaius and Lucius in the reign of Augustus,
were honorary presidents of the new armed youth of the Empire. The close
relation between the ideas of Augustus and those of Septimius and the difference
in the conditions are equally striking.
6ii
Notes : Chapter IX
On the aumni coronarimn^ see J. G, Milne, History of Egypt ^ 1898, p. 228 ff. ;
U. Wiicken, *Zu“den Edikten/ in Zeifschr, d, Sav.-St. f Rec/tisg,, 42 (1921),
p. 150 ft'.; B.’ Grenfell and A. Hunt, P. 0:(yK, 1441 (a, d. 197-200), intr., and 1659,
an account of the sums paid as crretfiavtKov by the nome of Oxyrhynchus under
Elagabai (a.d. 218-221); P, Meyer in P, liamb.y 80, 81 intr. ; P. S. 733
(Alexander), and P. O.tjr., 1433 (Pupienus, Balbinus, and Gordianus). Mentions
of the a-T€<paptmy are remarkably rare in the Egyptian papyri of the ist and the
early 2nd cent. a. d., while they become frequent in the period of M. Aurelius,
Commodus, and the Severi, especially under and after Elagabai, when the crown
gold becomes a regular tax. However, even in this period and still more later,
supplementary and extraordinary taxes under the same name were a common
feature. The careful investigation of P. Fay,, no. 20, by U. Wilcken, 1 . L, shows
that we must date this papyrus — an imperial edict on the partial remission of
the aurum coronarium—to the reign of Alexander Severus ; cp. J. Bidez and
F. Cmnont, Imp. Caesaris Fiavii Ciaudii Juliani Epistolae, Leges, &c., 1922, p. 83,
no. 72 (where the article of Wilcken is overlooked and the edict is still ascribed
to the Emperor Julian) ; C Barbagallo in Aegyptits, i (1920), p. 348 f., and Ensslin
in KMo, 18 (1918), p. 128 ff. Wilcken has pointed out how characteristic this
edict is of the ideas and ideals that marked Alexander’s rule and of its liberal
tendencies. The more striking was the contrast aftbrded by the brutal reality.
Against the the benevolence and the economy, of the court of
Alexander there was ranged the stubborn force of the imperial troops deter-
mined to insist upon their desires. Reduction of taxes : Scr. Hist. Aug., AI. Sev.,
39,6, a passage not mentioned by K. Hdnn. The statement is, of course, very
general and the amount of the reduction is probably exaggerated, but I feel
certain that the statement is based on real facts. In 40, 2, the biographer speaks
of subsidies granted to landowners to improve their position : the object of
making grants of live stock, of agricultural implements, and of slaves was
to keep the agricultural concerns of the landowners going (cp. the passage of
Maecenas’ speech quoted in note 43). The measure was in the spirit ot the
enlightened monarchy, and the means adopted reflected the bad state of the
imperial treasury. Help for the cities: ibid., 21, 2. It took the form, not of
subsidies, but only of permission to use the local vectigalia for the improvement
of the towns.
A. W, Persson, Staat imd Manufaktur im romischen Reiche, 1923, p. 38 ff.
I cannot believe that the statements of the Scr. Hist. Aug. referring to these
measures are mere forgeries. They represent a natural advance along the
path which had been traced by the emperors of the 2nd cent. The remission
of the tax on merchants and the introduction of a tax on production were local
measures intended only for the city of Rome. Of the same kind were the
later measures of Aurelian connected with the anaboUcum of Egypt; cp.
A, W. Persson, L L, p. 35 f. The anaboUcum as a special tax is, no doubt, earlier
than the time of Aurelian, as is shown by the leaden seals (from the time of
Septimius onwards) found at Lyons and investigated and published by myself
(in Rom. Miith., ii (1896), p. 317 ff. ; Woch. kl. Phil., 1900, p. 11:5; Etude sur les
plombs, &c., 1900, Ch. I; P. Dissard, Coll. RScamier, p. iff,, no. 1-3) and by the
many mentions of this tax in the papyri of the early 3rd cent. (Reil, Beitrdge, &c.,
pp. 9 and 17, note 7; W. Zucker in Philol., 70 (1911), p. 100; Jouguet, P. Thead., 34,
25, p. 184 ; P. S. L, 779). Persson explains anabolicae species as * Stapelwaren ’
in contrast to the annonariae species (year’s goods). I am inclined to think that
anabolicae species are the ‘ species subject to the anaboUcum ’ and to explain anabo-
licum as a special tax in kind or a delivery of goods of which the manufacture
in the Ptolemaic period was monopolized by the state (flax, hemp, glass, papyrus).
"Kva^aWuv, from which dva^oXiKOP is derived, probably means, as a terminus
technicus of taxation, to ‘ deal out i. e. to deal out a portion of a certain kind
of goods for export to Rome and to the other capitals of the Empire, the portion
which was ' dealt out ’ being a new additional or an old reformed payment imposed
on the producers of raw material (e.g. flax and hemp) and on the manufacturers
(glass, papyrus). At Rome the produce of the tax was used for the population
Rr2
6 i 2 Notes : Chapter IX
of the capital and for the praetorians, at Lyons for the needs of the Rhine army.
To ascertain extent amboMmm was similar to the amtoma, inasmuch as it
meant the transformation of payments in. money Into payments in kind or, better,
the. addition of p.aymeiits in kind to the regular payments m^hich were effected in
money. Since the mab-oMcum as a special tax is first mentioned in the reign
ofSeptimius, it may have been introduced by him, or by the last Antonines,
under the pressure of financial difficulties. Alexander resumed a practice
which had existed before him. The measures concerning the corporations may
have had a more general application, though the tenor of the passage in the
biography {Al Sev., 33) again suggests a local measure. The decisive step
towards nationalizing some of the corporations, alike in Rome and throughout
the Empire, was not taken before Aurelian; see E. Groag, ‘Collegien und
Zwangsgenossenschaften im dritten Jahrhundert,* in Vierteljahresschr, f, Soc, mid
Wirtschaftsg,, 2 {1904), p. 491 if. How far the state advanced towards replacing
money economy by natural economy, is difficult to sa3^ Most of the passages
in the biography of Alexander and in those of his successors which refer to
natural economy are late forgeries.
^ On robbery at sea, see the inscriptions of P. Sallustius Sempronius Victor,
a contemporary of Alexander Severus {Pros. imp. Rom., iii, p. 160, no. 69; Pauly-
Wissowa, Zw. R. , i (1920), p. 1958}. In his reign he held an extraordinary command
described as rrjS cttI Tvacrav 6dKa(T(Tav rjyrjcrcifxepos dpTjvijs e^ovcrias (Tidr^pov. Another
prominent man of the same period, C. Siilgius L. f. Pap. Caecilianus, began his
career as one of the body-guards of the emperor {opfio peregrinonan) and in-
structor of the secret military police {exerciiaior militum frumcniarioruni). Later,
he was promoted to the command of the division of the fleet which was left
at Misenum to protect Italy, with the duty of transporting the emperor’s baggage
and of providing supplies for his court during imperial journeys: ‘praepositus
reliquationi classis praetoriae Misennatiura piae vindicis et thensauris domim(cis e)t
bastagis copiarum devehendarum,* Dessau, /. L. 5 ., 2764 ; A. von Domaszewski
in Rh. Mus., 58 (1903), p. 782 ff. On the fugitives and the measures taken against
them, Dig., ii, 4, i, 12 (a. d. 228, Ulp., 1 . i, ad edicium)*, cp. analogous measures
under M. Aurelius, Dig., ii, 4, 3 ; ii, 4, i, i. How deeply rooted was the s^^stem
of spies and how intolerable they were to the people may be gathered from the
description of their activity in the famous speech of Maecenas, see Dio, 52, 37, 2 ff. ;
KCLi iiT€ibr} ye dvayKawv itrn Koi ^la ravra kcu 8id r^XXa Koi doTaKOvcrrciv rivas Kai diOTrrevup
Tidvra rd rij fjyepovia (tov npoa^KOVTa, ha tS>v (pvXaK^s nvos Kal
dyvorj^, /xepi^ijcro on ov XP^ rracrip dirXSiS tols XeyopeVoi? vtt avrSiv in<mv€iv, ciXX* axpificos
avra biao-KOirelv. (rvxvol yap, oi ph pxcrovvres Tivas, of S’ irrtdvpovpres itp exovaip, akXot
Xapi^opepol Tiaiv, aXXot ;^p?ipaTa atr^craKrA rtva^ Kal pr) Xa^irr^s, €7rrip€d(ovaiv airrovs to?
V€<OT€pi(ovTas r) Kal dWo ri dvemrrjdHOP Kara rod avrapxovPTos 77 <j)popovvra9 h Xeyopras.
ovKovp €v 6 vs ouSe pabi&s 7rpoor€)(€iP airoh Bei, aXXa Kal Trdpv duXcyx^f-v, cp. Ch. X, note 23.
On the general situation of the Roman Empire see Cyprianus, ad Demetriamim, 3
{Corp. Scr. EccL, vol. iii, i, p. 352 f., ed. H artel) : ‘hoc etiam nobis tacentibus
.... mundus ipse iam loquitur et occasum sui rerum labentium probatione
testatur. non hieme nutriendis seminibus tanta imbrium copia est, non frugibus
aestate torrendis solita flagrantia est nec sic verna de temperie sua laeta sunt nec
adeo arboreis fetibus autumna fecunda sunt, minus de ecfossis et fatigatis monti-
bus eruuntur marmorum crustae, minus argenti et auri opus suggerunt exhausta
iam metalla et pauperes venae breviantur in dies singulas et decrescit ac deficit
in arvis agricola, in mari nauta, miles in castris, innocentia in foro, iustitia in
iudicio, in amicitiis concordia, in artibus peritia, in moribus disciplina/
Notes : Chapter X
. 613
X. The Military Anarchy.
^ On EiitmpiuSy Aurelius Victor, and the Epitome de Caesaribus see A. Enmann,
111 PMloL^ SuppL 4, p. 337 ff.; cp. E. Hohl in Klio^ 11 (1911),. p. 187, On' the
Byzantine Chronicles and Eunaplus, F. Grabner in ByzaitL ZeUschr.^ 14 (1905),
p. 87 ff. ; cp. E. Hohl, L I., p. 191.
® It is Impossible to give here a full bibliography of the much vexed question
of the Scripions Hisioriae Augustae, It must suffice to quote the two articles of
H. Dessau in Hermes, 24 {18^), p. 337 If., and 27 (1892), p. 561 ff., cp. his last con-
tribution mjamts^ i (1921), p. 124!’., and the excellent recent surveys of Diehl
in Pauly- Wissowa, viii, p. 2051 ff., of E. Kornemann in Gercke and Norden,
Emkiiung in dk AUertumsw., voL ill, 2nd ed. 1914, p. 255 ff., and of A. Rosenberg,
Einleiiimg tmd Quellenhmde zur r&mischen Geschichie, 1921, p. 231 ff. Cp. also the
reports of E, Hohl in Bursian’s Jakresberichie, 171 (1915) and 200 (1924), p. 165 ff.
Hohl is a warm partisan of Dessau and violently attacks the latest work of v.
Domaszewski and some of his pupils. In no field of ancient history is so much
animosity displayed in the discussion of scientific problems as in the investiga-
tion of the Scr, Hist Aug, Hohl’s reports are one of many examples. The
theory of A. von Domaszewski is briefly summarized in his paper ‘Die Topo-
graphic Roms bei den Scriptores Historiae Augustae,’ in Sitzb, Heid, Abad.f 1916,
7, p. 4 ff., and is stated more fully, and with important modifications based on some
rather fantastic suggestions, in ‘ Die Personennamen bei den Scr. Hist. Aug.,’
ibid., 1918, 13, cp. also ‘ Der Staat bei den Scr. Hist. Aug.,’ ibid., 1920, 6. O. Seeck's
theory has been recently emphasized again in his Geschichte des Untergangs der
ant fVelt, vi (1920), p. 33 ff and 309 f, J. Geffc ken’s point of view is stated in
Hermes, 5^(1920), p. 279ff. ; cp. E. Hohl, ibid., p. 296 ff., and in 12 (1912),
p. 474 fif. The more conservative standpoint is represented by Ch. Lecrivam in
his volume, P fades sur Ckisioire Augasie, 1904, by Diehl, op. cit, and more recently
by W. Soitau, ‘ Die echten Kaiser- biographien,’ in Philot, 74 (28), 1917, p. 384!!.
Cp. the monographs on the emperors of the 3rd cent, quotea in Ch. IX and in the
following notes.
^ The best general surveys of the history of the 3rd cent. a. d. are those
of A. von Domaszewski, Geschichte der romischen Kaiser, vol. ii, p. 284 ff., and
H, Stuart Jones, The Rotnan Empire, p. 279 ff. The constitutional history is
given by O. Th. Schulz, Vom Prinzipai zum Dominai, 1919. On the social and
economic crisis cp. my article in Musie Beige, 27 (1923), p. 233 ff.
^ On the period after Alexander Severus and on the reigns of Maximinus,
Pupienus, Balbinus, and Gordian III, see O. Seeck, ‘ Der erste Barbar auf dem
rdmischen Kaiserthron,* in Preuss, Jahrb,, 56 (1885) ; cp. idem, Die Eniwicklung
der romischen Geschichtsschreibungundandere populdre Sckriften, 1898; A. Sommer,
Die Ereignisse des Jahres 2^8 n. Chr., Progr. Gymnasium Aug. zu Gorlitz, 1888 ;
K. F. Vv. Lehmann, Kaiser Gordian III, 2^8-244 n, Chr,, igii ; L. Homo, ‘La
grande crise de Fan 238 apres J, Chr. et le probleme de I’Histoire Auguste,’
in Rezt. Hist, 131 (1919), p. 209 ff., and 132 (1919), p. iff.; E. Hohl in Pauly-
Wissowa, X (1919), p. 852 ff.
® On Philip see E. Stein in Pauly-Wissowa, x (1919), p. 755 ff. On his brother,
C. Julius I^nscns, praefecfus of Mesopotamia and afterwards rector Orientis and prae-
fectus praetorio, cp. idem, ibid., p. 781 ff., and E. Groag in Wiener St, 40 (1918),
p. 20 ff.
^ On Decius, G. Costa in E. de Ruggiero’s Diz, Epigr., ii (1910), p. I486ff.
^ On Valerianus and Gallienus, see R. Paribeni in de Ruggiero s Diz. Epigr,, iii
(i9Q5)> P- 425 ff.; A. von Domaszewski in Bonn. Jahrb., 117 (1908), p. 196;
Notes : Chapter X
614 .
T TT rial!i(*n et la crisc de l*einpire roniain, in Uist.^
L. Homo, ^„^'Q£®%ome imoortant inscriptions and coins connected with the
113 (1913). P. 248 ft- Some im^ in the time of Gallienus are dealt with
history o Geschichte der Provinz Dacien,’ in Strena BuMiana,
k. V.lic 'rX ilge. (.!«), p. - 53 ir.; A. Blanche,- .b.A,
P-i 69 ff- ,T.- , • t.
* On the ‘thirty tyrants’ of the time of Gallieims, H. Peter, Die rSimschen
PoltumTsTnd^^the'^w^cSr^ iv,^l 57 ? ft-
p faiff • cp iiS, Grsl. d. rom. Kais., vol. ii, p. 303- Hercules, the god of
Bredilectioii, is not the German Donar but the of the Antonmes,
who and protects the Roman Empire The same
rpvereifce was paid to Hercules, for example, by the Bosporan king Sauromates I
the contemporarv of Commodes, Septimius, and Caracalla, and m the same spirit :
see M Rostovtze^ in Sirem Buliitana^ 1924, p. 73^ Genuine separatist tendencies,
associated with a revival of Oriental nationalism, were shown e
nf Palmvra On the Palmyrene dynasty, see note 10. Un Aemiiianus see
1 Grafton Milne in Journ, of Egypt* Ardu^ 10 (1^4), p. Soft. Milne has shown
thaf lemilianus end 4 voured at first, like Odaen^hos in Syria and like Vaiens
and Kso after him in Greece, to save Egypt for Gf}>enus ^hfoi bv
by the troops to declare himself emperor, an act which led to his deposition bj
Gallienus.
s M. Ancona, Claudio II e gli usurpaiori, 1901 ; L. Homo, De Claudio Cothico
Romanorum impemiore, 1904.
L. Homo, Essm sur k rigne de Pempereur Aurihefty 1904 ; E. Groag in Pauly-
Wissowa, V, p. 1347 ff*
E. Hohl, Vopiscus und die Biographie des Kaisers TaciiuSy 1911 (also in A//o,
11,1911). Cp.i^.A.,iii, no. 20.
E DannhSiiser, Untersudmngen zur Geschkhk des Kaisers Probm^ 1909;
T H. E. Crees, The Reign of the Emperor Probus, 1911. On ‘he senou^var m
Africa, comparable with the war of Gallienus against taraxen, I. L. A., 609, 610,
L. Chatelain, C. R. Acad. Inscr., 1919, p. 352-
P. Bianchi, Siudi suU’ imperatore M. Aurelia Caro, Voghera, 1911.
“ On Carinus, Henze in Pauly-Wissowa, ii, p. 2455 ; D. Vaglieri in de Rug-
giero, Dig. Epigr., ii, p. 125.
The speech Els Saa-iXea was incorporated in the collection of the orations of
Aelius Arild^s (no. 9 Dindorf, no. 35 B. Keil), and was for a long time believed
to have been delivered by this sophist. B. Keil was the first to recognize that
Aristides could not possibly have been the author of the speech, and proved this
in the most convincing way (see ‘Eine Kaiserrede’ in Gott.
p. q8i ff.). He suggested that Macrinus is the emperor addreped m the speetn,
aiid was supported by I. Turzevich in Bulletin of the HisEPhd. Institute of
Zfv 49 ff (in Russian). In Philol., 19 (1906), P- 344 ff-. A. von Domaszewski
rejected this identification and proposed Gallienus. 1 he real solution has recen y
been given by E. Groag in Wiener St, 40 (1918), p. It is evident that the
emperor is Philip. Possibly the author of the speech was Nicagoras, the great
Athenian sophist of this period.
O. Th. Schulz, Vom Prinzipat zum Dominat, p. 51 ff., insists on fact that
Maximinus did not seek recognition by the senate ; cp., however, O. See^ m
Preuss. Jahrb., 56 (1885), p. 267 ff., and E. Hc 4 il m Pauly-Wissowa, x, p. 852 ff.
u Herod, yii. 3. 1 ; ri yap qr &(Pe\a<t ^ap^pav ivaipavpivap, nXeiSvav yevoiievav (povav
iv avTij re ’Papg Ka'i rols un-i)KootE eBpetnv ; ^ XeW &tiyav rmvJx^pav, yvpvovvra Kai ras ovcaas
No tes : Chapter X
615
a6ai0om(vov rav mKfliiv ■, Scr. HisL Aug„ Max.; 8, 7: audiebant enim alios m
crucenTsublatos, alios animalibus nuper occisis indues, alios fens obiectos, alios
fustibus eiisos; atqiie omnia haec sine dilectu dignitatis ; cp. Herod., vii. 3. i.
« Ps -Aristid,, ^mCKia, § 7-9 (57) : yap ijtTa TroUfMVKm 7roU«i»
(lahXOo/tk ra may para, iroUovr ph rS>v iv ra^u moKfsavrcs, jroXXoir Se a^marav
avp^p&» airm yfy-i^rrer, Ure no\Us pk iptjpmenrm jroXets otijkoom, TroUr^i; 8e
dSXmov ffXncrra 8t draX<B%ai CTBfMrn. Cp. § II { 58 - 9 ) = ,'tT
rtlawp oiSk Itt <TKvepm ^&0 oASe ipipijaaro, o’M dftX^ ro^ oMu, oM mawep
.IXXofrSv npb mVou ,S<i(nX(W rar iv teXh riras cjrt^ouXfuctv avroir aiTLnaaptvoi
Toit pk 0 > 7 dt, Tois Si damiroLS iinpioxrar, oMv rovnav emmoiV.
'* CIL; viii, 2170; Dessau, /. L. S., 8499.
“ Scr. Hist. Aug., Max., 9, 6; Herod., vii, i.
=> Herod., vii. 3. 3 ff- 5 <=P- -Zosim., i, 13-
S dolialiom Ld foundations are nSt Lted, so that it is impossiWe to trace the
evolution in the 3rd cent. ^
•^5 Ps - Aristid. Els ^oiKia, § 21 (62) : rd mpl Sucawaivrp roaavra,
» Ps..Ari.,id.. E.V
alrov 6mari>tuea. Tr,s yap crvvTa$^<os k j, < J^traakay piy r&y
Kal (popay imrax^iyr'ov irXeiOpav 'XWor cf>6^ov, oi ToC likeloyos iSafir]
Z iyiy.ro L'pyf.r.<d iLoo<p..y, oi p6yoy S.ad-
rnrof, dxL Kal <#..Xop« ^ drarof ^,.cr.X^W rt.pi ravra y.y6p.yos.
25
ttoXKols
6 d' OVTOOS
^ipoop airdi^
UAMl Kill * * » fit '
Sra.s jaL 7 iKpir,,a. Ka\ KararrijaaTO ^f'^ZyZyZurXuNXsMpiyo,^^
pivav alrois, xdK.TT^v Si xai ^o^epap < pi} ^ Jq-q- Siov rois piy arpaTuaTas
Zols, oix Snm imiiiria. rbs irrdvpcas avTO,p, Xl. r/xap^ip.'p oirois
npbs rovs alnocs avvi/>, rro.ijaasi oM iy i,Sv,Ta8Aa
fucrat TtMatX^O) ’ >ha> I!L anSiva Kaipbp (fovaip imBvplas Tfjs TOtawijs. tooto
Zit:X7^ iwS " f*Wr, « r5t .SroS-r
rav Si xpni^r-av ^e^aioripav eiroiTi<re Trjv icpoaobov.
» The mood <>f 5 =
SA apxi* ^rr.piv p.ya\f X«r;„\ ’L^ToV' .V Spxak Kal
diio(p€popiyris npos torxara yns, ou Kai np P _,AXais Kal yaX«jrots mropiais ivToxopres
^amXeiaij ytwpeWvK'weira aairtp^^ . pn Svyri6iyTes, T<nTa
TeXturaKTf r avrovs artemov, nrnhahlv refers both to the time before
SpSiv, kt\. This rhetorical digression GorSan III. We know very
the senatorial restoration and, to ‘^e r^ j. father-in-law
little about the policy of this of Maximin. I am
Timesitheus, one of the most faithf followed the policy of his former
inclinedtothink with von Dom^^^Ym^diate Philip’s pie re-
master rather than that ™ tion of the methods of Maximin; see
presented a reaction agmnst the , P s 218 flf.
A. von Domaszewski m Rh. Mus., 58 (1903), p, 210
5 i 6 . Notes : ChctpiiT X
A. von Domaszewski in /?/i. 58 (1903),. p. 2:^*
^ Herod., viL :4. 2fF., especially icm mmUrmvs nvas rm vmp imlvois^ €v y«jGPuTi 0 v
(cat w'kovaimv Karndmats mpifkiXmp uawparrew ra vpn para €v0€ms mtipampvaTp^p re
ml jrpoyGpmmp oiartmp mrom a<l>ttipHiT 0 ai» Cp. Scf* titsL Gord. Tres, 7f 4*
qiiidam Maiiricios nojume, polens apiid Afros deciirio,iDxtaThysdroni nobilissima
posthac oratione apud plebem et larbanam et rasticaiiam in agro sno velut con-
tionabundus, est lociitiis,’ Maoricins as well as his speech may be an Invention,
but the standing given to him shows that the biographer was well aware to
whom the revolution in Africa ’was due.
: Herod., vii, 6. 2 (Gordian at Carthage) : umro di avra miaa ^ nopai}^ rm
pep aTparmrmp otrms ^cruv iK€t^ Ka\ t^p mra r^p noKiP mipfiK€(Tr€pit>p veavlaKmp eV a'xhpari
rmv Kara T^v *F&pYiv Bopv(j> 6 pmP frpatoprcGp, Idem, vii. 9. 5 : ywipiyt}^ €rvp^o\f}i: ol pip
Kapx^dopmi wXfiovs araKTOt Bi ml TToXtpiK&p €pymp dtral^^vToi arf ip ^ip^PH
0 a 0 €ia TtBpappipot ioprais T€ Kai Tpvtpms crxoXd{^opT€ff mi, yvppol re o 7 iXci>p ml opymmp
TTo'kepmmp* ematos dc iwetpipero Gtmuev ^ ^i^iBiov 1} iriXemp dopdria re Ik Kmriyeamp.
There is no doubt that this description excludes the peasants, and points to the
lower, and still more to the higher, classes of the cit^^ population. Cp. our
pi. LvL The promises of Gordian, which attracted soldiers to his arm^^, are
described by Herod., vii. 6. 4: avKoefyavras n irtipras (pvyahevtav Kai naXw^iKtap Biakovs rots
dbiKm KarnKpideim, They meant the end of the system of spies and the restoration
of confiscated property.
Herod., vii. 10: KaireXktnPos is Kapx^^itPii elcreXBuiP mwras re roijs w pmr ivGPvas
direKreipe, et rtves ml iai>drj(ray iK t^s pAxtjS} icpietdero re ovre ttpS>p arvXriaem aSre
IhoariKSip re ml brjpoo'imp &p7raytjs' iamp re 7 as Xotwas rroXeis ocrai riis Ma'^tplvov
npas m6r}pr](C€(raPf rovs pip e|€;^OFraff ic^ovevef rovs hi hrjporas i(j>py(ihivePf dypovs
re Kat icSpas ipwiTTpapai XeTfXareiy re rots a-rparmTats iirirpeTre. This was a regular
persecution of the propertied classes, and particularly the class of large land^
owners.
My point of view agrees with that of Herodian, and is based on facts
which he reports. In vii. 12. I, he says a-rparriyai re ohp mreXeyopro etc re wdtrtis
*lTaXias XoydheSj ^ re peoXam irrdcra i)$pol^€TO, orrXots re auroax^htois Kal rots TTpocrrvx^^^^
mfrXiCera. Italy, as we know, was thoroughly urbanized, and the greater part
of her population was a city population. Besides, she still remembered the
days of her siipremacjq and she was naturally angry with a Thracian bar-
barian and his barbarian soldiers. Compare the story of the fight put up b}’
the people of Rome against the new praetorians, who used this opportunity
to pillage the rich, Herod., vii. 12. 7. On Emona, idem, viii. i, 4. On the
attitude of the people of Italy after the victory of the senate, see idem, viii, 7. 2 :
at re dno ’iTaXtas aoXets 7rpear0elas eTreprrop rayp TTpcdrevoproop rrap avrois dvhpoiiP o! XeajSfft/to-
VQVPres Kat ha(j>vr)<f)6pOL 6€a>p TrarpicGV eKaarot TTpoareKopt^op dydXpara Kal ei rtpes yjaav
errietyapoL xp^o-ov i^ dvadijpdrayp. Very different was the mood of the soldiers,
ot nXitaroi yhp axnr<i>p riyavaKrovv Kal XapBavopreos ^yovp top pip vtt avrSyp iTtCkexBevra
0a(nXea KaSrjprjpepop, Kparovvras hi rovs vtto avyKX^rov yjpr^fjLepovs (idem, viii, 7. 3,
cp. 8. i). I see no reason to assume that the report of Herodian is biased.
He was not a senator and had no reason whatever to rejoice in the victor}’’
of the senate, if it were a victory of the senate alone; but in fact it was
a victory of the educated classes, and Herodian represents the standpoint
and the ideals of the majority of those classes. I do not doubt that Maximin
was an honest man and an able general. But his aim was to destroy the main
fabric of the Roman state, as based on the cities. No wonder that he was
hated by those who saw in such destruction the fall of ancient civilization
as a whole— which indeed it really was. How could they believe in the necessity
of it, if even modern scholars are not all convinced that it was necessary to crush
the educated classes in order to bring about an alleged equality that was never
achieved? These considerations are to be' set against the attempt of E. Hohl
(in Pauly-Wissowa, x, p. 852 ff.) to ‘save the hidmory ’ of Maximin.
Ch. IX, note 56. - J .• . i.
Above, note 26,
On bis attitude towards the senate see E. Groag in Wiener St^ 40 (1918),
p* 38, On •the' foundation of new colonies, which was one of the last attempts
to urbanize the Empire, E. Stein in Pauly-Wissowa, x, p. 760; W. Kubitschek,
‘ Zur Gfeschichte von StMten des r5m. Kaiserrekhes,^ in S/M. Wien, Akad,,, 177
(1916), a 3fr. ; E. Groag, L I, p. 35. On Decks, J. R. Kniping, ‘The Libelli
of the I)ecian Persecution,’ in Harvard Theological Review, 16 (1923), p. 352;
cp, L. Homo, ‘La disparition des privileges administratifs do senat romain/
in Rev, Hisi,, (ig2i), p. 162K ,
See the careful dissertation of C. W. Keyes, The Rise of the Equites in the
third century of the Roman Empire, 1915; cp. M. Rosenberg iii Hermes, 55 (1920),
p. 319!!'., and L. Homo in Rev, Hist, 137 (1921), p. 162 £, and 138 (1921), p. iff.
rionio, disregarding the evidence adduced by Keyes (whose dissertation he has
not seen), states that even under Gallienus and after Gallienus some provinces
were ruled by members of the senate. It is clear that the elimination of the
senate from the provinces was effected by individual appointments, not by
a genera! measure. Homo has done valuable work in analysing the equestrian
cursiis honortmi in the time of Gallienus, and showing how thoroughly military
it was. ‘ Le ciirsus equestre nouveau exclut tout emploi civil ; il est strictement
militaire et, par les grades de sous-oflficier, de centurion, de tribun, dventuelle-
ment de “ dux ducenarius”, conduit le simple soldat des rangs les plus humbles
de la milice jusqu’aux gouvernements des provinces V Hist., 138, p. 19).
His conclusions are naturally based on the collection and investigation of the
epigraphkal material in the brilliant study of A. von Domaszewski, ‘ Die Rang-
ordnung des rSmischen Heeres,' in Bonn. Jahrk, 117 (1908), p. iff. With the
control of the provinces the senate lost also its financial functions, and the
aemrium Saiumi gradually became the municipal treasury of the city of Rome.
The religious beliefs of the army of the Danube in the 3rd cent, are illus-
trated by many hundreds of little icones found only in the Danubian lands, which
were either votive offerings or amulets of the soldiers. These tablets (made of
stone or lead) show a curious mixture of solar monotheism and of the worship
of a triad of divinities, half-Thracian, half-Persian, 4^ith some admixture of the
religious beliefs of Asia Minor. The triad consists of two gods on horseback
(a syncretism of Mithras and the Thracian heroes) and the Great Mother.
The mystic character of this worship is illustrated by some scenes representing
the various ceremonies of the cult. Most of them are identical with mystic
performances in the cult of Mithras. See my article ‘Une tablette votive
thraco-mithriaqiie du Louvre’ in M^moires des savants Grangers de PAcademie
des Inscriptions, xiii (^24), p. 167 ff.; cp. G. Kazarow in Jahrb., 37 (1922),
Arch. Anz., p. 184 ff. The cult of Mithras played a great part in the religious
life of the Danube provinces. Sanctuaries of the god appear in almost every
fort occupied by Roman troops there. The best known are the three or four
Mithraea of Carnuntum (Fuhrer durch Carnuntum, ed. 6, 1923, p. 52 ff.) and the
recently discovered Milhraeum of Poetovio, which was flourishing in the time
of Gallienus (B. Saria in Strena Buliciana, 1924, p. 249 ff.). In this respect,
however, there was no difference between the Danube lands and those of the
Rhine. We must bear in mind that the Syrian and Arabian soldiers were the
second best in the Roman army, and that they had an enormous influence on
politics from the time of Septimius Severus. The purely Oriental character
of this army is splendidly illustrated by the monuments of the 3rd cent,
found at Salihiyeh (Doura) 011 the Euphrates: see F. Cumont in Mon. Fiot,
vol. 36, 1923, and cp. J. Carcopino in Syria, 6 (1925), p. 30 ff.
For M. Aurelius, Cass. Dio, 71, 3. 2 (a. d. 168), When the soldiers demanded
an increase of pay, Marcus refused ; aM tovto eiTr^u on o(r<a &u riKelov n wapa to
KaBeaTr^Kos Xd^cocn, rovr Ik tov dipaTos t5>v re yovioDv or(l>S>p Koi ra»p avyyevmv dcrirerrpd^eraC
TTfpt yap rot rrjs avTap)(La 9 6 Beds pdvop Kplpeiv dvparai. For Aurelian, Petr, Pair.,
Fr. 10, 16 (Fr. Hist. Gr., iv, 197 ; Cass. Dio, ed. Boiss., yol. iii, fr. 178) ; or*
AvprjXiavos TTHpaBeis won err par Lear lkt^s Iwapacrrdcncat, eXeyep, dwardaBat rovs (rrpaTmrae,
6i8
Notes : Chapter X
d ip rah avrmp ras fxolpa^ ehm r&>p ^dikmp wroknpfiiyovtnp* €^nm€ yap top
hmpfiirdpepop t^p mptpvpup (ml raCrtiP iTrf^ekpv t§ 5€fia) miprm^ mi tup rp BmriXtiai:
6pt(rau Did Aurelian know the saying of Marcus? Or has Petrus Patricius mis-
read ^ Aurelianus ’ for ‘ M. Aurelius ' ? Or is the saying a pure fiction?
: ®® C/£.5 xi, 6308,
In the books and articles quoted in note 10 the reader may find a detailed
discussion of the economic and social policy of Aureliaii. The professional
corporations are treated in the article of E. Groag in P^'IerkiJahnssckn / Soa
Wirischafisg.^ 2 (1904^ p. 493 ffl It is very probable that Aurelian militarized
and nationalized some of the corporations, especially some of those connected
with the city of Rome. This was a result of the great difficulty of victualling
Rome, with private commerce in a dying condition and the productivity of Italy
decaying. The rations of bread, oil, and pork introduced by Aurelian must be
regarded, not as a bribe to the people, but as a measure adopted to save the huge
city from starvation. A similar purpose underlay the measure by which Aurelian
reserved for the people of Rome the products which were delivered to the^ state
by the hemp and flax producers, and by the papyrus and glass industries of Egypt.
These anabolicae species^ which had previously been sold by the state in various
places (e.g. at Lyons), were now all brought to the capital and probably sold to the
population (see Ch. IX, note 57). Another measure of the same type, showing the
difficult position in^ which the city of Rorhe found herself in regard to supplies
of the necessities of life, was the attempt to nationalize the production and sale
of wine, I shall return to these measures in the next chapter.
On the new landed aristocracy see the fine remarks of C. Jullian, Histoire
de !a Gaule, iv, pp. 552 ff. and 605 ff. The phenomenon was, of course, not confined
to Gaul
On the reforms of the Roman army, besides the books which deal with
the reigns of Gallienus and Aurelian, see R. Grosse, Rdmische MiHtdrgeschkhfe
von Gallienus bis Bum Beginn der byzantinischen Themenverfassung^ 1920, and
the bibliography quoted by him. It is unfortunate that the evidence on the
system of conscription is scrdesperately meagre for the 3rd cent. Our knowledge
is mostly limited to the 2na cent, and to the period after Diocletian. My view,
as set forth in the text, is based on the masterly article ofTh, Mommsen, ‘Die
Conscriptionsordnung der rOmischen Kaiserzeit/ in Ges, Schr,^ vol. vi, p. 2off. ;
cp. also my article in /. R. 5 ., 8 (1918), p. 26 ffi
XL The Roman Empire during the period of Military
Anarchy-
^ Scr. Hist Aug., Probus, 20, 5, and 23 ; cp. Aur. Viet, de Caes., 37, 3 ; Eutr., 9,
17, 3. The coincidence between the Latin biographer, Aurelius Victor, and
Eutropius shows that the saying of Probus, if not genuine, was invented in
the 3rd cent, Cp. Th. Mommsen in Hermes, 25 (1^0), p. 259; Dannhauser,
Unlers. z. Gesch. d, Kais, Probus, p. 84 ff. ; J. H. E. Crees, The Reign of the Emperor
Probus, p. 139. I find as little reason to think that the saying reflects the
state of mind of Rome in a. d. 306, before the conflict between Constantine
and Galeriiis, as to see in it an invention of the time of Theodosius.
* On the denarius and Antoninimus in the 3rd cent, see A. Cesano in
de Ruggiero, Diz. Epigr., iii, p, 1624.11; E. Babelon, Trade des momiaies, vol. i,
p. 610 ff. ; A. Segre, Kaipov N<>fito-/xa, in Rend, Lincei, 16 (1920), p. 4ff.
^ F. Oertel, ‘Der Niedergang der hellenistischen Kultur in Aegypten,’ in
Neue Jahrb,, 45 (1920), p. 375 f, ; A. Segre, Circolazione moneiaria e prezzi net
mondo antico, 1922 ; J. Keil in F* pi 102 IF., nos. io~i2 (bread price doubled
“between 100 and 200).: ,, ; ; - ^ " ;; ; •
Notes : Chapter XI
619
^ See Ch. V, note 46. ,
5 p. OxyK, 1411 (a. a 260). It is possible that the troubled conditions of the
short role of Macrianus and Quietus contributed to the general insecurity which
prevailed in Egypt throughout the 3rd cent. On the preference for Ptolemaic
silver in* the 3rd cent. a.d. see C. Wessely in Mittk. P. i?., vol iv, p. 144 tF. The
earlier orders probably emphasized the principle embodied in the utterance of
Epict, 3, 3, 3 w'hich is quoted in Ch. V, note 46.
^ G. Billetei'j Geschichte ies Zimfusses tm griechisch-romiscken AUerhmi bis auf
Jnsfinian, 1898, p. 21 1 ff. Cp. A. Segre, * li mutuo e il tasso d' interesse nelF Egitto
greco-romaiio,’ m Atene e Romct^ voL 5, 4-6 (1924).
B. Laum, Siiftungen in der griechischen und romischen Anfike^ vol. i, iqi^j,
p. 8ff. ; cp. p.255.
See Ch. Ill, notes 15-18, and Ch, V, note 19; cp. Ch. V, note 20, on the
trade through Palmyra. The destruction of Palmyra by Aurelian was fatal to
the Eastern land-trade in general, and so was the conquest of South Russia,
and especially of Panticapaeum, by the Goths. Cp. the articles quoted in note 2.
® On Dacia see the articles quoted in Ch. X, note 7, and cp. the paper of Jorga
read before the French Academy on Feb. 22, 1924, C. R. Acad, Imcr,, 1924, p. 66.
Jorga’s conclusions, however, which were opposed at the meeting by F. Lot,
cannot be accepted. On Panticapaeum, M. Rostovtzeif, Iranians and Greeks in
South Russia j p. 155, and in Monuments Piot^ 26 (1923), p. i ff.
Scr, Hist Aug.^ Prob., 16, 4; Zos., i, 69;#J. H. E. Crees, Reign of Prod us^
p. 106 ff., and p. 159. It is worth noting that Probus settled many of his veterans
in Isauria with the same purpose of pacifying the land and securing a constant
supply of well-trained soldiers as the Severi had in founding similar settlements
in Africa, on the Danube, and on the Rhine ; see Ch. IX, notes 47-51.
Sen Hist Aug., Prob., 17; Zos., i, 71, i. The advance of this wild tribe
probably coincided with the fall of the kingdom of MeroS and with the rise
of the kingdom of Axum. They were allies of the Palmyrenes and supporters
of the usurper Firmus (Scr, Hist Aug.^ Firm., 9). The victory of Probus over
them was only a temporary success. Diocletian was forced to cede to them
the Dodecaschoinos, and the Blemyes remained the terror of Egypt for many
centuries to come: see U. Wilcken, Grundz., p. 30 f, and p. 68 ff., cp. Chrest.y
6; ^W. Schubart, Einfuhrung^ p. 241, cp. p. 147; J. Lesquier, Vannie romaine
dEgypie, p. 33 ff.
R, Cagnat, Darmie romaine d^Aftique^ ed. 2, vol. i, p. 53 ff ; /. A. A,^ 609, 610 ;
L. Chatelain in C, R. Acad, Jnscr., 1919, p. 352 ff. The last extension of the frontier
to the South was carried out by Gordian III : cp. J. Carcopino in Rev, it anc,^ 25
(1923), p, 33ff., Rev, arch,y 20 (1924), p. 316 ff., and Syria, 6 (1925), p. 30 ff.
Such at least is the opinion of the best authority on Roman Britain, the late
F. Haverfield, Romanization of Roman Britain^ ed. 4, 1923, p. 76 f. What he says,
however, about Gaul cannot be accepted. For Gaul the 3rd cent, was a time of
great disasters. A sort of peace and stability came later, after Diocletian.
Scr. Hist Aug,, Aur., 7, 4, and 5.
A careful enumeration of plagues may be found in Zos., i, 26; 36; 37; 45
and 46. His description of the plague under Gallienus is striking (i, 37) ; tV
de Kal rasp ip ’iXXvpiotj 7rpayfidTa>P eK rrjs toav 2 Kv 6 SiP tCpodov btaKetpLipcap Kal rraarji rrjs vtto.
^F&jfmicap dpxijs is to Xoittop hpqi oraXevo/xcVjjf, Xoi/xos im^piaas rciift TToXcffti/, oios
oi/TTCi) Ttporepop ip TtavrX r<a ypoi/<a avpij^rj, ras piv anb TOiV ^ap^cipa>p cn}p(popas pirpaoTCpas
arri^ripe, rot? de rrj poerm KardXrjppepoLS evdaipoptCeiP iavTOvs ididov Kal ras iaXaKVLas rjSi)
’xroXuf dpdpG>v TTapTinraa-i y^popipas ipr)pov<s, Th, Reinach, Rev. dtgr., 19 (l9^)j P*
no. 75 ; a citizen of Aphrodisias Xovrpols Kal cnrapxl^f^^s Xoipbv /cat Xipov direXdcrapra
(time of the Severi or later?).
620
Notes : Chapter XI
I shall quote later certain papyri from Egypt which refer to flights as a quite
common and almost natiira! occurrence. Measures against decurions’ leaving
their, .place of residence and trying to settle down in other cities were taken as
early as the time of the Severi ; see Ulp., Dig,^ 50^ 2, ,1,
Brigandage raged all over the Roman Empire. A detachment of sailors
was sent to Umbria to fight bandits in the time of Philip, C/A., xi, 6107 ; Dessau,
/. A. S., 509 (a. d. 246). Compare the two praefecii aramdis kimcimis in Germany,
C/A., xiii, 5010 (Noviodunum) and 6211 (Treveri) ; cp. Dessau, A A, S., 7007, and
O, Hirschfeld, *Die Sicherheltspolizei im rOmischen Kaiserreich/ In Kkim
Schrifien^ .p. 610. Some tribes m the mountains resumed their inborn habit
of organized robbery and practised it on a large scale. I have mentioned the
IsaurTans in Asia Minor ; the same is true of some tribes in the Maritime Alps,
Sen Hist Aug,^ Proc., 12, 1-3. On the revolt of peasants in Slcity, which took
the form of a regular pillage of the province, Sen Hist Ai^g., Gall., 4, 9. On
robbery at sea, A G. R,k.f iii, 481 (a. b. 253). On robbery in general, O. Hirschfeld
in KL Schriften, p. 591 ff.; L. FriedMnder-G. Wissowa, Side^gesch. Roms^ voL i,
ed 9, p. 35o ff. (without discrimination of time). Though most of the inscriptions
which mention robbers cannot be dated, It is to be noted that most of the literary
■sources which speak of robbery as a common thing belong to the end of the 2nd
or to the 3rd cent a.d, (e. g. Apuleius and the novels). We may admit that the
improved organization of the military police — the development of the institution
of frumeniam) coUedones, specukiores, heneficiaruy and staiionani^ who all played their
part in combating brigandage— was due to the political preoccupations of the
emperors and was used for the purpose of hunting out political suspects. Never-
theless the fact that it was in the 3rd cent, that the institution of gendarmes was
systematically developed, and a well-planned network of military posts {stationes)
of henefiemrii and of staiionarii was devised and methodically established, shows
how bad were the conditions and how powerless the cities to fight the plague
of brigandage. On the benefickirn see A. von Domaszewski in Wesid. Zeiischr.^
21 (1902), p. 158 E, and in R 6 m, Mifth,, 17 (1902), p, 330 ff.; J. Schwendemann,
Der hist Wert der Vita Marci, p. 70 ff., and Ch. iX ttote 7 ; cp. note 26 below. On the
speculaiores and their journeys, see my article in Rdm, 26 {1911), p. 267 ff. ;
on the insignia and the functions of the henefidarii and speculaiores, E. Kitterling
in Banner Jahrk, 125, p. pff. ; M. Abramic in Starinar, 1922 (in Serbian) ; on the
staiionarii and their quasi-judicial activity, especially in Asia Minor, O. Hirschfeld,
‘ Sicherheitspolizei,’ in KL Schriften, p. 596 if., and on the staiionarii on the imperial
estates, idem, Kais. Verwaltimgsb,, p. 134, note 3 ; J. Keil and A. von Premerstein,
Ersie Reise, p. 50, no. loi ; Zweite Retse, p. 115, no. 222 ; Dritte Reise, p. 28, no. 28 ;
and p. II, no. 9, Cp. our pL LIV. My impression is that in the ist and 2nd
centuries the cities were fairly successful in combating robbery, and that it was
the misery of the second half of the 2nd cent, and of the 3rd that revived the plague
and forced the emperors to organize strong corps of military police, and to insist
that the cities should take a more active part in suppressing brigandage by intro-
ducing new municipal offices of a liturgical character with a wide-reaching
responsibility. Such were the ^guardians of the peace' {upiimpxat) in Asia Minor,
an institution which gradually spread to other Eastern provinces, like the institution
of the decaproiia (O. Hirschfeld, ‘ Sicherheitspolizei/ in KL Schr., p, 605 ff., and F, A.,
iii, no. 70) and praefecti arcendis lairodniis in some provinces of the West. On
Egypt see Ch. IX, note 44, and note 54 below. The same is true of Italy; see
Mommsen, Rdfn, Staatsr,^, ii, p, 1075, notes i and 2. The conditions did not
change in the early 4th cent. : see the inscription of Thuburbo Majus in Africa,
A A. A,, 269, an imperial letter in reply to complaints about the benejiciarii.
There is no other explanation of the repeated settlements of captured
barbarians and the assignment of land to barbarian tribes, which were so
common in the 3rd cent. The fact that it was possible to evacuate Dacia and
to find room for its population in other provinces of the Danube region attests
the depopulation both of Dacia and eff the other Danube lands. See, further,
the quotations made below from the plaint of the villagers of Scaptopare,
Dittenberger, Sy//.®, 888, especially 1 , 53 ff.: ^We have declared that we can
621
Notes: Chapter XI
endure no longer, and we intend to leave our ancestral hornes because of the
violence of our visitors. For in truth we have been reduced from ni^y house-
hSders to a very few’ U&rjXixraiifv yap «««« 1 }P^S bwacrBat VKopxvnv, aUa Kai vovv
if AXneL-aTTO jroXXwv ohoSea-iroTmv ns (Ux^Tovs (ta«X>}Xv5aiiei'). Cp. the inscription
of 4ramie (quoted in note 26), 1. 34 = ™ X“P‘“ ipni^^crBai «.[aoTara
The efidence for the settlements of barbarians has been often collected, see,
I g!, ol Seeck, vol. i, p. ^84, 12 and 21 (p. S32), and for the time of M. Aurelius
J. %'chwendemann, Der hist W ert der Vtta Mara, p. 53-
IS An nialnria see H. Nissen, Italische Landeskunde, vol. i, p. 413 ff. ;
WHS ]oi\&sm Liverpool Annals of Archaeology and Anmroj>ology,z {vyx)),
D oift' and the articles ‘ Febris ’ in Pauly-Wissowa, Daremberg ancf Sagho, and
de^uo-eiero. There is, however, no sufficient evidence for the spread of malaria
in Ttnlv^n the 2nd and 3rd centuries, and it is a question whether the depopula-
South ’My «u» due chiefly to mekm ot whether
the spread of malaria was due to depopulation.
“"iSi
eo-calleS -coin hoards^. Eum«^
parison of the J P5*°ent. We find an almost complete lack of new
i,f=i*|3LS"Sg£=
ISfSSSs€p:H“iSSS£E
public monuments, except those of Aurehan.
abandoned -r-hg practice’ at least was much older (my Si^ten
395). The increase ^refiant wdlTnow reviv;
!S^xr; i ttig
mentioned that ‘he economic decay of^^^^^^
of Rome, and forced 1 ^ -T^e hopeless decay of the culture of the vine
reform of Probus Crees His o’rdinance,
de la Gaule, w, p. Latfn biographer but also by Victor and Eutrqpius,
attested as it is not only by ‘“C L j fgg^rictions on viticulture in the provinces
is certmnly genuine How jg „„ ^gubt
rafnel Ler South Gaul no^ nor Dalmatia was subject to any such re-
sections, to say nothing of the briental provinces, including Thrace;
•’ Ch. VII, note 29.
622
Notes : Chapter XI
23 See above, note 17. The Lydias of Zosimos {Palfiiriiis of the Latin bio-
grapher) was probably one of the local 'Chiefs, a member of the local aristocracy
and a Roman citizen. His fall name perhaps was Palfiirius Lydias : the Palfiirii
Sarae were a good Roman family, which still survived in the '3rd century
{ScK HisL Gail, 18, 6)* If so, the Isauriaii hero would appear in quite
a different light, as a local dynast, like the 'dynasts of Palmyra, Emesa, Edessa, &c.,
and not as a common robber. The colonization of the land by Roman soldiers
after the death of Lydias shows that separatist tendencies were very strong in
the country of the Isaiirians.
24 LG. R. R.f iii, 481 ; Dessau, 8870 ; cp. A. von Domaszewski in Rk ^58
(1903), p. 382!!., and GescM, d. mm. Kaiser, vol. ii, p. 297; Pros. imp. Ram,, iv,
p. 378, no, 137 : OvaXepiop ‘Srareiktop KaaroP top Kparicsrov crvpfmxov T(i>p
TToaiTov ^L^iXciTimpo^iy TfpftJfO’cTfiBf' twp wpos Otpoau^ois § jSoi/XjJ Kai 6 ml i) y^povaia
TOP €mpyer 7 )p npoporiardfi^pop rrjs tlp^Pfjs mra MXaereFap kui Kata yrjp, itn^rip^frapra rij
Xaptrpa rjpS>p rsoXei perk tracrtis tmoapias iipfp^p dytiyopta Se limepiop (faXoTipms
iu Tw Xovo'tapif rij trpk e' dh{5iv) No€/jt3pi69W p [rj^pipa iKopiaB^ [fjiKtbi/ Upa rov
Kvplov Tjpcop OvaXepiavoB peov Sf^ncrroL Cp. P, E., iii, BO. 38.
Sen HisL Aug., Proc., 12, 1-3: ‘Proculo patria Albingauni fuere, positi in
Alpibus maritimis, domi nobilis sed maioribus latrocinantibus atqiie adeo pecore «
ac servis et is rebus, quas abduxerat, satis dives, fertur denique eo tempore quo
SLirnpsit irnperium duo milia servorum suorum armasse, . . 5 : * idemque for-
tissimus, ipse quoque latrociniis adsecutus, qui tamen armatiini semper egerit
vitam,^
2^ The inscription was found and first published by f. G. C. Anderson in
J. H. S., 17 (1897), p. 417 ff., cp, A. Schulten in Rdm. miiik, 13 (1S98), p. 231 ff. ;
J. G. C. Anderson in J. H. S., 18 (1898), p. 340!!'.; Dittenberger, Or. gr.
'imm, 519; CIL, hi, 14191 ; my article in Klio, 6 (1906), p. 249 ff.; J. Keil
and A. von Premerstein, Dritfe Reise, p. 12. The attempts to restore this
inscription have not taken into account tne fact that the lines of the document
(the right border is mutilated) were much shorter than has usually been sup-
posed. This is shown by the first lines, which can be restored with full
certainty. The numbers of letters missing, according to my calculation, are
approximately 12 to 13 in the first 14 lines ; 15 to 16 inlL 15-17 ; 18 in 11. 18-20 ;
21 in 11. 21-3, and about 23 to 25 in the last lines of the document. I may, there-
fore, suggest a new restoration of the inscription. Considerations of space forbid
a discussion of the former attempts ; *Aya^^ 1 Imp. Caes. M. [Julius r]hi[lippus
p. f. Aug.] et [M. Julius Philippujs n[o]bi[l]issimus Caes. M. Au[r. Eglecto] 1
pe[r] Didynmm mil(item) cen(tenarium) frum(entarium) : proco[n]sule y. c. per-
specta fide eorum quae [adlegastis si] [ quid iniuriose geratur, ad sollicitudinem
suam revocabit. [v]a[I]e. [ AvtoKparopi Kalcrapi M, ’lovXt© 4»iXi'7nr<» Kvrvxd
'2€fi[aarT(p) K[at M. *IouXt©] | «i»iXiWw iitKpav^cnrdTfp Kalirapi dlrjcris trapa AvpTjkiov ^EyX€KT[ov
7t€p\ rov xotJfVoO rcop * Apayovrjpmv trapmK&v Kai yeeapyay tS>p vperepmp [roO ey rij *A 7 nnaJ\p§
dr}pov Koivo{v T)oTr€avS)p ^oijv&v ray Kara ^pvyiav roir&v T. Oi'[X-7r/oy AiBvpovl | errpa-
rtobrou* rraPtc^p €p rois paKapmrdrois vpSsv Kaipoh, evare^IcrlraTOi ml aXy]j 7 roraTot r&p
wonfwore ^atriXcW, ^pepov Kai yaXrjvov rov ^iop Traenj? tro1\vr}pias Koi diacr€L€rpS>p
iT(^[iT]ai)p€P(ov, popoi rjpds dWoTpia rSiP ^[uTvycorTareov] | Katpmp trdcrxoPT^s rr^vBe t^v i/ccreiav
[u];ifti' TTpoerdyopip, e;)(€[Tnt Be to rr)s S€]l^cr€a>ff eV toutois* vperepov yj'orpev,
Up^TaT[oi avTOKpdropes, d^]|/utos“ oXoKXrfpos m Kara^euyoyre? K{a\) yetpopevoi rrjs vperepas
[^cior?;roff tKerai' Bia^laetopeBa Be trapa to dXoyov Kai irapatrpacradpeBa vtr eKeipcop o[iS
arS^eiP TO Brjp6]\a‘top 6(f>(€)lX€L'‘ pecoyeioi yap ruyxdpopres Kai p[ij]T€ (read pT^de) trapa
(TTpaTa[pXaiLS dvres trdaJlxopfP dXXdrpta t&>v vperepifiv jpaKapitardTeov Kaipmv* [BioBevovres
yap] TO Ltrtnavmv K\ipa tropaXiprrdpovTes r«5 Xe&xjxipovs 6[5oos crTpardpxai re #c(al) tfTpa]|-
TtwTflt K{di) Bvpdcrrai Tmv trpovxdvrc&v K[ar]a troXiv [Kaioraptnyot re v^iperepoi €V€i(r€[p]xO"
pevoL Kai KaraXiptraPovres rd^ Xe[<a<l>6povs oBous Kai dtrd r&p] | epyoav fjpds di^terrayres Kai
TOPS dporrjpas jSoaf dyy[apei;oyT€S‘ ra pffBev Q<f)ft\\X6p€Pn altrois trapatrpdacrovaC Kai arvp^alvei
ov [ra Tvxhpra repast Ik r]|oiirov dBiKelaBca Biaa'eLopePovs'' trepl hp dtfe^^ ^Br} Kar^XBopMP
is TO (TOP, ^] I peyeBos, otrore t^p eirapxf^v ^i€ifl*€[f‘ dpxhr ipffuuPOPTes to yeyoyivos.
Kai otr&s trepl tovt&v €Ketv[rf\Br} crov tf Be\ia ^vxk itriaToXf) BrjXoi 17] j ipreTaypivi]* quae
isimus] I qui dabit operam ne d[iu]tiu<i>s
S^Xo{r vhftp iK ravrrj! T[^r yiyove,
■■■; trapanpacrcreiTeai, e]\nrev^Lvolvi~
sLatov, mravras 8]1« fori rav VLaurapiav&v ov ra
;] I [e’|ai/aXi]irKfcrfla« Ka'i ra fptjpova-Sai
=ls Km oil papa t[i 7I' olSov KaroiKovpres . .. .
-e lines, below which the stone is fractured.)
■ new suggestions which I have introduced
m the new reading which I have suggested
neniciriufn). It follows exactly the facsimile
The title cmknarius applied to a. frummtarms
e 4th cent, it is commonly applied to the
mtes in rebus. On the fmmmtani see
Kl. Schr., pp. 588 and 59^ 1 D- yaglieri
if.; Fiebiger in Pauly-Wissowa,
J. R. S., 13 (1923. publ- in 1925)1
and Ch. IX, note 7- On the agen/es
O. Hirschfeld, ‘Die agentes
libellllo complcxi est![s, ad procos. misimi
quereil[is locus sit], ipaS!, mv ovBtv o^J
ffOT3t]!87Kf»’ '‘"7"
rav riP&v ml awparoivTOiv ijfiar [jriip« to Ci'c*
TvvAvta 8»[n<r]«'<(r[dm Koi ra ripirepa as avrovs^ , .
Kdi avfaarara yiypeaSat- paroyam yap] [TV7X“f«>^«J'
(There follow a few remains of two ir — '-,,^0
In this short note I cannot defend t
into the text, but a word may be sail
in 1.2: mihitem) mi{tenarmm) Jrun
given in Anderson’s second article,
is new for the 3rd cent, a.d., but u
successors of the frurneniorii. the
O. Hirschfeld, ‘ Sicherheitspolizei, m
in de Ruggiero, Diz. Epigr-^yn {1903), p. 221
v"i (mi2), p. 12^ ff.; P. K. Baill e Reynolds in
pp-h?? and i83ff.; cp. Ch. VIII, note lo, 1
in rebus and the title cenienarms applied to ^hem^cp.
in rebus,’ in Kl Schr., p. 624 if, especially p. 626 ft.
Dittenberger, Syll?, no. 888 ; CJL., iii, ^^^3^
F. Preisigke, ‘^ie Inschrift von Skaptopare in il
lichen Kanzlei in Rom,’ in Schr. d. fViss.
M. RostovtzefF in J. R- S., 8 (1918), m 33> • ^
D. I ff. In the early 4th cent, the police agents r
fhey used to be in the 3rd cent. .The reforms of E
effected no improvement in their behawour. be
of an emperor in reply to cormlamts ®hout he^
found at Thuburbo Majus m Africa (a.d. ro-.
a curious tariff of fees which the benefictaru were ent
^ P Oxvr. 1477 . In the introduction to this pa
W\s inv. s6. I owe a transcription ot the text to ine
5. Laird of the University of Wisconsin. On the terri-
. M. Rostovtzeir, A Large Estate, p. i3h
I P R k 8 (a.d. 265/6) from Hermupolis Ma^a, col. ii,
ioviSbartvXM -1 lr]«^ [• •] • «»7«T? ">^.^17^::
cipiov yepaov rroWrjp mi ^pu[oj'] ; cp. col. Ill, 1 . 4 .
ZZaapep airh pjp [KeipePOP S]Xo.. h m l . • ] Km axpr,<rrop
elLknown P. Rain., fn Mitteis, Chre^->J-
^ R 86 (a. d. 330) of Hermupolis, and my ^tMten
the defcriUn ^one p^t of the estate is as follows,
Sras eyei. aimeKimP X<PpioP two reXows (apovpap) , t7 , A/3 ,
ripL (SpTvpa) K Srrapra pvpl | .’v X^P-f T
Zov yei.n^op eeiovpLp pi,Xvnop, SaoP icr.P apovprfiov 1 Km
7ZpIp) 78 rtir ^aaap x^P'^op mi STrropop rnp ep ajn-
bf parcels of private vineyards and gardens and of a large
624 Notes : Chapter XI
P, OAjn, 1413 (a. d. 270-5), L 25 If. I have not been able to make use of Ihe
book of S. Sin|alevich,^ Tht StnmU oj^ Oxyrhymhm in ihe jrd cent of ottr era,
Kharkoff, 1913 (in Russian), dealing with the important papyri which illustrate
•the. activity of the dmlri of Oxyrhynchus m the 3rd cent. ; cp. u.' E* P(aoli) in Riv*
43 (19^3). P* . “ . ..
' F. 1419 (a. D. .2^5).
p, O^n, 1194 (a.d. 263k , , .
F. OA^r., 1115 (a. D. aSi).
F OxyKj ^543 (“^* -^99) * trpo$ BitiBotriP rtm &o^€iif)t»(Tep yippiarmois ffTparmratS'*
, ,, C. 'Wessely, dluicii. F. F., ^84, col.^ i, fi* i ^ppcrntikiitov | fipiQump €KT(tj€WT&»
apampilerS^ttm €ld^p €i£epmK60P mil rSiP yP nvrmp mmKOfitirBlpmy us rriw } i iwi&rmtrup
hp,€pnp. The stuffs are corn, chaH, wine, and meat. .Special ttimnopueii were
appointed.'.
On compulsory deliveries of various kinds in the 2nd cent, and in the
first years of the 3rd see Ch. VIII, note 34, and Cli. IX, note 4*4. There is
no doubt that, as a rule, the forced delivery was regarded as a compulsory
purchase ^d that money was really paid for the stufts, J. Lesquier, tarmie
roM(MiHe d’PgypU^ p. 258 fi. One of the most striking examples is the delivery
of clothes by the weavers of Soknopaiu Nesos for the soldiers of the army of
Judaea in a. d. 128 {P. Ryl, ii, 189) ; cp. P. Tebt., 347, 12, and P. Gradenwitz
quoted in P. Hib., 67, 10, note. As late as a. d. 232 the officials of Ale.\ander
Severus paid for the clothes which were delivered to the soldiers in accordance
with an order of the prefect, P.S. 7., 797. Compare this practice with the deliveries
of eVflqr (TTparmTiKTi in the 4th cent., P. Lips., 45, 46, 48-60 ; U. Wilcken, Gmndz.,
p. 362, and of clothing for the gladiators, P.7i>s., 57, 6-11. Cp. also P. Oxyr.,
1424 (about a. D. 318); 1428 and 1448 and On the organization of
the collection of the anmna in the 3rd cent., see P. Jouguet, La vie rmmicipak,
p. 387 If.; Wilcken, Grundz., p. 360; P. Oxyr., 1115 and 1419; C. Wessely, Caial.
F. F., 84; P.S»Lf 795. The fact that payments for the anmna militaris were
sometimes made in the 4th cent does not prove that such was the regular
practice in the 3rd cent The same practice, i.e. probably requisition without
actual remuneration, seems to have been introduced into the other provinces of
the Roman Empire and into Italy ; see, e. the interesting inscription of
A. Vitellius Felix belonging to the time of Galhenus found in Thugga, CTF., viii,
26582. All the offices held by this man are connected with transportation and
with the collection of rents from imperial estates, especially in Africa. One of
the most important offices was * p{rae)p(ositus} agens per Campaniam, Calabriam,
Lucaniara, Picenum annonam curans militibus Aug. n.’
F. Oxyr,^ 1490 (late 3rd cent a. d.).
I have dealt with the transportation of state goods in Egypt in three special
articles, in Arch, f. Papyr,, 3. 215 ff., in Klio, 6 {1906), p. 25311, and in Pauly-
Wissowa, vii, p. 169 ff. ; cp. Wilcken, Grundz,, p. 370, and F. Oertel, Die Liiurgie,
p. ii5ff. I have since modified the views expressed in these articles in regard
to transport by land. Transportation from the local storehouses to the river or
to the canal was certainly carried out by the guilds of wrikarai. Responsibility
for the transport rested either with the municipal magistrates, to whom the
village administration was responsible in its turn for payments due fVom the
villages, or with the municipal iriagistrates and the great landowners. I find
it hard to explain the receipts of Theadelphia in the names of Appian (a big
landowner, one of the chiefs of Heroninus, see below, note 59) and Sodikes
as receipts given to vavKXripoi, agents of the governnient for land-transport.
I now regard both Appian and Sodikes as large landowners and lessees of imperial
lands, who were responsible for the transportation of their payments to the
landing-places. For this purpose they used either their own donkeys or, as
a rule, the donkeys of the guilds. See F, Preisigke in Arch, f Papyr., 3, p. 44 ff. ;
number of pavKXripm, and that the mvKkr}pia became a liturgy. This is proved by
many documents, especially by P, Qjg^r,, 1418 (a. d. 247), 8 : [r^s TrXiyp^l^efo'??? vtt
€pov vavKXrjptas Kal hp aXXa>[i/ XetTOVpymp (?) , » Cp. B. Grenfell, P> Oxyr.^ 1412, 14,
note. Grenfell is undoubtedly right in explaining P. Oxyr,, 1261— a declaration
concerning the transport of produce for troops at Babylon, made by a senator
who certainly fulfilled a liturgy— as an exact parallel to the declarations of
a pavxXrjpos 'TtoXccos (P. I259, A. D. 2Il) and of a Kv^epvriTr}^
(P. OxjKy 1260), cp. F. Preisigke, P. Cairo, 34, 3-4. The purport of these docu-
ments has not been grasped by F. Oertel, Die Liturgie, p. 431. Cp. also P. Oxyr.,
1553-5 (a. D. 214, 251, 2»6o), which contain declarations on oath by Kv ^ epv ^ irai ,
who are shipowners, with a registration of their sureties. I do not maintain
that in the 3rd cent, the uavKXtipla was a pure munus, but in case of necpsity
compulsion was resorted to, and men were forced to keep on their business,
even against their will Sometimes, perhaps, even those who had ceased to
be shipowners, or were not shipowners and transporters by profession at all,
were forced to undertake responsibility for the transportation of a certain freight
by river.
On- the prosecuiio annonaeste my article In Pauly- Wissowa, vii, pp. 163, 170.
We have shown in the ninth chapter how widespread the prosecuiio unnoncie
was in other parts of the Empire at the beginning of the 3rd cent., and in
the eighth chapter that recourse was had to it as early as the first decades
of the 2nd cent, in cases of emergency. What, however, in the 2nd cent, was
a voluntary service of rich provincials gradually became a compulsory munus. In
Egypt in the second half of the 3rd cent it appears as a normal institution. Men
were specially and regularly appointed for the purpose by the city councils and
were made responsible for the shipments. See P. Oxyr,, 1414, igff. : Karawopirn
and 1415, 4 ff., especially 7 : ^ovXei^al ehrop' prj irpolrpaTiriTaxTap (?) ti/]a <l>€vy<t)(nv*
In the 4th cent the institution flourished, Wiicken, ChresL^ 43, intr. (P. Oxyr,,
60, A.D. 323).
P. S. /., 298 {4th cent. A, D.).
P. Oxyr„ 1414 (a.d. 270-5); cp. Wessely, Cat P. R,, i, no. 53; Wiicken in
ArchJ, Papyr,, 7 {i 924 )» P* and above, note 42.
C. Wessely, Caial. P. R., VoL ii, I77> 24: ovk §€ ovdeul ciXXm I KOTvXiCeiP
fv T® eVoiKt® pi] ipol Koi tols j crvp pot cp. P O^r,, 1455 ^ declara-
tion of an oil-dealer. Compare Ch. X, note 39, and above, note 21.
I
Notes : Chapter XI
!. nolire officer Heracleius was made responsible by the decaproU for some
f T^hirh ffid not bebn<r to him. To his complaint he adds, 1- 2; «• = .
rx... ™ .■!« •■‘•“•r' - -So-'™ C" '-0™
iiient and corporal punishment).
“ P. 0.^r., 1663 (3rd cent. A. D.).
P. Oxyr., 62 ; Wilcken, Chrest., 278 (after a. d. 242).
P. Oxyr., 64 and 65 ; cp. Wilcken, Chrest, 475. and Grmds., p. 4x4.
o, r> VJ o. TCT ro 12- 2TO 4; cp. P. Cen., 16; Wilcken, Chrest, 354
P.^P/or 137,7, 5 . .1 . 5 >4 j?terP.S./.,842,l. 7ff-: Bihypirwaav
A J'aS) Very mltru^^^^^ private letter >. S. /., 842, 1. 7 ffi:
t\Mv . . . ^apamo,u aholt ^piypara VfifXXe yap ^rTpan^r,"
f[-£u 4 tmj ktX. . . 7 '
« P p/or., 2; Wilcken, C/irrs/, 401 (a.d. 265); cp. Wilcken, Cnwdf., P; 349.
R Cr lJ -iSR and Wilcken, Chrest, (3rd cent, a.p.): 2oK..OT[aK)a N7<rJoi.
^o^rlin fVi ^ aegypiische Polizei der romischen
Sr/,r.,?^6x2ff. Cp. Ch. IX. note 44.
»» The average fortune of a member of the city bourgeopie cannot be estimated
' 4k A?' Qt-atistics What we hear occasionally does not lead us to over-
Lst m\te the wlfth on ^u^eHIie Most of themVere well-to-do, but not
estimate tne weauii o. s j- Aurelius Hermias value
rSS.frfiirZlS.I w“S r„.\5e.'C»/d=?S.(d'5,i
of this period was.
The confiscated land which was assigned to a city was called rii iToarAXoijra
rh SeKanpanda or to xmiipxovra rjj beKOTTparda, the decaprott being responsible for _^e
revenues of such land. Another designation was ra See
per xZn • P. Ftor., IQ, cp. P. Fay., 87, 5 , 80, 5 , /% Uiyr., 122, i , 54, ,
C P R PR, 's. On the woXitik«, as opposed to the empriTiKa, and on the special
mufficbal^easurv of the city, as opposed to the governmental one, see B. Grenfell,
P Owr iIiQ, 2 note. Cp. above%ote 32. On the activity of the decaprot and
ffieSToienlte: see P. Ryl%h ii, 1x4 (a. d. 280), and P. S. /.. 807 (a. d. 280).
The attempt of Philip is well attested by many documents. The best
knnwn is P Brit Mus., vol. iii, p. 109 ff.; O. Wilcken, Chrest,, SJ5 (a.d* 246 ),
a sale of land by the government to a benejictarius of the prefect in accor-
LSe ^th the order of Claudius Marcellus, the rafloX.^oV (ratoHalis) and
Mardus SlutariuJ the procurator. The same order of the same two menjs
refe^rred to in P. O.^^'r., 78, iiffi, containing a list of parcels of P”vate land,
one of which is bought in accordance with the order. I have no doubt ffiat
the same order is mentioned in P. Wis., Inv. 56, 22 ff.: o 6 ev ^
roS ad«num-ro]s r!,u imimrw t&v ^i\SKabUv iToiovpeea p^pTvpo[vyevoi KaTa raK^evaBevra
{iln-rol RlXlavSiou [M]apK<XXou toO 8ta(ri/por[d]Tou mSoKiyov "
rralo KpaWirrov eV[0rp4,roa [r]av St/SaoTfir It IS evident that the three veterans
from Antinoupolis have been attracted by the proclamation of Philip s officials
to buv the land, and, being cheated, now refer to this proclamation, which
probably contained some clauses designed to protect purchasers
Fessness or dishonesty of the local oflkials. I suspect that s^^e of the land
. . < 1* (dt -iw fk^i comA wTcwT 5100 fit tiie saiiic
mh
lessness or aisnonesiy ui uic — cotoa
owned by Aurelius Serenus was acquired in the same way and ?t the sa
time P Oxvr l6q6 (a.d. 240), 6: onro rov vnap^avros fiot ayopal[cmK<» Oifcjat^ Trep
fZa^hv &iKCp. P. Wk, Inv. S6, 30: r,poa^V[oa rou S««/l[o]a r,.
■
■■ f. T j
[r]}jv alr^v 2fpO(#)iv; cp, P. ms., Jm. 3^^ rrjpovp^piov r}\pmp rov Olk
KTf}<T€oiif, Cp. Ch. IX, note 5^*
P. Oxyr.y 1662 (a. D. 246), ^ ^p€ff^t\as wepl TTfs
_ ? I rojUMk) rov lepov oTToroKtw, 3:3“^5» 1630. 1 he prc
ms
JVoles : Chapter XI . 627
small landowners m^as also the policy of Philip In Africa, where he likewise took
o\"er the practice of the Seven, see S. Gsell in Bull arch, du Com. des frm. Mst,
1909, p* and J. Carcopino In C R. .dead, 1919, p. 379 ff.
On the correspondence of Heroninus see D. Comparetti, P, Fior.y vol. ii,
a j-ifll; cp. P, yoL li, p. 236'-'4o, and F. Oertel, Die Liturgie, p, 231 C
It is not eas}^ to decide whether Alypius, Appian, &c., acted as XciToypyo/,
being forced to take on themselves the responsibility for large tracts of yij
mmm% or as men who, confident of their influence, were willing to try their
luck and added by their own choice parcels of omiax^ to the land which
they owned privately. I am inclined to think that in the 3rd cent both
government pressure and private initiative contributed to the creation of such
large holdings as the estates, of Alypius, Appian, &c. Cp. my Studkny p. 198 ff. ;
Wiicken, Crwwia., pp. 3ioff, and 3i4ff.
On the estate of Aurelius Serenus (a. d. 249-280) see P, Oxyr., 1209, 1276, 1558,
1631, 1633, 1646, 1689, 1763. No. 1633 (a. D, 275) is specially important: Aurelius
Serenus is bidding for some unsold state land (L 8 ; airh a;r[paV]a)i' r^s* 5t[oi/c7cre]|of
7rpdr€pa[r| 'Eapawmmi^ [rot/] ZmlXov) and outbids another offer (of a member of his
own famil}!'?). Another way of increasing one’s estate was by renting land
from other persons : in P, Oxyr.y 1646 (a. d. 268/9) Aurelius Serenus rents
land from the heirs of Vibius Publius, a veteran, dwh oiptpiKiaXloyv emtp^^ov Alyvirrov,
and formerly a of Alexandria. We can understand this grabbing
of land by rich, energetic, and influential men. The most important part of
Serenus’ income came from vineyards and orchards (P, Oxyr.^ 1631, a.d. 280).
P. Oxyr,y 1631, is one of the most important documents which show how
elaborate and minute were the devices for cultivating vineyards and orchards
scientifically; see the introduction to this papyrus and the comments of B. Grenfell
and myself,
Claudia Isidora 17 a^toXoyajrdrj? ^ K(i\ *Ama, P, Ojyr.y 919; 1578; 1046, 8 ;
1630; 1634; 1659 (a. D. 2x4-22). P, Oxyr.y 1630, suggests that the estate of
Claudia Isidora was managed on a system which differed from that applied
to ordinary y^ iSwKTfjroF, and approximated to that employed on state ova-i'ai.
It is probable that a large part of Isidora’s land was yij ova-idKrj, See P. Oxyr;,
1630, introd. If so, we must regard Claudia Isidora as another instance of
a rich and powerf^ul landowner managing large tracts of crowndand in Egypt.
Aurelia Thermutharion 7 k<h "Upals: F. Preisigke, 5 . B,y 5126; C. Wessely,
Mitih, P, E, R.y ii. 33; cp. for the agricultural details P, Oxyr,, 1631. In the
3rd cent, there was in general a sharp discrimination between the landowners
and the peasants, the yfovxot or yeovxovvTes and the KcoprjTaiy P, Oxyr.y 1531 (3rd
cent., before a.d. 258) and 1747 {3rd to 4th cent. a. d.). In the 4th cent, large
emphyteutic ovmm are typical in Egypt, Wilcken, Grundz., p. 316 f.; cp. P, S. /., 820
(a.d. 312 and 314).
See note 60.
O. Seeck, Gesch, d. Unter. ant Welt, voL i, ed. 2, p. 420 ff. So far as I know,
he was the only scholar who emphasized the changed mood of the’ peasantry
in the 3rd cent, a. d. He ascribed the change to the emperors’ policy of settling
barbarians in the Empire. I greatly doubt whether this factor was of any
moment in creating the attitude which I have described above. There were
many provinces of the Empire which were not affected by the settlement of
barbarians, e.g. Asia Minor, Syria, Africa, Spain, and even the larger part
of Gaul. On the other hand, the barbarians did not yet play an important
part in tfie imperial army. The bulk of the army consisted of peasants levied
m the provinces from the old stock of the population. I am convinced, there-
fore, that the change of mood in the peasants was due, not to any infiltration
of new blood, but to the policy of the emperors of the and and the early
3rd cent, and to the natural process which led to the spread of a higher
standard of culture among the masses of the peasants. I have not the slightest
doubt that the emperors and the leading men of the 3rd cent, fully realized the
SS 2
628
Notes : Chapter XI
.change that was taking place. ^ See Cass. Bio, 52. 19, 6 (pretended speech of
Maecenas) ^crrc #cal wokirtms wml trifnai pLeraM^pm SetF, tvm Kal Tfiuri|f
yopLoipQvpreSj wtwrol crujytftax®^ ^wep ripa plop t^p mXm mKmwns* Kai
ravTtiv |xeV mrms wo\iP ra Sc a(piTipa aypovs Kal Kmpa^ popl(apr€t ilvai^ It
Is evident that in the reign of Alexander Sevems the peasants of the provinces
did not regard the city of Rome as ikeir city.
The evidence about this episode has been fully collected and brilliantly
illustrated by C. Jullian, if is/. </<? i& Gmde^ iv, p.
, Petr* Pain, fr, 10, 4 (Cass. Dio, ed, Boiss.,. 176, 'vol. iii, p. 746). Anrelian
promised to the soldiers not to leave a dog in the city of Tyana, if it were
captured. After the capture he ordered all dogs to be killea, Kal pifm
fjvyKa'hma^ aifTom imep on ^puis vitep rov iX(v6(pS>(rm rm wSkiif ramas w(ik^povp€p*
Kal eap piXXmix^p wpm^fmip avrat) ovKln ^plv fntrrevova-m* dXXa pahXoP t^p Tfpmdap rmp
(iap^apmp K«i ttwTtav ws ^p^tepmp (f>€tcr^p(&a
Petr. Fatr.j fr. 9, 2 (Cass. Dio, ed, Boiss.,^170, vol. Mi, p. 745): ort ol 2«tdat
TTpm fovs iv woXi<ri ijK^KXHapivovs awitrKmTrTOPy on ovroi ovk dv^p&anmv ^l&v {mrip^
dkX* dpviBiap iv mXtais eh to viftos KaSripevwp ml on mraXmdvres’ t^p ytjp t^p rpc-
ipovcrav avrovs dKapwovs ndkets^ iwtXeyoprm Kal on roh d'^vXot9 Sappomi pdXXov ^wep
aiuTOty.
Lib., de patrodmis (or, 47, ed. R. Foerster, voL lii, p. 404 ft'.). An admirable
analysis of the speech is given by F. de Ziilueta, Dr patrocmih vicontm^ in
P. Vinogradoft’’s Oxford Siudies in Social and Legal History^ voL i, 1909, p. 28 ft'.
It is to D^e regretted that the author did not pay more attention to the first eleven
chapters of the speech, where a special type of Is described— not
that of one powerful officer, as in the case of Libanius himself, but that of
a whole detachment of soldiers. The fact that the patrons of the villages
were to a large extent officers is explained not only by the important position
which the military commanders held in the provinces but also by the tendency
of the peasants to seek protection from those whom they supposed to be in
sympathy with them. 1 would again remind the reader of the feelings oi
allegiance which the villagers of the provinces show to their successful country-
men, their natural -protectors.
F. Preisigke, P. Cairo^ 4; Wilcken, ChresLy 379 (a. d. 320); cp. idem,
Qrundz.y p. 311. The sharp discrimination between the 7fou;!^ot and the Kmp^rai
(to which I have referred above, note 61) amounted to a division of the popula-
tion into two classes or castes. In the 3rd cent many yfovxoi were degraded
and became Koap^rai, but hardly any Ktopryrrjs became a yeovx^s except through
the army.
XII. The Oriental Despotism and the Problem of the Decay
of Ancient Civilization.
^ The best general history of the late Roman Empire which takes account of
the social and economic conditions is O, Seeck’s Geschivhfe des Uniergangs dcr
antiken Welt, vol. ii, 1901, with abundant references to the sources ; cp. his
numerous articles in rauly- Wissowa, and in various periodicals, quoted by
the author himself and by J. B. Bury, Hktory of ike Later Roman Empire^
ed. ^ 1923, vol. i, Ch. I and II (the best short description of the general con-
ditions which prevailed in the Roman Empire). Cp. L. M. Hartmann, Der
' anUkm WeU, m gemm^W^^dltoker Darskllungy vol, iii,
p, 201 if. It is needless to remind the reader of the brilliant pages of
ffibi^n on the same subject, stud of the comments of Godefroy in his
Notes : Chapter XII 629
edition of the Codex Tket^osmnm* A good bibliography Is appended to the
article of J, S. Reid, *Tlie Reorganization of the Empire/ in Cammidge Medieval
Hisiorj^^yoh i| 1911,^ p. 24 C On Constantine see the recent brilliant work of
J. Maurice j Comimiim k Grand et i^origine de ia civilisafion chritienm, 1924.
® Tlie^ point of view from which I regard the imperial power of Diocletian and
Constantine nearly agrees with that of E. Schwartz, Kaiser Constantin und die
ebristikhe Kircke, 1913 ; cp* the works quoted above in note i.
^ R. Grosse, Rdmiscke MilMrgeschichie von Galiienus bis mm Beginn der
hyzmttimsdiem Thmtmvtrfmsmg^ 3920; cp, E. Ch. Babnt, ‘Recherches sur la
garde imperiale/ in Rev* hist^ vols. 114 and 116, A new and excellent survey of
the work done both by Diocletian and by Constantine in reorganizing the Roman
army on completely new lines has been given by E. Nischer in /. R, S, 13(1923),
p. I If. (pnbL in 1925).
* See the article of J. S. Reid quoted in note i, and cp. E. R. Boak, ‘Roman
magis/ri in the civil and military service of the Empire/ in Harvard Stud, in Class.
PkiL, 1915.
® A. Piganiol, Dimpot de capitation sous le Bas-Empire romain^ 1916, and the
good bibliography there given, especially the articles of O. Seeck ; cp. the works
quoted in note i and F, Lot, ‘ Le caput du Bas-Empire et sa valeur fiscale,* in
Noiiveiie Rev. hist, du droit, 1925. On the edict of Diocletian, K. Bucher, ‘ Die
Diokletianische Taxordnung vom Jahre 301,* in Zeitschr. f Ges. Staatsw., 50, 1894.
On the situation of the ^middle class, Sir S. Dill, Roman Society in the last century
of the Western Empire, 1899 (last reprint 1921), p. 227 if.
® On the economic and social conditions of. the late Roman Empire see
(besides the works quoted in note i) P. Vinogradoif, ‘Social and economic
conditions of the Roman Empire in the fourth century,’ in Cambridge Medieval
History, voL i, 1911, p. 543 n. A brilliant account of the Western provinces,
especially of Gaul, is given by Sir S. Dill, op. at. Good information about Syria
is supplied by Libanius, the Emperor Julian, St. John Chrysostom, Johannes
of Antioch, and Zosimus; see Ch. VII, p. 244 ff., where I have collected the evi-
dence and quoted recent works. The picture given by these writers does not
differ greatly from that which Ausonius, Paulinus of Pella, Sidonius Apollinaris,
and Smvian draw of the province of Gaul ; on Salvian cp, R, Thouvenot, ‘ Salvien
et la mine de Fempire remain/ in de I Re. fr. de Rome, 38 {1920), p. 145 ff.
For Africa remarkable evidence is furnished by the mosaics of the 4th and 5th
centuries a. d., which give representations of some large villas of the period and
indicate the main sources of their owners’ income. Some of these mosaics are
reproduced on pL XLVII. 2, LVI, LVIII, and LX. 2; another example of the
same type is the well-known mosaic of Pompeianiis (Oued Atmenia near
Constantine, S. Reinach, RSp. d. peint, p. 359, i). From the economic point of
view the mosaics are important as showing that agriculture on the large estates
was not in any way decaying. While the production of corn was left to the
coloni, the more profitable and more progressive branches of husbandry were
concentrated round the central villa of the estate — the production of wine and oil,
horse-breeding (a profitable activity owing to the enormous development of
circus-races), cattle-raising, poultry-farming, and probably also fruit and vegetable
growing. In the earlier period the owners of the estates dwelt in the cities.
Now, as the mosaics show, they dwell as a rule on their estates, living the life of
real country-squires— hunting, supervising the agricultural work, acting as patrons
of the coloni, reading, and even entertaining scholars, philosophers, or philologists
(see the mosaic of Pompeianus, with the inscription filosofi, ox filologi, locus).
Note also that in the mosaic of Julius (pi. LVIII) the main occupation of the
landowner is to receive payments, mostiy contributions in kind made by coloni \
see the description of pi. LVIII. In this period Egypt is not so well known as
Syria and Gaul. The documents of the 4th and 5th cent are few. They depict
the life of those centuries almost in the same colours as the earlier documents
depict the life of the 3rd cent In the second half of the 4th cent, and in the
630 . Notes : Chapter XII
5th conditions Improved somewhat, or at least became more stable. But economic
decay was steadily advancing, and the pressure of the stale became more and
more heavy. See H. L Bell, *The Byzantine Servile State in Egv’pt; m Jomn.
of Eg. Arch, 4 (1917), p. 86 ff., and * An Epoch in the Agrarian HMory of Eg^^pt’
in Kecmil ChampoUion, 1922, p. 261 ff. ; A. Heisenberg atid L. Wenger, Byzmt-
imisclw Papyri in der K. Hof- md Stamtsbibiioihik &u Mimchen, 19,14 ; L. Wenger,
Volk imd Simi in Aegypim am Ausgung der Rimirkerrsdm/i, 1922 {with" an
excellent bibliography) ; F. Oertel, Die Liiurgie, 1917, and ‘ Der Niedergang der
hellenistischen Kuitur in Aegypten/ in Neue Jahrk kl AlL, 45 (1920), p. 361 E;-
A, S. Hunt and H. !. Bell, P. UJ^n, voL xvi, 1924 (documents of the 5th to 7th
cent. A, 0.) ; H. L Beil, and ChrisliaHs in Egypt, 1924. Two very instructive
series of documents illustrate the prosperous lite of soldiers in Elephantine, and
the oppressed life of peasants in the village Aphrodite : the former may be found
In P. Br, Mus., voL v, and in Byz. Pap, Mimch (fully quoted above), the latter In
J. Maspero, Papyrus grecs d^ipoque byzantine, vols. i-Iii, 1910-16. Of great interest,
too, are the documents referring to the family of Apion, a family of local origin
which belonged to the imperial aristocracy and held large estates in Egypt,
P. Oxyr,, 1829 (note to L 24). On the economic and social conditions of the
Byzantine Empire in general see L. Brentano, ^Die byzantinische Volkswirt-
schaft,^ in SchmoUers Jahrbuch, 41 {1917), p. iiff. ; cp. C. Roth, Soziak nmi
Kiilturgeschichie des byzantinischen Reiches, ed. 2, 1919. A general account of the
most recent studies and the new documents relating to Byzantine Egypt has
been recently given by H. 1 . Bell, ‘ The Decay of a Civilization,’ in Jown, of Eg,
10 (1924), p. 207ff.
On the different types of land-tenure in the late Roman Empire, see
my Sfudim, p, 393ff. A very instructive picture of a great fortune of the
5th cent. A. D. is furnished by the various sources for the life of St. Melania,
F. Allard in Rev, d. Quest, hist,, 81 (1907), p. 6 ff, ; cp. his articles on serfdom and
slavery, ibid., 89 and 90 (1911), and 91 (1912).
* On the old and the new mentality, see the brilliant book of J. Geffcken,
Der A usgang des grkchisch-rbmisckm Heidentums, 1920, with references to the
sources and a good up-to-date bibliography; for the Western Roman Empire
the subject is treated in the volume of Sir S. Dill, which has been quoted in the
preceding notes. The growth of the Church and the development of the Christian
mentality are described in Ed, Schwartz's Kaiser Consiantin und die chrisiiiche
Kirche, 1913. The abundant bibliography of the subject need not be quoted.
A good bibliography may be found in the Cambridge Medieval Hisioiy, vol i,
Ch. 4-6, 17, 18, and 21 ; cp. the general works quoted in note i.
^ It is impossible to give here a complete enumeration of all the books and
articles which have been written on the subject. In most of the recent articles
and books which are quoted in the following notes the reader will find general
surveys of the various theories expressed by the scholars of the 19th cent. It is
sufficient for our purpose to cite the most recent attempts to solve the
problem. I regret my inability to consult the article of M. Weber, ‘ Die sozialen
Grttnde des Untergangs der antiken Kultur,’ in Die Wahrheit, 6 (1896), pp. S 9^11
(Stuttgart).
J. Beloch, ‘Der Verfall der antiken Cultur,* in Hist Zeitschr,, 84 (1900),
p. iff.
E. Kornemann, ‘ Das Problem des Untergangs der antiken Welt/ in
Vergangenheit und Gegenwart, 12 (1922), 5, 6.
G. Ferrero, La mine de la dvtlisation antique, 1921 (first printed in the
Revue des Deux Mondes),
18 £ Heitland, The Roman Fate, an Essay in Interpretation, Cambridge,
, ‘1922., ^ . : _ , , ,
Notes : Chapter XII
** His well-kii 0 wri theory is fully staled in his genera! work, G^sch, d. Uniergmtgs
il rill/. 11 V//, vol L
” T. Fcanfc, *Race niixtwre in the Roman Empire/ in Amer. Hist Rev.^ 2r
(19161, p. 669 it, and A History ofRome^ 1922, p. 565 C His view, as expressed
in the latter bool,.coniyiies the economic and tne Diologkal theories.
A very good sim^ey of the problem .from the biological point of view has
been given recently by a young Russian scholar, N. A. Vassiliev, 7 he Problem oj
'ihi hmi of ihf Western Roman Empire and of Ancient Cmlizafiom Kazan, 1921
tin Russian). The theory of O. Spengler on the natural decay which is bound
to overtake tv try civilization belongs to a. certain extent to the same class, see
Der Unkrgang ms Abmdiandes, Umrisse einer Morphologic der Weltgeschichfe.
vols.
M. Rostovtzeff, ^ The Decline of Ancient Civilization,' in Russkaja 1922,
vols. vi-xii (in Russian ; a translation into Bulgarian by G. Kazarow was published
ill 1924).
L; 1
i " * V ' ‘ ' ! ' ' ■
’V< >5 ; > ,
I
LIST OF EMPERORS FROM AUGUSTUS TO.
CONSTANTINE
Aiigustus. (C: Octavius, after Ms adoption C. lulius OctaviaBiis) *■ —
Impv Caesar Augustus . . ; . ■ . • b. c. d. 14
Tiberius (Ti. Claudius Nero, after his adoption Ti. lulius Caesar). —
Ti Caesar Augustus , . . . . . . . a. d. 14--37
Caligula (C. luiius Caesar). — C. Caesar Augustus Germanicus . 37 ““ 4 ^
Claudius (Ti. Claudius Nero Drusus Germanicus). — Ti. Claudius
Caesar Augustus Germanicus . . . ^ . . . 41-54
Nero (L. Domitius Abenobarbus, after his adoption Ti. Claudius
Drusus Germanicus Caesar). — Nero {later Imp. Nero)
Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus . ^ . 54-68
Gaiba (Ser, Sulpicius) — Ser. (Sulpicius) Galba imp. Caesar
Augustus ... . . ■ . . . . . 68-69
Otbo (M. Salvius Otho). — Imp. M, Otho Caesar Augustus . 69
Vitellius (A. Vitellius). — A, Abtellius imp. (or Germanicus imp.) 69
Vespasian (T. Flavius Vespasianus). — Imp. Caesar Vespasianiis
■ Augustus . . . . 69-79
Titus (T. Flavius Vespasianus). — Imp. Titus Caesar Vespasianus
Augustus . . . . , . . . .
Domitian (T. Flavius Domitianus). — Imp. Caesar Domitianus
Augustus . ■ . ' . . ' . . .81-96
Nerva (M. Cocceius Nerva). — Imp. Caesar Nerva Augustus . 96-98
Trajan {M. Ulpius Traianus). — Imp. Caesar Nerva Traianus
Augustus . . . , , . . . . 98-117
Hadrian (P. Aelius Hadrianus). — Imp. Caesar Traianus
Hadrianus Augustus . . , ... , 117-138
Antoninus Pius (T. Aurelius Fulvus Boionius Arrius Antoninus,
after his adoption T. Aelius Hadrianus Antoninus Pius). —
Imp, Caesar T. Aelius Hadrianus Antoninus Augustus Pius 138-161
Marcus Aurelius (M. Annius Catilius Severus, after his adoption
M. Aelius Aurelius Verus Caesar). — Imp. Caesar M. Aurelius
Antoninus Augustus . , . . . *. . 1 61-180
Lucius Verus (L. Ceionius CommcMdus Verus, after his adoption
L. Aelius Aurelius Commodus Verus). — Imp. Caesar L.
Aurelius Verus Augustus . . . . , . 161-169
Commodus (Imp. Caesar L. Aelius or L. {or M.) Aurelius Com-
modus Antoninus Augustus). — Imp. Caesar M. Aurelius
Commodus Antoninus Augustus ..... 176-192
Pertinax. — Imp. Caesar P. Helvius Pertinax Augustus . . 193
Didius Julianus. — Imp. Caesar M. Didius Severus luiianus
Augustus . . . .. . . , . . 193
Septimius Severus. — Imp. Caesar L. Septimius Severus Pertinax
Augustus . , . . : , ' .. ■„ ' '■ ■. . , • ■" ' ,■ I93""2 1 1
Clodius Albinus. — Imp. Caesar D. Clodius Septimius Albinus
Augustus ......... 193-^97
Pescennius Niger,. — Imp. Caesar C. Pescennius Niger Justus
Augustus . . . . . . . . . 3 : 93 “'i 94
Caracalla (Septimius Bassianus, named in 196 M. Aurelius An-
toninus). — Imp. Caesar M. Aurelius Antoninus Augustus . 198-217
Geta (Lucius or Publius). — Imp. Caesar P. Septimius Geta
''Augustus 1 . . ”, 209-21;^
Emperors Jrom tAugustus to Constantine
Macrinus.— Imp. Caesar M.^ Opeliius Macrinus Augustus , , .
Diadumenianus. — M. Opeliius Antoninus Diadumenianus Caesar.
Elagabaius or^Heliogabalus (Varius Avitus, named M. Aurelius
Antomnus).— Imp. Caesar M. Aurelius Antoninus Augustus
Severiis^ Alexander (Alexianus Bassianus). — Imp. Caesar M.
Aurelius Sevenis Alexander Augustus . ■ . ■ .
Maximiiius.— Imp. Caesar C. lulius Verus Maximinus Augustus
Gordian I. —Imp. Caesar M. Antonios Gordianus Sempronianus
Romanos Africanus Senior Augustus
Gordian IL— Imp. Caesar M. Antonius Gordianus Sempronianus
Africanus lunior Augustus . ...
Balbinus. — Imp. Caesar D. Caeliiis Calvinus Balbinus Augustus
Pupienus.— -Imp. Caesar M. Clodius Pupienus Augustus .
Gordian IIL— Imp. Caesar M, Antonius Gordianus Augustus .
Philip the Arab. — Imp. Caesar M. lulius Philippus Augustus .
Deciiis.— Imp. Caesar C. Messius Quintus Traianus Decius (or
Decius Traianus) Augustus ......
Trebonianus Gallus. — Imp. Caesar C. Vibius Trebonianus Gallus
Augustus ■ . . . . . . . • . •
Yolusianus. — Imp. Caesar C. Vibius Afinius Gallus Veldumianus
A. D. 217-218
218
218-222
222-235
235-238
238
238
238
238-244
244-249
249-251
251-253
Yolusianus Augustus .......
Aemilianus. — Imp. Caesar M. Aemilius Aemilianus Augustus .
Valerian. — Imp. Caesar P. Licinius Valerianus Augustus .
Galiienus. — Imp. Caesar P. Licinius Egnatius Gallienus Augustus
Claudius II, Gothicus. — Imp. Caesar M. Aurelius Claudius
Augustus . . . . . . . . .
Quintilius. — Imp. Caesar M. Aurelius Claudius Quintillus
Augustus . . . . . . . » .
Aurelian. — Imp. Caesar Domitius Aurelianus Augustus .
Tacitus.^ — Imp. Caesar M. Claudius Tacitus Augustus
Florianus. — Imp. Caesar M. Annius Florianus Augustus ,
Probus. — Imp. Caesar M. Aurelius Probus Augustus
Carus. — Imp. Caesar M. Aurelius Carus Augustus .
Carinus. — Imp. Caesar M. Aurelius Carinus Augustus
Numerianus. — Imp. Caesar M. Aurelius Numerius Numerianus
Augustus . . . . . . .
Diocletian. — Imp. Caesar C. Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus
Augustus . . , . *
Maximianus. — Imp. Caesar M. Aurelius Valerius Maximianus
Augustus
Constantius I. — Imp. Caesar M. (or C.) Flavius Valerius Con-
stantius Augustus . . . . ...
Galerius. — Imp. Caesar C. Galerius Valerius Maximianus
Augustus
Constantine I. — Imp. Caesar Flavius Valerius Constantii^us
Augustus .........
INDEXES
I. NAMES AND SUBJECTS
Abascantiis, 152.
Abbasius, 567.
Abdera, 233, 491.
Abgari, 248.
Abila, 247^ 567.
Abrega, 552,
Abundance, 308, 316, 324.
* Abundance ' of ' food-stnffs (abtm-
danMa), 97, 137.
Abyssinia, 146.
Acceptarius, 581*
Acclimatization of animals, 489.
Accountant, chief (a rationibus), 55 ;
{irpayfiarucos), 428 ; representation
of, 96.
Accounts, 170.
Achaia, 111, 234; personification of,
324.
Achulla, 278,
Aciarios, 551.
Acornion, 503.
Acrae, 607.
Acroceraunian mountains, 536.
Aciarii et numerarii stationum, 593 •
Acte, 142, 197, 516.
Actium, battle of, 29, 39, 498.
Actores, 440, 497, 563.
Acts of Appianus, 522, 596 ; of the
Heathen Martyrs, 112, 368, 519, 520.
Actuaria (ship), 154.
Adamklissi, monument of, 585.
Adana, 93, 513.
Adlectiy 518.
Administration, imperial, 48, 78, 81,
105, 118, 128, 149, 168; 176, 212,
225, 269, 333, 344, 356, 395, 396, 409,
410, 413, 420, 422, 437, 453, 459* 474*
591 ; corruption of, 469 ; eques-
trianizing of, 598 ; freedmen in, see
Freedmen ; militarization of, 354,
395, 406-408 ; provincializing of,
355 ; slaves in, 94 ; source of new
aristocracy, 175, 185 ; system of, 79,
397, 403, 440, 441, 460 ; of the city
of Rome, 79, 80 ; municipal, see
City and Municipal ; provincial, see
Provinces. See also Africa, Car-
thage, and Egypt,
Administrative centres, 133 ; law, 543.
Adoption, doctrine of, iii, 116, 117,
352, 355* 386, 598.
Adorandus (horse), 404.
Adriatic area, 219; harbours, 157;
Sea, 71, 218, 221 ; shore, 234.
Aedemon, 509.
Aediles, 535, 550.
Aegae, 563.
Aegean Sea, 9, 233, 236.
Aegiale, 601.
Aegyssus, territory of, 557.
Aelia, municipia, 319.
Aelii, 557 ; Marcelli, 556.
Aelius, Aristides, see Aristides ; Capi-
tolinus, see Capitolinus; Gallus, 53,
91 Geminius Macedo, T., 560 ;
Marcellus, L., 558 ; Marcianus, 603 ;
Timininus, L., 292.
Aemilianus, M. Aemilius, emperor, 381,
390, 614.
Aemilius Macer, 603 ; Severinus, L.
(called also Phillyrio), 398.
Aenona, 223, 553.
Aenus, 233.
Aequians, 13.
Aerarium^ 326 ; militare, 172, 542 ;
Saturni, 617.
Aetolian league, 2.
Aezani, 322, 563.
Africa, 502 ; administration of, 291 ;
agriculture, 91, 187-190, 272, 275,
277, 296, 330* 505* 545* 584,-629;
annona, 533 ; cities in, 132, 133, 142,
3 t 43 > 236, 328, 329, 525, 527, 530 ;
colonies in, 34, 35, 130, 619 ; com-
merce, 2X, 67, 68, 146, 148-151, 157,
364, 492, 506, 534, 537 ; defence of
frontiers, 608, 609 ; delimitation of
land centuriation ')» 225 ; economic
conditions in, 492, 493, 629 ;• fairs
' in, 559 ; famines in, 529 ; imperial
estates, 199, 201, 584, 624 ; in-
dustry, 163, 167 ; invasions, 391,
41 1, 422 ; iuvenes, 501 ; landowners,
see Landowners ; land-tenure, 287,
289, 321, 322, 360, 549, 627;. lan-
guages in, 182, 544 ; large estates
489 ; slaves in, see Slaves ; ^ source
of wealth, 58, 59, 496 ; technique of,
3, 29S ; treatises on, *9, 10, 19, 63,
277. 492, 512 ; in Arabia, 251 ; in
Etruria, 10 ; in the lireek cities on
the Black Sea, 241 ; in Illyria, 221 ;
■ in Italy, 14, 74. 5^5.
535 ; m Latiiini, j i ; in Xoricum,.
296 : in Palestine, 248 ; iii Thrace,
230. See aiso Africa, Asia Minor,
Britain, Campania, Carthage, Dal-
matia, E^ypt, Caul, Germany,
Greece, Siciiy, and Spain.
Agrii, 553.
Agrimensores, 282.
Agrippa, 52, 57, 142, 196, 267, 280, 281,
502, 505, 573 : Postumus, 267, 497,
504.
Agrippina, 75, 267.
Ain el Djemala, inscription of, 580.
Ain Wassel, inscription of, 580.
Alabanda, 586,
Alabaster mines, 578. . .
Alae, 42, 104.
Alban legion, 353.
Aibano, 354.
Albenga, 426.
Albinus, D. Clodius, emperor, 351, 352,
444, 596“59B, 603.
Aiemanni, 390, 393,
Alexades, 590.
Alexander the Great, 51, 128, 249, 252,
262,373,494*
Alexander Severus, emperor, 346, 371,
388, 444, 604, 605 ; army of, 364,
: 37 - 2 » ■ 375 ”*- 377 . ■ ' 5 ^ G 605, 61 1 7
economic conditions under, 373,
374, 379, 380, 421, 612 ; internal
policy of, 375-3^0, 403, 405, 409, 605,
606, 61 1, 612 ; liturgies, 358, 374,
624.
Alexander, C. lulius, 268, 575 ; Ti.
Julius, 269, 575, 576, 586.
Alexandria, i, 132, 152, 524 ; com-
merce of, 93, 146, 147, 149. 3:50, 170,
3S0, 495. 499 >. 513. 533 . 595;
economic conditions in, 171, 174,
259, 266, 436, 438 ; industry of, 66,
67, 69, 7 G 73. 74. 147. ^ 4 ^. ^ 5 ^. 167,
170, 252, 495, 506, 507, 514, 54<^.
541 ; land of ( oIkos frokms ), 575 »
liturgies in, 409, 434, 596, 625 ;
municipal life of, 78, 139, 271, 361,
527, 571, 602 ; personifications of,
252, 514 ; revolts, iii, 112, 121,
263^ 347, 368, 369, 393. 519. 520,
• 5^4* 596 ; social conditions m, 261,
262, 439. 44 <^. 574 . 575 . 627.
Alexandrian articles, 158 ; associa*
Punic cities in, see Pumc cities; :
quarries, 296 ; revolts in, 345, 34^. j
349. 388, 398, 402. 4«>3. 595. 616 ; j
robbery, 620 ; Roman province, 8, ^
17 ; pre-Roman, 579 ; Romaniza- ;
tion of, 498 ; ruins in, 131 ; social j
strife, 482 ; social structure, 176, j
193, 278-283, 292, 293, 298, 356- j
358, 376. 377. 44 ^. 498, 579-583. i.
627 : tax-collection, 593 ; tribes, 5
554, 581; urbanization of, 50, ,51, ;
, 90,, 106, 280, 281, 285-287, 309, 319, ■■
. 322, 524, 600 ; wars, 25, 502, 614 ;
Gentral, 66 ; Proconsidar is, 154, 272, ;
274, 279, 282, 283, 290, 330, 388, 529,
579. 591 ; South, 536.
African aristocracy, 185, 277, 291-293 ;
army, 104, 398, 402, 444 ; castella,
379 ; coast, 275, 600 ; fleet, 288 ;
corn fieet, 347, 380, 595 ; lamps,
538, 539 : Latin, 544 ; legion, 285 ;
mosaics, 276, 404, 476 ; villas, see
Villas.
Aga Bey, petition of, 360, 364, 602.
Agedincum (Sens), 144^^ 164, 206.
Agellius Apollonides, C., 594.
Agenks in rebus, 460, 623.
Agents, of the emperor, 42, 50, 81,
99, see Procurators ; police, see
Police.
Ager Campanus, 493 ; censorius, 2 yB ;
privatus vectigalisque, 279 ; publims
Populi Romani, 194, 278, 508, 547,
* 555 ; Romaniis, 14, 15.
Agoranomos of Alexandria, 575.
Agrarian laws, 13, 493.
Agri decumani, 547.
Agricultural building (wupyoff), 576 ;
big concerns, 209, 211, 212, 290, 363,
549, 61 1 ; districts, 133 ; factories,
62, 504 ; implements, 72, 192, 302,
313, 496, 504, 506, 550, 61 1 ; repre-
sentation of, 64 ; work, representa-
tion of, 204 ; workmen, see Work-
men.
Agriculture, 491 ; capitalistic, 3, 14,
19. 23, 30, 61, 63, 90, 93. ^82, 183,
187, 203, 209, 212, 213, 218, 277,
296, 489 ; crisis, 453 r decay of,
484, 485 ; divine protectors of, 224,
242 ; Hellenistic patterns of, 30 ;
intensive, 215 ; labour in, see
Labour ; markets for, see Markets ;
progressive forms of, 550 ; scientific,
19, 61, 63, 90, 94, 182, 183, 186, 187^
190, 192, 203, 218, 277, 290, 296, 298,
Index of Names and Subjects
tions, 261 ; corn fleet, 347, 533, 301, 332, 370, 443-447, 452, 4;
595 ^ glass, 513; martyrs, 520, see 461, 469, 482,, 520, 367, 627, 62
Acts ; i^assacres, 444 ; merchants, see Army, Class war, and Soc
91, 147, 266, 393, 513; silversmith, ' xevoiution. .
252 terra-cottas, 527. Anthedon, 248.
Alexandrians, 77, 78, in, 120, 264, Anthus, 268, 575.
268, 269, 299, 300, 368, 508, 510, Antigonids, 458. ,
. 519, 520, 522, 571, 572, 574 - 577 * Antinoupoiis, 130, 273, 319, 527, 5<
Alfiiis Clodius, 607. 626.
Algeria, 608. Antioch, i, 132, 147, 171, 242, 244, 2.
AHmenia, 172, 183, 308, 313, 314, 316, 248, 358, 368, 444, 446, 524, 527,
35^f 5i^f 5^3^ 5^7» 5^^* 5d6“568, 604 ; of Pisidia, 188, it
* ' cities, 16, 83. | 526, 528, 590.
Allies, Roman, 24, 25, 41, 43. ; Antiochean senate, members of, 566
Allobroges, 202. ^ j Antiochos Epiphanes, 520.
Allowances in kind, 140. I Antisthenes, 115, 521.
Alpine districts of GanI, 52 ; monn- I Antistii, 291.
, tains, 65 ; provinces, 133, 216, 217 ; j Antistius Rusticus, L., 528.
regions, 1 53 ; tribes, 193. : Antitanrus, 239.
Alps, Maritime, 620. I Antonia, daughter of Claudius, 2^
Aithiburos (Medeina), 133, 154, 525, | 573; Drusi, 267, 573; Saturni]
537. 5 5^2.
Aiypius, 436, 439, 627. Antoninianus, coin, 4^7> 618.
Amber, 66, 67, 71, 506, 531, 534. Antoninus, name of, 356, 598.
Amisos, 146. Antoninus Pius, emperor, 117, i
Ammaedara, 283, 580, 582. | 127, 129, 147, 301, 325, 338, 3
Ammianus Marcellinus, 527. ! 521, 584, 59^“593» 595-
Amor, 152; (horse), 404. Antonius, a citizen, 594; a genei
Amores, 92, 96, 98. j 87 ; M., a veteran, 572 ; Naso,
Amphiaraus at Oropus, 563. 227, 555.
Amyntas, father of Philip II, 561. | Antony (M. Antonms), 28, 35, 39,
A naholicae species, 61 1, 618. I 5^* 54» 79> ^95> 268, 451, 494, 5
Anabolicum, 379, 536, 61 1, 612. 546, 573, 574.
Anachoresis * ^^9, 256, 349» ? Anubis, 254.
360, 437, 578, 579, 599. ; Apamea, 244, 247, 536, 566, 567,
Anatolian gods, 237. i Aper, Arrius, 394;
Anauni, 509, 545. j Aperienses, colofii, 549*
Anchialus, 232. | Apphion, 238.
Ancyra, 564, 558. I Aphrodisias, 596, 619.
Andros, 547, 594. Aphrodito, village, 630.
Angareiae, 334, 335, 366, 592, 607, see Aphroditopolis, 577.
Compulsory work. Apion, 268, 575, 630.
Annaeus, 581 ; Am. Ad vena, D., 581 Apocalypse, see Revelation.
Florus, 129 ; Seneca, see Seneca. Apokolokyntosis, 509, 510.
Annins Florianus, M., 394 ; Octavius Apollo, 44, 77, 126, 238, 252, 308, 4
Valerianus, 184. 5^^*
Annoe, 436. ApoUonia, 221, 250, 232, 234, 560.
Annona, 137, 148-153, 238, 341, 423, Apollonius of Aspendos, 540; di
428, 432-434, 464, 468, 533, 58.6, 595, keUs, 489, 569 ; stmtegos, 270, 5;
60a, 612, 624 ; curator of, 139 ,* of Tyana, 114.
yvcdcrrrip, 433 ; personification of, Aponii, 268 ; Saturami, 574.
316, 324 ; praefectus, 347, 540, 590, --Aponms Saturninus, M., 574.
592, 610 ; praepositus or procurator Apotheosis, 535.
expeditionis , 603 ; prosecutio, 238, Apparitor es, 3.2, 184.
■^74,4^4,607,625; prosecutores, Appian, exegetes of Alexandria, 4,
524. 624, 627 ; gymnasiarch, 522, 59
Annonariae species, 6ii. see Nets.
Announa, see Thibilis. Apprentices, 169.
Antagonism, social, 12 1, 237, 245, 233, Apuleius, 544, 592, 620.
63 8 Index of Names and Subjects
Apulia, 10, 31, 63, 191. 514. ! oJ. 297. 298 ; decline of, 448 ;
Apulum 229 556. i economic conditions of, 186, 285,
Apustii,’49i.’ ' 293,630: ideals of.' 535 : opposi-
Aquae Sextiae. 203 ; Sulis (Bath), tion to emperors of, 365, 367 ; per-
133 2 ^ 3 * seciition of, 370, 399; provincial
Aqueducts* 18, 135. 253. ' members of, 248;' min of, 411;
Aquila, 566: C. Julius'. 575. Latin, ii, 13. 14; military, 395,
Aquileia, 73, 132, 162, 184, 216. 217, ; 407. 413. 415. 439, f>09; municipal!
325, 343, 388, 389, 403, 525 ,595, 598, decline of, 372, 518 ; dominant role
599 ; commerce of, 68,' 71, 72, 149, of, 119, 142, 291 ; enslavement of.
J33 i37_ 172, 218, 228. 230, 492, 412; economic conditions of, 178,
531’ 534,’ 551 • industry of, 67, 71, 185, 292, 293; freedmcn in. too;
72, 506, 515, 534, 551 : social struc- growth of, 97, 107, 530 ; militariza-
ture of, 193. 498 ; territory of, 330 ; ; tion of, 353 ; opposition to emperors
wealth of, 143, 186, 530. of, 365 ; persecution of, 370, 374,
Aquileians, 506. 399 : responsibility of, 396, 462 ;
Aquincum, 133, 225-227, 527, 554, ; Romanization of, 201, 299 ; ruin of,
603. 411, 454, 474 : social structure of,
Aquinum, 59. 48, 177, 472 ; social strife, 237, 442,
Aquitania, 202, 443,446,520; wealth of, 142, 176,
Pacis, 45, 46, 53, loi. 203, 223 ; native, 51, 176, 177, 213,
Arabia, 53, 66, 91, 93. 132, 146, 147, 222, 223. 248, 249, 253, 277, 285.
285, 309, 526, 532, 536; Petraea, 556, 560, 3G4, O22 ; new, 100, 119,
147, 244, 251. 317, 532. 141, 410. 41 1, 441, 460, 477, 618;
Arabian army, 351, 567, 617; com- Oriental, 518; provincial. 106, 353,
merce, 251, 513: coast, 513: ex- 358, 403, 440, 563, 568, 598;
pedition, 53, 502 ; harbours, 91, 93 ; Republican. 15, 19, 22, 23, 57, 58,
merchants, 91 : language, 544 ; re- ; 99. 107, 119. 282.^ 294, 447, 492, 317 ;
naissance. 544 ; tribes, 249, 251, 570. i senatorial, see Senatorial; of ser-
Arabs, 182,242,251, 253,275, 285.414, ! vice. 175, 177. 183, 185, 473 ; tribal,
567. I 203, 21 1 ; village, 302, 445, 446, 569,
Arague, 426, 621. 57^*
Aramaean lands, 244 ; language, 1S2, i Aristotle, 2.
Arlon (Orolaunum' vicus), 143, ■ 206,
430, 534, 541.
Armenia, 6, 53, 237, 239, 241, 307;
526, 544, sH’
Armenian army, 557,
Armenians, 182.
Arms, 17, 153, i66> 225, 310, 422, 506,
534-
Army, barbaiization of, 123, 124, 201,
414, 455,. 458, 478, . 596: basis of
imperial 'power, ,'83, 256, . 355,'. 395',
■ ■^494»' 597 ; , bebaviour ■■ of, 45,. riB,:'
■ 325, 326, 373, 392, 423*' '5§2r.'b05;
607 ; burden on the state, 309, 380,
417, 610 ; class feelings of, 87, 369,
388, 442-445, 447> 45 ^^ 453, 4 ^^*
469, 482 ; defence of provinces,
■ 251 ; democratization of, 597^, 598 ;
field, 458 ; frontier, 457 ; instru-
ment of oppression, 436, 437, 440 ;
landowners in, see Landowners ;
master of the state, 41, 372, 401,
406, 412, 413, 441 ; mercenary, 5,
6, 26r, 414, 441, 458 ; mood of, 116,
410, 451, 535, 61 1 ; opposition to
: emperors, 85, 113, 114, 350 ; organi-
Araiores, 194, 195.
Arausio, 132, 548.
A rea (private purse of the emperor), 55.
Arcadia, 235, 509, 561.
Arcadius Charisius, 359, 60 r.
Archiereus of Alexandria, 574.
Ardiaeans, 219, 221, 552, 566.
Areius, 575.
Arelate, 132, 155, 202, 359, 532, 535,
540.
Arelatenses, navicularn, 592, 602.
Areilius Successus, L., 496.
Arezzo, 12.
Argenfariiis, representation of, 184.
Ariadne, 92.
Ariassus, 563.
Ariminum, 528.
Aristagoras, 503.
Aristides, Aelius, 120, 125, 127-129,
131. 135, 37°> 398. 416, 489, 513,
522, 529. 595, 614 : ‘ To Rome
speech of, 125, 127.
Aristocracy, Carthaginian, 492 ; eques-
trian ; Etruscan, ii ; imperial :
concentration of land in the hands
Index of Names and Subjects 639
zation by Augustus, 40-43 ; Oriental
charicter of,’ 617 ; of peasants, me
Peasant^ ; permanent, 39 ; political
role of, 26-“28, 75, 84, 86, 127, 371 ;
private, 31 ; professional, 25-27, 41,
42 ; provincial, 55, 75, 84, 85, loi,
121, 124, 343, 348, 330, 331, 333,
* 413, 414, 458, 598; provinciaiiza-
tioii of, 103, 355 ; recruitment of, 42,
43, 104, 106, 212, 222, 223, 232, 247,
248, 287, 306. 317-319, 351, 353, 363,
364. 378- 390. 457. 458. 493. 499, 500.
51 1, 512, 518, 523, 524, 532, 551, 582,
585, ,610, 616 ; reforms of, 25, 26, 87,
88; loi, 103, 104, 353, 405, 407, 413,
414, 457-459. 481, 499, 617, 618,
629 ; religion of, 348, 617 ; repre-
sentations of, 102, 228, 312 ,* reserves
of, 457, 458 ; revolts, 84, 85, 350,
351 595 596, 598: of Roman
citizens, see Citizens ; Romanization
through, 201, 550 ; social structure
of, 23, 25, 27, 48, 99, 100, 103, 121-
124, 128, 318, 354, 335, 375-377,
395. 414. 443, 451. 472, 627, 628 :
supplies for, 9, 17, 67, 95, 102, 138,
146, 149, 153, 157, 158, 188, 208, 209,
215,226, 231, 241, 243, 298, 310, 311,
336, 3^>3. 3%. 422, 423. 427. 433.
462-464, 468, 471, 529, 557, 586,
590, 591, 599 ; transportation of,
152, 228, 312, 337, 338, 363, 374,
625 ; Arabian, 351, 567, 617 ;
Armenian, 557 ; Cappadocian, 557 ;
German, 603 ; Illyrian, 351, 382 ; of
Judaea, 624 ; Oriental, 586 ; Palmy-
rene, 532, 567 ; Thracian, 351 ; see
also Africa, Britain, Danube, Egypt,
Hellenistic, Rhine, and Syria.
Arnea, 594.
A mens is, iribus, 581.
Aromatic substances, see Perfumes.
Arrears, 314, 317, 320, 324, 326, 341,
342, 437, 467, 542, 586.
Arretine pottery, 68, 166, 498.
Arretium, 37.
A rrianus, fundus, g2.
Arrii, 583.
Arrius, 600 ; Antoninus, C., 528 ;
Menander, 363, 603.
Arsinoite, nome, 599.
Artas, 540.
Artemis, temple of, 541.
Artisans, 36, 51, 72, 271, 478, 506, 515,
538 ; associations of, 168, 432, 515 ;
emigration of, 229 ; enslavement of,
264, 469, 470, 473 ; free, 19, 33, 47 ;
influx from the East, 21 ; local, 165,
166, 168, 203 ; slaves, 515 ; social
I standing of, 177, 265, 273, 286, 293,
I 298, 535; taxes paid by, 379, 466,
* 469 ; village, 249, 255 ; working for
i the state, 259, 432, 471.
; Artorii, 553.
; Arupium, 554.
Asbolodeini, 557.
; Asclepiades, M. lulius, 268, 575 ; son
of Ptolemaeus, 268, 575 ; Try-
phonis, 594.
Asclepios, 252.
j Asellius, 496.
i Asia. Central, 158; Minor, 526;
agriculture of, 139, 148, 189 ; bond-
age in, 466 ; cities of, 7, 8, ii, 112,
133. 141 ; civilization of, 485 ;
colonization of, 35 ; commerce of,
67, 146, 157, 241, 495, 503, 536, 540 ;
; discontent in, 121 ; earthquakes in,
S9, 391, 503 ; economic conditions
in, 22, 187, 188, 236, 237, 239, 326,
426, 493, 512, 590; fairs in, 559 ;
famines in, 528 ; feudal system in,
425 ; Hellenistic culture, 6 ; im-
perial estates in, 199, 201, 357 ;
industry in, 73, 74, 161, 167-169,
506, 507, 539 ; invasions of, 390,
391, 394, 411, 422; languages of,
i 182, 299, 544 ; laws in, 173 ; litur-
gies in, 336, 341, 342, 359, 374, 437 ;
mines in, 294-296 ; monuments of,
143 ; natives of, in Egypt, 261 ;
policy of Hadrian in, 322 ; pre-
tenders in, 113, 423; religion in,
126, 238 ; road system in, 150 ;
robbers in, 620 ; ruin of, 351 ;
slaves from, 21 ; class war, 448 ;
social structure of, 176, 185, 193,
236, 237, 239, 297, 301, 351, 362,
563, 594, 601, 627 ; urbanization of,
51, 262, 319, 331 ; villages in, 564,
589 ; wars in, 8, 9, 489, 491 ; Pro-
vince of, 8, 274, 360, 526, 540, 564,
597'i
Asiarch, 564.
Asiatic temple of Venus in Sicily, 194.
Asinianus, fundus, 92.
Asinius Nicomachus Flavianus, C., 546.
Asinnia, 594.
Asisium, 59.
Askalon, 248, 298.
Aspendos, 540, 601.
Asseiia, 223, 553.
Associations, 142, 159, 168, 178, 359,
408, 409 ; militarization of, 409 ;
privileges of, 160, 337, 595 ; of
artisans, 168, 432, 515 ; of cen-
tonarii, 361, 409, 551, 555, 595 ; of
conductor es, 291, 360, 582 ; of
lf$d€X Numbs uud Subjicts
Greeks in Egypt, 263 ; of the cross- j
roads, 517; of indiistnaiists, 379; ;
^ of merchants, Merchants ; mm- ^
ing, 295; professional, Profes- ,•
sional; religions, 140, 286, 558; of ;
shipowners, see Shipowners ; of shop-
owners, 168, 178, 474; of trans- .
porters, 159 1 of wwkmen, see
Workmen ; of young men, see :
luvefies. See ulso CoUegt<^» Ck>rn- ;
panics, and Corporations.
Assos, 126, 133. i43» 527. 530.
Asturia, 547.
Asturians, 201,
Asturica, 132.
Assyria, 173, 457-
Atelia, 559. ,
Athena, 513 ; temple of, 563.
Athenaides, 577. . , ,
Athenian banking, 499 ; industry, 304 ;
sophists, 6x4.
Athenians, 2.
Athenodorus, C. Julius, 268, 575.
Athens, i. 3, 132, 135* M3» ^^5.
277, 323, 483. 489. 526. 561-
Athesis (Adige), river, 498.
Atinii, 268, 574.
Atinius Ti, f. Fabia Tyranus, T.,
574*
Atintani (Antani), 560, 561.
Atius, T. f. Firmus, M., 558.
Attalids, 129.
Attains III, 8.
Attica, 235, 322.
Attici of Athens, 270.
Attii, 291.
Attis, 252.
Attius C. f. Voturia Exoratus, C., 366.
Aubuzza, 580.
Aucissa safety pins, 69, 506,
Auctions, 467.
Augsburg, 2x6.
Augusta, Gens, 44, 46 : Pax, 53, lox ;
Praetoria, 2x6 ; Raurica, 133 ; Tau-
rinorum, 216 ; Treverorum, 132,
208 ; Vindelicum, 216, 550.
Augustales, 100, 503, 5x7.
Augustan diarchy, 441 ; poets, 44, 500.
Augustinus, 544.
Augustodunum (Autun), 445.
Augustus, emperor, 50X--507, 510, 513 ;
administration, 81 ; army, 40-43>
104, 413, 414, 481, 499, 500 ; civil
wars, 28, 29, 494 ; colonies, 35, X07,
234, 498, 555, 609 ; consolidation
of the Empire, 47 ; constitutional
principles, 106 ; divinization of,
; economic condi-
-60, 88, 90, 304:
agriculture, 61-65, 941 commerce,
91. 931 industry, •71-74 ;
economic policy, 52, 54, ^55, 74, 89 ;
inances, 55, 57, 79, 105*, 339, 542,
5,43 ; foreign relations, 52,, 53, §6,
205, 217, 221, 230, 306, 307 ; health
resorts, 200; interna! policy, 65, 80,
' X08, 174, lySt 37^» 449. dio ; opposi:
tion to, 108 ; pacification, 30, 53, 56,
loi, 463 ; popularity, 43 ; portrait,
■ 46 ; power, 39, 77 ; private fortune, •
55 1 propaganda, 44 ; provincial
policy. 4S-51, 82. 1 19, 195, 546: in
Africa, 280-282, 285, 286, 580 : in
Egypt, 264-269, 271. 273. 57^* 572»
578 ; reforms, 38. 43, 95» 452*
454i 469 J urbanization, 50, 51, 82, ,
83, 103, 105, 318, 331.
Auletes, 572, '
A arm, 46.
Auranitis, 242, 569.
Aurelian (L. Domitiiis Aurelianus),
emperor, 392, 393, 407-410, 418, 419,
421-423, 433. 435* 445* 452* 45f>»
612, 617-619, 621, 628.
xAureiiani, 409.
Aurelianus, landowner, 569 ; Bico-
stratus, P., 540.
Aurelii, 554. . . ' .
Aurelium Durostorum, ' munmpmm^.
557*
Aurelius, Marcus, emperor, 117, xi8,
347 * 352, 355* 35 ^* 522, ....
^g6-59S; armv of, 118, 121, 123,
312, 443. 457.. 511. 523. 524, 97.
618 ; economic conditions under,
34^, 349* 595 J economic policy of,
326, 359, 3^^* 530* 590, 592, Sii:
ideals of, 102, 405, 535, 592 ; mter
nal policy of, 327, 342-345, 374, 4®^
591, 600-602 ; revolts under, 301
■ 556 *, wars of, 123, 146, 325, 326
374* 393 » 59^ ^ column of, 102, 312
535, 586, 591, 621.
Aurelius Adelphius, 447 ; Claudianus
.,434; Eclectus, 426; Heracleius,
: 625, 626 ; Hermias, 435^ 606, 626
I Horion, 607 ; Serenus, alias Sara-
j pioHs, 440, 626, 627 ; Victor, see
I Victor.
I Aureolus, 391.
Aurifices, representation of, 96.
Auroman, 250.
Auvufft covouaf'iunt and iivoHtcuM, see
Taxes.
Ausonius, 475, 485, 544* ^^9*
' Auxiliary regiments, 12 1, 201, 222, 247,
I 287, 458 ; , numeri, s^7 1 soldiei
I 201, 228, 553 ; troops, 41, 43 f 4
641
Index of Names and Subjects
51; 85, 87, 104, 106, 122, 123, 223,
499, 5TO, 532, 557.
Avidius Cassius, 325, 3447 347, 596,
599 -
Axiim,,i46, 513, 619.
Azov, Sea of, 243.
„ Baal, 567.
Baalbek, 132, 526, ,567 ; temple of, 247.
Babylon, 625.
Babylonia, 161. 457, 483 ; codes of,
173-
Babylonian law, 173 ; trade associa-
tions, 160 ; traditions, 536.
Bacchuina, gens^ 581.
Bacchus, 92, 126, 508.
Bactria, 6.
Baebiiis Juncinus, 607.
Baetica, 1S9, 196, 198, 199, 202, 203,
547 *
Bagaudae, 424.
Baitocaece, temple of, 247, 567.
Bakers (pistores), 32, 96, 540.
Bakery, 62 ; trade, representation of
various operations of, 32.
Baibinus, D. Caelius Calvinus, emperor,
382, 384, 388, 403, 444, 611, 613.
Balkan lands, 391 ; mountains, 230 ;
peninsula, 169, 182, 234, 319, 445;
peoples, 102.
Balkans, 233.
Ballista, 391.
Baltic lands, 531 ; Sea, 145.
Bankers, 37, 169, 170, 172, 186, 21 1,
323, 420, 540, 541, 590 ; representa-
tions of, 144, 224.
Banking, 3, 31, 36, 58, 155, 170, 171,
203, 21 1, 498, 499, 541 ; com-
panies, 171 concerns, temples as,
541, 542 ; slaves in, 94.
Banks, 170-172, 541, 542, representa-
tion of, 206 ; of exchange, manager
of (Ko'K'kv^taTiKal Tga7T€^ai), 420 ; local,
21 1 ; municipal, 170; national, of
Palestine, 249 ; state, 542 ; state
land, 606.
Banquets, public, 80, 14 1 ; see Distri-
butions.
Baquates, 422.
Barbarians, settled on land, see Land ;
in the army, 458.
Barbarization of the army, see Army ;
of the Empire, 352, 478-480, 486,
487, 547 ; of the officers’ corps, 353.
Barbii, 72, 218, 230, 534, 555.
Barges, representation of, 210, 228 ;
see Ships.
Barley, 434.
Barmen, 172.
2354-2 *1
Barn, representation of, 290.
Barter, 543.
Basilicae, 132, 135.
Bassaeus Rufus, 523.
Bassianus, see Alexander Severus
Elagabalus.
Bastarnai, 342.
Batavian cloths, 539.
Bath (Northern Syria), 567 ; (Eng-
land), see Aquae Sulis.
Baths, 132, 135, 178, 329.
Batna, 567.
Bavares, 422.
Bayeux (Normandy), 276.
Bazaars, 126, 507, see Market-places.
Beads, 73.
I Bedouins, 66.
Bee-keeping, 153.
Belgica, see Gallia.
Belgium, 166, 205, 209, 219, 296, 506,
539 / 54 ^-
Bellenus Gemellus, L., 270, 576, 577.
Benefactors of cities, 14 1, 188, 375,
529, 607, Foundations.
Beneficiarii, 366, 428, 438, 620, 623,
625, 626.
Beneventum, arch of, 308, 312, 314,
5^5^ 5^7^ 583 ; city of, 308, 529, 587,
588; territory of, 183.
Bequests to cities, see Foundations.
Berber aristocracy, 277, 291 ; lan-
guage, 182, 299 ; goddess, 272.
Berbero-Phoenician cities, 277 ; -Punic
communities, 291.
Berenice, Julia, 268, 270, 575.
Bergomum, 193, 216.
Beroea, 233, 234, 310, 547, 560, 586 ;
territory of, 560.
Berytus, 359 ; territory of, 567.
Bessi, 557, 558.
Bessus, 558.
Bindus Neptunus, god, 554.
Biracsaccarenses, civ Has, 580.
Bithynia, 114, 121, 132, 241, 310, 343,
390, 511, 523, 526, 557, 559, 562,
565, 586, 593, 595.
Bithynian cities, 169, 310, 520.
Black Sea, 6, 9, 67, 69, 132, 146, 230-
232, 239, 243, 304, 390, 557.
Blacksmith, 249.
Blassius Nigellio, L., 366.
Blemmyes, 41 1, 422, 619.
Blickweiler, 538.
Boats, 537 ; with cabin, representa-
tion of, 254; messenger, 288;
military (liburnica), representation
of, 254 ; passenger, 172 ; police,
288 ; swift, representation of, 288,
see Ships.
t
^^2 Index oj^ Numbs and Subjects
Boeotia, 322, 522- , ,
Bondage to residence and profession,
396, 397. 409. 432. 465. 466. 468.
469, 471-473. 475. 540.
Bonds, 31.
Borma, 208, 213.,.
Bononia, 498,
Bonosns, 394.
Borani, 39^. . ^ o .
Border .lands, 284, 458, 601, 608, 610,.
619, see Frontiers. ■
Bori, necropolis of, 506.
Boscoreale, 56, 64, 76, 252, 495» 49^,
504.
Bosnia, 552.
Bosporan kings, 146, 241, 243, 014,
kingdom, 146, 171, 239, 241, 243,
247, 310. 317^390, 53^» 532, 557 ^
merchants, 146.
Bosporus, 239, 565. ■
Bostra, 132, 133, I47i ^5^^ S^o, 532.
Bourgeoisiey 489, 517, 535> 55^ »* decime
of, 183, 186, 190, 375> 451* 453» 47^ J
destruction of, 399* 447» 44^> 45-'
469, 474 ; economic activity of, 19,
57-59' dg, 96, 203, 217, 235, 291,
51 1, 512 ; Egyptian, 259, 266, 269-
271, 273, 300' 301 ; emigration of,
i99» 49^ J equestrian, see Eques-
trian ; growth of, 2, 22, 23, 34, 3^^'
90, 99, 100, 201, 222, 229, 233, 287,
537 ; Hellenistic, 21 ; importance
of, 107, I77-I79' 332, 449 5 loood of,
56 ; oppression of, 367, 369, 408,
4S4, 4do ; political activity
of,^24ri5 4 83, 87, II5' 127, 365'
402, 403, 405, 406, 410, 41 1, 442,
443 ; responsibility of, 339, 340* 361,
362, 468; ruin of, 4ii~4^3' 4^9'
444, 462 ; Sicilian, 194-196 ; social
structure of, 47 ; village, 443 ;
wealth of, 142, 143, I45» ^67, 176,
177, 297, 298, 305, 626, see City
residents.
Bread-riots, 389, 540.
Brestovica, 555.
Breviaries, 381.
Bribes, 349, 363, 364, 428, 429, 438,
460, 475, 477 ; to soldiers, 353, 362,
597' 598.
Bricks, 539.
Bridges, 79.
Brigantinus locus (lake of Constance),
153*
Brigetio, 226. ;
Brindisi, 73.
Brioni Grande, 218, 220, 552* :
Britain, 214, 328, 422:, 423;" 45^ J
agriculture in, 189, 272, 296 J cities
.of, 13^' 133' 5^5' 5^7 : 172 ; '
commerce, 21, 06, 67, 69, 91, 148,
^53» '555' F57. 3^4 J conquest of, 52,
. 306 Wnomic conditions, 512,
big; industry, j 63, 166,550*; lan-
guage, 182 ; mines, 295, 296, 583 »
revolts of the army, 350, 35 C 595 »
596 ; social structure, 212, iij, 215, .
216 soldiers from, 391 ,414: urbani-
zation, 106; villas, see Villas; wall
of 'Hadrian, 588; wars, 315* 3 ^ 7 '
365.
Brixia, 193, 216.
Bronze, 66; enamelled articles, 166,
■ 539 ; implements, 547 ; industry,
71 ; plate, 69, 72.. ibj* 5«b. 534 '
weapons, 534.
Bronzesmiths, 71.
Bruttiiim, igi.
Bruttius, L., veteran, 572. ■
Brutus, 28.
Bug, river, 241.
Boideuterion, 126.
Bulgarians, 232.
Bulla, bandit, 362,
Bulla Regia, 133, 525, 593, 603.
Bulls, representation of, 20.
Bureaucracy, 448, 461, 482 ; bar-
barization of, 395 ; corruption of,
460; development of, 77, 78, Si,
82, 105, 1 16, 203, 325, 333' 459 ;
functions of, 130 ; improvement of.
317 ; militarization of, 395» 4<?7»
410, 412, 423, 440, 459; social
structure of, 175. 185 ; system of,
128, 363, 459, 4^>o; see Administra-
tion.
Burgariif 609.
Burgesses, 86, 105, 443.
Burgi, 378, 608, bog.
Burgundy, 64.
Burnum, 222, 534.
Burrus, 513.
Business activity, 90 ; agents, 33 ;
Hfe. 174, 421, 543; managers, 199.
; 556 ; men, 17, 22, 36, 54, 57, 58* 96,
! 164, 211, 215, 243, 261, 264, 279,
i 289, 308, 332, 421, 542, 556, 58S ;
I representation of, 224 ; wstems,
j 484 ; transactions, 137 J 61 trans-
I portation, 145* 260; in wine, 92,
184.
Byblis, 234*
Byblos, 513.
* By-dwellers * [KaroiKoit }UT0tK0i^ irapoi-
; «e*). 137. 231, 237. 30^' 370. 56“.
563.
Byzacena, 283, 286, 580, 581, 59J-
Byzantine Chronicles, 613 ; cml law%
Index of Names and Subjects
643
173; codices, 173, 174 ; Empire,.-
478, 630 ; ^period, 421, 476 ; rule in
Africa, .275.
Byzaiitiinn, iii, 132, 310, 358, 391,
444; 526.
Cabridres d’Aignes (Vancluse), 210. '
Caelidius Fronto, Paulus, '560, 586. -
Caeliiis Floras, 587.
Caerwent, 133.
Caesar, julins, 52, 80, 205, 237, 493,
496; army, "40, 451, 494 ; civil
war, 27, 28 ; colonization, 35, 107,
279, 280, 579, 609 ; deification, 45,
494 ; internal policy, 49, 50, 61, 82,
^95. 339, 510, 54^ i reforms, 39,
452,494-
Caesarea, 132, 248, 249, 277, 590.
Caesarenses ad Libamim, 567.
Caesarians, 279.
Caesar is servi, 100, see Slaves.
Caesius Victor, 560.
Caicus, I.
Calabria, 63, 191.
Calama, 582.
Calendars, rustic, 204, 272,
Cales, 37.
Caligula, Gaius, emperor, 75-77, 84,
86, 112, 113,119, 267, 348, 356, 456,
508, 509, 573.
Caliphate of Arabia, 478, 479.
Callaecia, 201, 547,
Callatis, 230, 557 ; territory of, 557.
Calleva Atrebatum, 133, 213.
Callimachus, 577.
Callistratus, 358-361, 596, 601, 602.
Callistus, 390.
Calloniana, 546.
Calpumii, 503.
Calpurnius Tryphoii, Ti., 268, 575.
Calves, 599, 606, representation of, 254.
Calvia Crispinilla, 534.
Calvisiana, 546.
Cameiros, 250.
Camels, 66, 242, 260, 284, 572, 606 ;
representation of, 242, 246, 250, 260.
Cameos, 71.
Campagna, Roman, 329.
Campania, agriculture, 10, 30, 63, 94,
182, 191, 329, 496, 516 ; cities, 14,
16, 58, 69, 7i» 5i3> 533 ; commerce,
68, 70, 94, 151, 533 ; decline, 143,
1 51, 183 ; industry, lo, 19, 69, 71,
73> 93> 9b, 126, 163, 495»
518 ; villas, see Villas ; wealth, 58.
Campanian glass, 69 ; silversmiths,
252 ; wines, 492.
Camps, see Fortresses.
Campus Martius, 45, 46, 53.
I Camulodunum, 213.
I Canabae, 51, 208, 216, 227, 354, 378,
! 557. 598-
Canals, 259, 260, 429, 431.
; Canatha, 251, 568, 569-
, Canopus, inscription of, 570, 571.
: Cantons in Gaul and Spain, 547.
Capellianus, 388, 398, 399, 402, 403.
; Capheaton, Northumberland, 214.
; Capidava, 558 ; territory of, 224, 558.
I Capita, 466.
I Capital, 343V 363» 453» 543 ; accumula-
I tion of, 3, 23; of the cities, 342 *
I concentration in Roma of, 16, 17 ;
I draining of, 374 ; of the Empire,
400 ; investment of, 17, 18, 35, 58,
165, 185, 267, 311 ; levy, 368, 604 ;
; relation to labour, 2 ; source of, 183,
r 474- ■ ■ .A,.
I Capitalism, 193, 482-484 ; commercial,
' 1,3, 483 ; individualistic, 263 ; indus-
trial, 3, 165, 482, 483.
Capitalistic agriculture, see Agricul-
ture ; commerce, 159 ; concerns,
165, 166 ; industry, see Industry ;
life, 21 1 ; mass-production, 165 ;
methods, 90, 222, 538 ; system, 2,
3, 10, 19, 30, 37, 267.
Capitalists, 9, 17, 18, 21, 23, 31, 33,
36. 55. 95. 142. 145. 169, 183, 186,
190, 199, 208, 21 1, 249, 261, 266,
267, 271, 279, 282, 295, 340, 495 ;
agents of, 33.
Capitoline Triad, 356, 554.
Capitolinus, Aelius, 384.
Capitoniana, 546.
Cappadocia, 146, 237, 239, 241, 557,
Cappadocian people, 182 ; army, 557.
Capsa, 283.
Captives, 312, 374, 414, 425, 620, 621.
Capua, 37, 67, 69, 70, 559.
Capuan metal plate, 69, 506.
Caput, 465.
Caracalla, emperor, 300, 346, 352, 359,
3bi, 3^4. 3b5. 3b7-37b, 379* 399* ^^7*
421, 431, 444, 594» 598, 599* 602-607,
610, 614.
Caralis, 197.
Caravans, 133, 147, 160, 251, 537, 560.
Caria, 420, 526, 586.
Carians, 182.
Carinus, emperor, 381, 394, 418, 614.
Garni, 219, 343, 561.
Carnuntum, 133, 225, 226, 366, 527,
531. 355* bi7-
Carpenter, 249.
Carpets, 161.
Carpi, 389, 393.
T
644 Index of Names and Subjects
Carrara, 294.
Carriiae, 601.,
Carsiom, territory of, 557.
Carthage, 132, 173, 19S, 43 ^, 47 ^» 524 ^
581, 596; administration, 8, 90,
275, 278, 280, 281, 285, 409, 579, 580;
agriculture, , 10, 21, 197, 275, 277,
292, 293, ^492, 584 ; altar, 44, 46 ;
commerce,. 275, 304, 492, 493 ; cnlt
of, 280, 579 ;■ indostry, 163 ; policy
of Rome, 15, 21, 22, 51, 65, 275,
,278, 280, 492, 498 ; revolts, 402,
■ 4.03,' 616.
Carthaginian aristocracy, 492 ; domi-
nions, 8, 9, 14, 16 ; rule, 90 ; state,
51 ; territory, 274, 491.
Carts, representation of, 20, 260, 272.
Cams, M. Aurelius, emperor, 394, 418.
Casae, village, 580, 582.
Casellius, 504.
Cassandrea, 234.
Cassiani, 596.
Cassius, 28 ; C., 503.
Castabala, 563.
Caste, 354, 472,, 473, 475. .
Cmiella, 241, 280, 281, 285, 286, 376-
379» 55^^ 579. 5^<^. 5^2. 608, 609 ;
attached to a city, 579, 580.
Castellani, 608.
Casteilieri, 218.
Castor, temple of, 31.
Castra Regina, 216, 550 ; Vetera, 208,
213.
Castro Urdiales (Flaviobriga), 200.
Castulo, 200,
Catali, 219, 343, 561.
Catascopiscus (ship), 154.
Catilina, 279.
Catina, 546.
Cato, 9, 21, 72, 275, 492.
Cattle, 2, 17, 192, 195, 209, 245, 289,
313. 374. 491. 528, 553. 606, 61 1 ;
breeding, 3, 19, 23, 209, 212, 215,
230, 263, 290, 489, 502, 629.
Catullus, 67, 496.
Caucasian shore, 239.
Caucasus, 69, 146, 390, 506.
Celaenae, 237, 520, 562.
Celei, 545.
Celeia, 217.
Celer, 557. «
CeleUs (ship), 154.
Cellae (Ain Zouarine), 283.
Celoces (ship) ,154.
Celtic aristocracy, 176, 213 ; boats,
537 ; cities, 551 ; commonwealth,
208 ; cults, 555 ; dress, 555 7. in-
vasion, 26 ; lands, 15, 298, 466, 544;;
landlords, 215 ; language, 2^
markets, 91 ; names, 551 ; nation,
■535; parts of the Empire, 218;
■ peoples, 10, 51 ; provlhcial popula-
tion, 21, 122, 153, 176, 208, 213, 216,
217, 498 ; tribes, 219, 226, 32^ 551 ;
villages, 205.
Celto-Ge.nnan frontier provinces, 122 ;
parts of the Empire, 351 ; settlers,
211.
Celto-Germanic tribes, 25.
Celto-Iberians, 25, iBi, 20,1, 221.
Celto-Illyrians, 221, 223,
Celto- Roman . army, 35 1 ; civUmies,
217.
Celts, 6, 8, 84, 85, 1.82, 2,15, 2ig, 230,
486, 551.
Censors, 18, 194, 278, 292.
Census, 48, 175, 357, 464, 467, 468.
561, 569, 599.
Centenarii, 426, 623.
Cenionmrii (hrenien), 361, 409, 551, 553,
594» 595-
Centuriae, 225, 282. '
Centuriation, 225, 229, 2.79, 555.
Centurionate, 354.
Centurions, 354, 436, 437, 472, 596,,
593.
Centuripae, 546.
Cercidas, 489*
Cereals, 90, 94, 251 •
Ceres, 92, 204. 324 ; temple of, 581.
Cessio bonorum, 435, 594, 003, 60b, 025.
Chaeremon, 503, 578.
Chaff, 433, 624 ; see Fodder.
Chalcis f Euboea), 600 ; (Lebanon),
247,567.
Chaldeans, 182.
Charmis or Charmos, 575.
Charmus, 436.
Cheese, 242, 260, 276, 553 ; factory,
62, 504.
Chersonesus (Crimea), 132, 146, 239,
243. 53 L 557 f 5^5 > taken by,
565,
Chicken-yard, representation of, 430.
China, 66, 147, 148, 158, 479. 5^3> 53t>*
Chiniava, 580.
Chinithi, 285, 292, 581.
Christian church, 456, 457, 473, 479*
Christianity, 479, 486.
Christians, 453, 456, 457, 567, 603.
Chronicles, 381, 383, 384, 387.
ChuUu, 277, 285, 286.
Cihyra, 188, 530, 545, 590, 595-
Cicero, |[o, 15, 20, 154, 194, 195, 278,
49;i--493. 496, 497» 5^o, 535, 546, 561.
dhpia^' 132, 239, 520, 526, 563, 564.
283.^ ^
Index of Names and Subjects 645
Circus, races, 629.
Cirta, 35, 132, 277, 279-281, 283, 285,
.^.286, 579. * ; ,
Cities, * allied/, i6, 83,; attached, 280,
286,; on imperial estates, 130 ;
Italian, 17, 18, 49, 176 ; Latin, 13,
16. ■
Citizens,' Roman, in 'Africa, 278, 279,
286, 289, 580-582 ; aristocracy of,
447 ; army of,' 27, 33, 40, 41, 43,
52, 104, 121, 123, 372, 458, 500 ;
colonies of, sm Colonies ; com-
munities of, 227; in Egypt,. 271,
378, 432 ; emigT'ation of, 18, 35,
328 ; increase of, 15, 107, 369, 370 ;
minority in the Empire, 300 ; mood
of, 28, 30, 38, 39, 52, 80 ; new, 399 ;
political activity of, 29, 34, 51, 83,
85, 1 16; privileges of, 29, 39“4i,
45, 82, 130 ; representations of, 308,
314, 324 ; ruling class, 36, 40, 41,
106, 128, 332 ; settlements of, 232,
233, 299, 554, 557, 558 ; in Sicily,
194 ; social structure of, 47, 176,
193 ; taxes paid by, 49, 54 ;
tenants, 297 ; wealth of, 16, 17, 23 ;
Italian, 17, 18, 29; Latin, 15, 300,
551 ; municipal, see Municipal.
Citizenship, Roman, 472, 51 1 ; grant
of, 82, 106, 121, 195, 300, 369, 370,
378, 431, 509, 605 ; loss of, 435 ;
loss of value of, 370, 371 ; to sol-
diers, 43 ; spread of, 103, 120, 493 ;
struggle for, 24, 25 ; Italian, 49,
511, 523; Latin, 103, 106, 217,
300.
City administration, 50, 95, 176, 283,
342, 467 ; budget, 139 ; civiliza-
tion, 135 ; constitution, 22, 103, 129,
239» 253 ; councils, 47, 50, 78, 99,
137, 245, 271, 336, 341, 361, 362,
420, 427, 428, 432, 433, 434, 447,
451, 459, 461, 468, 469, 510, 528,
540, 541, 571, 601, 602, 624, 625 ;
curatoves, see Curatores ; expendi-
ture, 131, 135, 137, 141; franchise,
169, 193, 237, 300, 540 ; income,
3:35, 137 ; organization, 78, 82,
131, 212, 262, 376, 431, 437 ; privi-
leges, 379 ; representatives, 49 ;
residences, 33 ; residents, 4, 18, 34,
52, 61, 82, 83, 87, 90, 102, 122, 123,
127, 135, 175, 180, 181, 216, 287, 301,
331. 332. 3^2, 370, 598, 616, see
Bourgeoisie ; self-government, 50,
130, 131, 262, 263, 273, 37 ^ 37 ^*
412, 459“46L 477> 543» 57^ 1 states,
2, 26, 36, 39, 127-130, 338, 449,
462, 467, 483, 486, see Greek
cities ; territories, see Territories ;
see also Municipal and Municipia.
Civil law, Greco-Egyptian, 542 ; Hel-
lenistic, 3, 173 ; Roman, 172-174,
I 542, 543; Laws.
I Civilized world [olKovfiivrj), 127, 128.
I Civit^ Castellana, 20.
Civitas Avensensis, 281.
Civitates, 122, 195-197, 208, 2x2, 217,
278, 281, 283, 289, 291, 501, 580,
609 ; peregrinorum, 605 ; stipen-
diariae, 195, 196, 299, 546.
Clans, 194, 201, 202, 221, 253, 547,
554 ; see Tribes.
Class war, I, 2, 8, 24, 25, 448, 481 ; see
Social revolution.
Classis Africana Commodiana Her-
culea, 595 ; Fla via Moesica, 557.
Claudia Athenais, 270, 577 ; Bassa,
563; Eupatoris Mandane Aticilla,
Ti. Claudia, 577 ; Isidora, alias Apia,
440, 577» 627.
! Claudianus Artemidoriis, 560.
Claudius, emperor, 75, 76, 84, 508-510 ;
administration, 78, 81, 105, 139, 340,
571 ; colonies, 223, 555 ; com-
merce, 91, 93, 149, 150; economic
conditions, 94» 95> ^7^* 573 ;
economic policy, 186, 274, 336, 337,
592 ; foreign policy, 230, 306, 513 ;
imperial cult, 77 ; provinces, 119 ;
urbanization, 82, 83, 103, 105, 217,
286, 318, 319, 509.
Claudius II, Gothicus, M. Aurelius,
emperor, 391, 392, 418, 419, 445.
Claudius Atticus, Ti., 529 ; Bassus
Capitolinus, 563 ; Diognetes, 610 ;
Eutychides, 271 ; Eutychus, Ti.,
497; Firmus, 433; Irenaeus, Ti.,
578 ; Julianus, 592, 610 ; Marcellus,
626; Theopompus, Ti., 559.
Clay, 163.
Cleander, 345, 347.
Clearing-house, 155, 157, 208.
dementia, 308, 316.
Cleopatra, 29, 54, 79, 494.
Clergy, 478, 479.
deruchi, 266.
Clients, 14, 31, 34, 209, 21 1, 240, 297,
475 -
Cloth, 98, 144, 153, 162, 164, 434, 539 ;
dyed, see Dyed stuffs.
Clothes, 72, 73, 96, 144, 148, 149, i 55 >
216, 256, 302, 422, 624.
Clothing, 17, 153, 208, 310, 435. 514*
Coactiliarius, 98.
Cobbler, 249.
Coccei, 557.
Cocceia, Julia, 558.
646 ' Index (f Names and Subjects
Cocceiws, Eiius, 558 ; Nerva, 505 ; 55S. ^
Codex Jmiinmms, 173, 448 ; TMo-
dosianus, 173, 448, 467, 605. .
Coelios Halys, C., 552. ' :
.Cohorts, 42, 104, 232, 553, 567 ; prae- ^
torian, see Praetorian ; urban, 41, j
■353, 402:. !
.Coinage, 67, 541, 588; local, 171.; .
monopoly of, 380.
Coins, 66, 91, ^
346, 382, 4i7-4i9> 45^» '^^i. ; ;
see Money.
Colapiani, 226, 227, 555.
Collegia, 135, 361 ; dendrophorum el :
centonariomm, 409 ; industrial, 168 ;
mvenum,seeliivene$; oiBl&.yes,i 6 B ; \
iemiiormn, 168, 178, 323, 539, 544 ; !
see Associations. |
Co//^i?2ones, 363, 364, 603, 620. i
Cologne, 208, 209, 548, 549. j
Coloni, 35, 63, 65, 245, 430, 472, 493, ;
540, 558, 584, 589, 602, 60S, 629 ; i
adiutor colon i, 549, 532 ; houses of j
coloni, representations of, 290, 430 ; |
see Tenants. ;
Colonia Agrippinensis, 132, 208, 213; j
Claudia Aequum, 223 ; lulia Vienna ;
(S. Romain en Gal), 204 ; Uipia !
Traiana, 208, 213. j
Colonies, 14, 17, 18, 129, 176, 195, 197, !
198, 202, 213, 221, 223, 229, 23*3, 234, ;
281, 283, 286, 289, 304, 309, 332, j
495. 509. 533. 544. 546. 580, 609; i
attached to a city, 286, 579 ; founda- ;
tion of, 15, 34, 50, 82, 107, 187, 233, ;
308, 317, 490, 312, 579, 5S7. 617 ;
Latin, 14, 17, 18, 83, 120, 129, 195,
332, 512 ; military, 134, 216, 249,
283, 328, 498, 510, 555, 587, 609 ;
right of, 83, 120, 227, 280, 283, 287,
299, 377* 51^2, 532, 600, 601, 610 ;
of veterans, 33, 71, 130, 198, 227,
234. 285, 358, 378, 555.
Colonists, 3, 16, 35, 195, 197-199, 201,
221, 227, 229, 278-282, 291, 498,
598, 601.
Colonization, 14, 15, 34, 35, 198, 199,
218, 221, 229, 249, 251, 275, 279,
282, 309, 492, 494, 622.
Colossae, 594.
Columella, 63, 89, 93, 94, 193, 504, 51 1,
Comes limitis, 567,
Comitatenses, 458.
Comites Augusti, 354.
, Cpmitiana, 546. ■ ’• - ^ „
Cbmmagene, 237, 239, 52^#^' 5 ^ 4 *'' ■'
Commander of the army, 26, 39, 40^
■"''"•4:3']^ ettraordinary ' ' 'military,: 2'y/,
. ’ 493. ; 'of thelieet, 434 ; of the cavalry
{magister equUmn), 459 ; of the in-
fantry (magisier peiiium), 459.
Commerce, 54, 58, 61, b 7 -‘ 7 .|,'i 5 ih 165,
.' 170, 229,' 302, 379, 474, 47% 483,
492 t* 493 * 498* 5 « 5 . 5 ^^^ 534 '“
■ 537* 553 J capitalistic, 159 ; decay
of, 94 * L 50 # ^^ 3 * ^^ 7 * -235, 453,
462, 470, 471 ; decentralization of,
150, 157, 158; development of, 65,
gi, i6r, ifxj, 176, 228, 251, 253, 306 ;
foreign, 3, 66, 69, 91, 93, 133, 146-
148, 159, 161, 243, 258, 259, 261, 305,
42L 503, 5 t> 5 * 5 ^ 3 . 53 «-' 532 , 53 ^>i 537 *
619 ; individualistic character of,
1-60 ; internal in Egypt, 336 ; inter-
■ provincial, 66-69, 157, 159,
161, 536; intraprovincial, 133, 150,
151, 157 ; maritime, 3, 91, 133, 161,
174* ^ 5 ^, 379 * .50^* 537 * 543 :
nationalization of, 54, 259, 408 ;
policy of the central government
toward, 54, 138, 139 ; river, 133,'
537,* ruin of, 41 1, 018; slaves in,
see Slaves ; source of large fortunes,
145, 161 ; wholesale, 58, 148, 153,
184, 209, 538 ; world, 145, 4t)9 ; of
Arabia, 251, 513 ; of the Hellenistic
monarchies, 5 ; of Histria, 534 ; of
Ostia, 151 ; of Palestine, 368 .; of
the Punic cities, 10 ; see Africa,
Alexandria, Aquileia, Asia Minor,
Britain, Campania, Carthage, Dal-
matia, Danube provinces, Egypt,
Gaul, Germany, Greece, Greek cities,
Palmyra, Russia, Spain, Syria ; see
also Merchants and Trade.
Commercial activity, 16, 65 ; build-
ings, 507 ; capitalism, see Capital-
ism ; cities, 66, 133 ; class, 471 ;
concerns, 514; fleet, 337, 380, see
Fleet ; legislation, 543 ; money,
513 ; practice, 543.
Commodus, emperor, 117, 119, 120,
355* 362, 481, 598, 614 ; army, 121,
^ 23 * 345 * 34 ^* 350* 375 * 443 * 445 7
economic pokey, 347-^3 5<^* 356, 359,
373* 4<^» 600, 61 1 ; opposition
to, 344, 345, 347* 3.50, 352, 522,
596; religion, 347, 456, 596;
revolts, 327, 345, 349, 350, 363,
596 ; struggle against the senate,
345, 348 ; terror, 327, 345, 599 ,*
„wars* 327,, 345* 5^^*
Communes (TroXireufiara), 263, 378,
;6o3,, ,
■CpiaiiiuiiitieSi mixed, in Africa, 51, 281,
49S, 580, in Scythia Minor, 558 ;
..fPoman, 208 f tribal, 103, 594.
Index of Names and Subjects
Companies i6o; of bankers,
171 ; of bnsiness men, 289 ; mining,
295 ; of » tax-farmers, see Tax ;
trade, 159, 160 ; see Associations.
.Compiium, 517. !
Compulsion, 160, 256, 380, 396, 410, |
420, 425, 431, 438, 440, 441, 456, ■;
457, 47C ,477* 47^.
625. ■ ■ ■
Compulsory contributions, 362, 3.63,
368, 423; to cities, 140, 338;
deliveries, 374, 428, 453, 462, 466, j
579. 599. 606, 624, of animals, 334, |
^5. 337. 366, 374, 467, 609, of j
drivers, 334, 335, 337, 366, 609, of i
fodder, 334, of food-stuSs, 334, 363, I
423, 433, 462, 464, 592, of wine, 428, j
599, 606, 624 ; enrolment of new I
members in the corporations, 409 ;
gifts, 417, 453 ; levies, 42, 309, 327.
343. 363. 364. 414. 423. 44c 45c
458, 523, 606, 609, see Conscription ;
loans, 326, 338, 453, 591 ; payments,
see Payments ; purchase, 334, 606,
624 ; responsibility, see Responsi-
bility ; service to the state, 334,
337-340, 379, 380, 592, 596, 602.
607 ; supplies, 417, 599, 606, of
ships, 334 ; work, 5, 226, 232, 259,
295, 296, 300, 301, 310, 320, 327,
333-33S. 340-342. 34^. 359. 3^2,
374. 379. 39b, 410. 423. 432, 44^.
453. 459. 4^2, 4<>7”469. 474. 479.
see Angareiae,
Comum, 185, 193, 216.
Concessionaires, 5, 171, 259, 266, 317,
420, 435. 532, 540.
Concessions, 5, 159.
Conciliabula, 559.
Concordia, 216, 528.
Condiments, 66, 147.
Conductores, 201, 217, 289, 291, 317,
340, 360, 578, 582, 591, 608 ; vecti-
galium publicorum, 595.
Confiscations, 30, 33, 79, 271, 334, 335.
341, 358, 362, 373, 374, 400, 403, 411,
427, 428, 438, 454, 462, 543, 597.
599 ; of land, see Land ; of public
property, 400, 403 ; of the property
of temples, 400, 403.
Congiaria, 345.
Conon, 519.
Consacraniy 558.
Conscription, 123, 345, 414, 457. 45^.
524 ,* see Army and Compulsory.
Constance, lake of, 153.
Constantine, 450, 452-454, 456, 457,
459, 470, 472. 475, 481, 597. 6.8,
623, 629 ; axch of, 521, 585, 621.
647
ConstiiuHo Anioniniana, ^6g, 370, 60 r,
605.
Contractors, 197, 225, 321, 322, 330,
357, see Conductores ; (redemptores) ,
32, 295, 296.
Contracts, 137, 174, 541.
Contributi, 202.
Contributions, 9, 49, 358 ; see Com-
pulsory.
Control by the state, 4, 55, 138, 256,
259. 265, 266, 347. 3^0. 40S, 409,
432, 434, 459-461, 625.
Convicts in mines {damnati in metal-
lum), 295, 296, 322.
Copper, 71, 198, 547.
Coptic renaissance, 544.
CurMfa (ship), 154.
Corbulo, 586.
Corconiana, 546.
Cordnba, 132.
Corinium, 553.
Corinth, 2, 65, 132, 483, 526.
Corn, buyers of ((rtrwat), 139, 149,
528 ; dealers in, 95, 139, 149, 150,
210 ; distributions of, 80, 509, 563 ;
export, 138, 147, 188 ; famine, 188 ;
fleet, 347, 533, 595, 596 ; grinding,
building for (/xilXo*.), 576 ; imperial,
568 ; import, 69, 146, 188, 243, 495,
566 ; land, 95, 505 ; payments in,
599, 624 ; prices, 95, 282, 586, 590 ;
production, 10, 14, 19, 31, 61, 95, 97,
138, 184, 187-189, 191, 194, 196, 197,
204, 206, 209, 212, 222, 235, 241, 251,
276, 277, 284, 292, 296, 319, 465, 489,
492, 493, 495. 497. 511. 512. 516.
545. 549, 553. 568, 577. 629 ; pro-
vinces producing, 15, 21, 188, 505,
529. 546. 582, 590, 595; requisi-
tions, 312, 374, 528 ; storage, 62,
529 ; supply, 282, 347, of the
armies, 138, 153, 433. 59 L of the
cities, 95, 137-^39. 238, 310, 517,
528, 590 ; trade, 9, 36, 66, 97, 138,
144, 148, 155, 157, 195, 210, 533,
582, 590 ; transportation, 149, 152,
184,242,436.
Corn-ears, representation of, 272.
Cornelius Felix Italus, P., 528 ; Pronto,
M., 529 ; Marcellus, 510 ; Primo-
genes, L., 92.
Corporations, 168, 359, 361, 380, 397,
409, 474, 515. 539. 540. 602, 612,
618 ; building, 409 ; foreign, 533 ;
of merchants, see Merchants ; of
priests in Egypt, 263 ; professional,
160, 532, 539, 618 ; of shipownep,
see Shipowners. See also Associa-
tions.
648 Index of Names and Subjects
■ Corporation hall ’ of Ostia, 149, 151. I Cyprian, 380.
533, I Cyrenaica, 132, 301, 315, 31;, 589.
Corsica,8,3i,i94, 197,198, 274,497-546- ! Cyrene, 132, 274, 525, 57<^.
Coroiw, 5 ; see Cpmpulsory work. i Cyzicus, 132, 526.
Cos, 527, 5O3. ! . •
Cotton, 93, 147. I Daci, 558.
Councils of the cities, 606, see City ' Dacia, 174, 225, 228-231, 295, 296,
councils; provincial (kohi.i), 49, 141, 301, 307, 309, 315, 421, 524, 345,
142. 554-556, 585. 589, 595- hiy, 020.
Cowboj’s (^DUKu^oi), 301, 327, 579, 585. Dacians, 558.
Cows, 31, 184, 215, 290, 312, 504, 599, Dacibyza, 593.
606 ; representation of, 20. Dairy, 276.
Crafts, 514, 538, 340 ; see Trades. Dalmatia, 123, 157, 217, 219, 279, 309,
Craftsmen, see Artisans. 55^-554 : agriculture, 222, 223, 29b,
Crassus, 52, 53. 545, 621 : cities of, 132. 133, 153,
Credit, 3, 31, 169, 543 : cheap, 187, 525, 548 ; commerce, 223, 300, 534 ;
31 1 ; operations, 16, 16^, ,170, 542. mines,. 71, 224, 225, 294-296;
Cremona, 87. ■ revolts, 301, 524, 5S5 ; social striic-
Crescens Didins Crescentianiis, C. ' ture, 227, 231; iirbanization, 222,
lulius, 582.
'Cretan cities, 2.
Crete, 2, 274, 579.
Crimea, 93, 132, 146, 231, 239-241, 243.
223, 554.
Dalmatian clans, 554 ; coast, 187, 189,
506 ; tribes, 225.
Dalmatians, 42, 53, 2it|, 221, 2i.|, 229,
284, 422, 532, 565, 566.
Crinitus (horse), 404.
Crntislones, coloni, 349.
Ctesiphon, 132, 147, 527.
Guicnl (Djemila), 133, 285, 525, 581,
582, 590.
Cumae, 559.
Cupids, 92, 96, 98.
Cupido (horse), 154.
Cumtores, 561, 582, 588 ; frumenti
Alexandrini, 625; of provincial
cities (Koyiorrm), 315, 317, 34I, 342,
467, 588 ; kahndarii, 342 ; special,
431 ; summiis (treasurer), 577 ;
If iarum, 528, 591.
Curiae, 135, 287, 470, 473 ; iiinionim,
287, 402.
Ciiriales, 448, 468, 470-474.
Currency, 169--171 ; depreciation of,
380, 417, 420, 421, 453, 463, 464,
626 ; fiduciary, 419 ; gold, 421 ;
imperial, 420, 421 ; new (Kaipov
v6fiL(Tixa), 419 ; private, 542 ; regu-
lation of, 408 ; small, 542 ; stabili-
zation of, 3 ; wine as, 439. See
Money.
Cursiis publicus (postal service), 78,
^^8 so8 boo.
552.
Dama, 497.
Damascus, .132, 244, 247, 248, 52b,
567, 584 ; soldiers from, 5 08.
Danube, 52, 53, 207, 218, 227, 230, 287,
310, 534, 554. ; army, 51, 85,
124, 146, 149, 157, 207, 225, 228,
3%'~39-2, 407» 5O0, 598, 617,
619 ; cities, 133, 152, 226 ; colonies,
130; defence^ 231; fleet, 22b;
forts, 609 ; frontier (iimes), 55, 216,
225, 507^ 309. 3 ^ 9 > 325. 37D 37X 38^.
390, 55b boB ; wars, 42, 233, 306,
307* 3i5> 389-393. 515. 524. 595-
Danube lands, 102, 377, 538, 551, 614 ;
economic conditions, 143, 167, 358,
3b2, 600, b20 ; land-tenure, 297,
298 ; native languages, 299 ; pre-
tenders, 423 ; tribes, 217, 307, 581 ;
urbanization, 106, 195, 226, 227,
232-234, 309, 319, 328, 559.
Danube provinces, ib3 ; agriculture,
189, 545 ; commerce, 21, 65, 67, 71,
143, 153, 157, 187, 219, 229, 492,
50b, 512, 531, 534 ; financial man-
agement, 55 ; invasions, 325, 389,
390, 411,^421, 422; mines, 67;
religion, bi7 ; social structure, 176,
3bo, 560.
Danubian emperors, 392, 394 ; market,
94, 150, 157, 492.
Daorsi, 553.
Dardania, 123, 229.
Etedaniahs, 226*
Dskssaretii, 561.
Index of Names and Subjects 649
Dealers, hi birds, 164 ; in corn, 95,
139. 149^ ^ 50* 210 ; in flowers, 92;; in
iupiiis, 380; in oil, 532, 625';' in
wine, 152, 210, 380, 532; see Met-
cliants/
Death-demon, 184.
!>ebts, cancellation of, 2, 172, 314, 317,
320,489; war, 338. '■
Decapods, 244, 569,
i)ec 0 pmtia, 358, 359, 594, 601, 620.
Demproioi, 341, 342, 428, 431, 434,
436, 594, f>2(>.
Decebains, 307, 309.
Decemprimi, 341, 594.
Becii, 381.
Deciiis, C. Messius Qiiintns Traianus,
emperor, 382, 389, 405, 613, 617.
Decmnae, 196.
Decumates Agri, 296, 549,
Decuriae, 554.
Decurions, 193, 436, 440, 548, 567,
577^ boi, 620.
Dediticii, 300, 369, 370, 443, 584, 605,
Defensio or definitio, 285, 376, 581.
Deforestation, 329.
Delicatessen, shops, 68.
Delimitation, 225, 279, 282, 283, 289,
322, 554, 561, 567, 569.
Deliveries of goods, 466, 599, 61 1 ; of
vestments for the temple, 435 ; see
Compulsory deliveries, Payments,
and Taxes,
Delminium, 222, 534, 553.
Delos, 150, 158, 277, 493, 499, 508, 541.
Delphi, 235, 490, 541, 561.
Delta, 254, 261, 263, 274, 301, 327, 577.
Demeter, 76, 126, 238.
Demetrius Poliorcetes, 4 ; the tarsi-
carius, 428.
Demoi, 563.
Denarius, 417, 618.
Denmark, 531.
Depopulation, 308, 31 1, 314, 328, 330,
424, 425, 428, 466, 606, 620, 621.
Depots {stationes ) 158 ; state-depots
of horses, 593.
Derbyshire, 276.
Deserters, 327, 363, 603.
Dexippus, 397, 398.
Dia, 559.
Diadumenianus, emperor, 605.
Diana, 308.
Didius Julianus, emperor, 351, 610.
Didymus, policeman, 426.
Digest, 173, 358, 359, 363-
Dijon, 156.
Dio, Cassius, 89, 108, 124, 365, 367-
369, 371; 381, 407, 408, 542, 596,
605, 606 ; Chrysostom, 104, 109-
III, 113-115, 1 17, 120, 127, 128, 131,
135, 168, 169, 180, 188, 234, 2^7, 301,
323/ 397 . 403. 405. 4 i 6 » 5 II> 512,
519-522, 529, 561, 562, Alexandrian
speech of, 109, 519, Bithynian, 519,
520, 540, Borysthenic, 521, on king-
ship, 127, Rhodian, 109, 113, Tar-
sian, 234.
Diocletian (C. Aurelius Valerius Dio-
cletianus), emperor, 394, 419, 433,
434, 448, 450, 452-457, 459, 463-466,
468-470, 472, 475, 477. 481, 597. 619.
623, 629.
Dioeketes, 431, 489.
Diogenes of Tyre, 426.
Diogmitai, 523.
Dionysius of Halicarnassus, 125.
Dionysodorus, 268, 575.
Dionysopolis, 230, 503.
Dionysos, 242, 252, 565 ; temple of, 563.
Dioscuri, 238, 252, 536.
' Discipline ciilt of, I j 8.
Distributions, 80, 141, 400, 509, 562,
563, 586 ; of land, see Land.
Dium, 234.
Djemila, see Cuicul.
Dnieper, river, 145, 231, 241, 307, 531.
Dniester, river, 231.
Dobrudja (Dobrodgea), 231, 296, 557.
Docks, 243.
Doclea, 133, 223, 527, 553.
Docleates, 223.
Doctors, 177, 595.
Dodecaschoinos, 619.
Doles to the people, see Distributions.
Doliche, temple of, 247, 567.
Dominator (horse), 404,
Domitian, emperor, 19, 143, 322, 327,
33b, 34S> 5^7 ; army, 104, 114, 355 >*
commerce, 91, 93, 94 ; economic
policy, 186, 189, 190, 196, 311, 493»
545. 573. 57b, 590; foreign policy,
307, 568 ; imperial cult, 356 ;
internal policy, 207, 345, 518, 522 ;
opposition to, 113-115, 520, 521;
religion, 456 ; terror, 399, 519;
wars, 146.
Domitius Ahenobarbus, 31, 493 ; Auc-
tus, Cn., 496.
Domnius Rufus, 564.
Domus (Imperial household), 48, 55,
99, 325 ; divina, 599.
Don, river, 243, 506.
Donar, German, 456, 614.
Donations to cities, see Gifts.
Donatives to soldiers, 350, 367, 598 ;
Bribes.
Donkeys, 184, 242, 290, 624 ; repre-
sentation of, 242.
650 Index of Names
Dorylaeum, 238. ^ ,
Doryphorus, Tl, Claudius, ,268, ,,574,
576-
Dougga, see Thiigga.
Doura (Europos, Salihiveb). 147, 160,
248, 250, 512, 532, 537, 54'2> 5 ^ 7 *
610, 617.
Drainage, 79, 135, 259, 329, 424.
Draught animals, 102, 242, 255, 260,
310, 312, 334, 333. 337» 374»
396, 426, 467, 593* 609 ; owners of,
13S* 270, 338, 434.
Drave, river, 226, 534.
Drepaiium, 546.
Driiius, valley of the, 223.
Drivers .{cismrii), 164, 255. 256, 265,
310, 334, 335, 337» 366, 396, toj.
Drobeta, ,556. ,
Drusus, 52, 267. ■ .
Duren, 550.
Durostorum, 231.
Dusares, god, 242. ' ■ _
Dyed stuffs, 73, 74, 98, 148, 158, 161,
Dykes, 259, 260, 429, 431.
Dyrrhachium, 234, 536, 560,
Earth, representation of, 76. ■
Ebony, 148. ■
Eburacum, 213.
Ebuso, 547.
Edessa/247, 248, 390, 568, 601, 622.
Education, 139, 179, 375, 608.
Egnatia (via), 234.
90. 216, 252, 254, 260, 328, 425,
514, 522; administration of, 255,
258, 259, 263-265, 269, 274, 438,
439» 572, 610; agriculture in, 137,
265, 320, 429, 485, 505, 572 ; anmna,
432-434, 533, 586, 600, 624 ; army,
104, 258, 261, 274, 351, 500, 578,
608 ; associations in, 149, 263 ;
business life, 174 ; Byzantine, 630 ;
cities in, 50, 128, 129, 130, 132, 133,
249, 529, 578 ; civil war in, 29, 79 ;
coiomes, 609 ; commerce, 66, 69,
91. 93. 97. 138, 146. 148. 150. 158,
159, 188, 379, 421, 505, 512, 536, 540,
542, 590, 595 : decay of, 428, 579 ;
division into x'^P^ rroXts (Alex-
andria), 238 ; economic conditions,
172. 259, 420, 421, 427, 431, 432,
435-440. 489, 570. 594. 609 ; Hel-
lenization of, 6, 571 ; industry, 67,
73, 74, 146, 161, 167, 169, 259, 265,
434. 435. 507. 536, 539, 54°, 618:
invasions, 41 1, 422, 619, 620 ; land-
owners in, see Landowners j latnd-
tenure, 55, 94, 95, 266, 2^1^13^,
■' ' '440, 475> 5i6i'573-578^ 6m sfiaft;
and Subjects
627; languages, 182, 299, 544:,
laws, 173; liturgies, 334 338, 340,
341, 374, 592, 601, 625 ; mines, 295;
583; mimidpal life, 359; 361, 378 ;
nationalization, 4, 54, 536; per-'
sonal property of the ruler, 258, 267 ;
Pharaonic, 260, 262, 457, 483, 570; .
■ policy of the Roniaii emperors, 53,
357 » 599 . ; pre-
tenders, 423, 014; prices, 419:
Ptolemaic, sm Ptolemaic ; quarries,
294, 296; revolts, 5, 1 1 2, 121, 301,'
3^5^ 347* 3b8, 393, 520, 596 ; roads,
150 ; robbers, 607, 620 ; schools,. ,
375, 608 ; social structure, 139, 193,
■■: 253 . 255-^59. ^73* ^ 97 -
300, 33 D 35 D 3 b 9 » 4 #. 447 > 57^*
629, 630; strikes, 327, 584 ; taxes,
see Taxes; urbanization, 262, 273;'
. wars, 7.
Egyptian banks (rpamim), 170, 541,
542 ; bourgeoisie^ see Bourgeoisie ;
civilization, 485 ; colon i, 540 ; cults,
456 ; gods, 252, 256 ; landscapes,
252 ; leaden tokens, 542 ; legions,
500 ; merchants, 93, 158, 259 ;
'meiropoleis, 527, 578 ; notaries pub-
lic, 174 ; peasants, see Peasants ;
priests, 571 ; temples, 254.
; Egyptians, 5, 257, 258, 263, 271, 273,
301,500,571,577,584.
Eia* goddess, 552.
Eikosaprotia, 341, 358, 594,
Eiagabalus (Heliogabalus), emperor,
346, 364, S 7 I- 373 * 379* 444 » 45b. 604,
605, 607, 611 ; god, 37 i, 407.
Ei Aouza, 163,
; Elbe, river, 53, 205,
Elders, local, 554.
El Djem, 404.
, Electoral posters, 98, 504, 515.
I Elephantine, 630.
) ■ Eieusima.n mysteries, 238.
I 'Emerita -(Meri'da), 13.2, 199, 547. , '
j'-Emesa, "2.47, 24B, .,37.1, 425, 426,.' 568, ■■
j •: 62'2.'
I Emesene land, 248.
Emigrants, 51, 176, 195, 208, 213, 223,
j Emigration, 3, 18, 23, 33-3^. 9D
! 229, 282, 31 1, 328, 421, 422, 424,
i 498, 587-
I Emmaus, 249, 568.
i Emona, 132, 403, 525, 616.
Emphyteusis, see Land.
Emporia {ifiiropta), see Fairs.
'Emcheleians, 219, 221.
) Engineering, 4, 261.
. /'Engineers, 258., ' .
Index of Names and Subjects 651
Ennioii, 540.
Ennius, 154.
Ephesus, 114, 132, 238, 524, 530, 536,
540. 546, 587. 589, 590. 593. 598,
§20, 622 ; temple of, 563. |
Epictetus, 366. ^ I
Epicurean school, 45, 523. ‘ i
E|>iciireaiiism, 56. ' ]
Epidamiius, 221, ■ |
Epidaiirum, 221, 553.
Epidii, 516.
Episiraiegiai, 599, 600.
Epitome de Caesarib^is, 381, 383, '613. 1
Epitomists, 387,
Eporedia, 216.
Equestrian aristocracy, 269, 518 ;
bourgeoisie, 100, 530 ; class : in the
administration, 48, 107, 175, 176,407,
586 ; in the army, 41, 43, 48, 121,
35 3 > 37-2 ; disappearance of, 372,
412, 447, 458, 472 ; economic
activity of, 17, 18, 55, 58, 199, 317,
491 ; increase of, 177 ; morale, 118 ;
new, 399 ; political role of, 107, 501 ;
wealth of, 223, 268, 291, 574 ; see
Knights ; cursus honor um, 617 ;
nobility, 99 ; offices, 395, 543 ;
officials, 354.
Equites singulares, 349, 353.
Erastus, L., 536.
Eretria, 601.
Ergastulum, 62, 504, 516.
Eryx, 194.
Escheats, 543.
Espionage, system of, 460.
Estates, imperial, 203, 249, 283, 285,
55 552, 580, 593, 620, 623 ; admi-
nistration of, 130 ; cities on, 130 ;
corn production of, 95, 138, 188,
568 ; creation of free landowners on,
320-322, 356, 376 ; delinoitation of,
569; land-grabbing on, 475 ; growth
of, 196, 199, 297, 298, 362, 508, 592,
610; husbandry of, 237, 289, 293,
297, 330 ; income from, 461 ; leasing
of, 340, 360, 578, 606, 609 ; lessees
of, 360, 433, 434, 43S, 439, 624, 627 ;
management of, 81, 97, 197, 212,
319, 321, 429, 436» 546. ^24; or-
ganization of, 105 ; peasants 01,
300 ; selling of, 325 ; taxation of,
465, 467 ; tenants of, see Tenants ;
in territories of cities, 218 ; villages
on, 286, 375, 564, 582, 589, 605.
Estates, large, 31, 34, 213, 471, 502,
. 546, 568, 573-575. 577. 630 ; of the
border lands, 284, 608 ; confiscation
of, see Land ; doopeat, 267 ; emigra-
tion of coloni from, 35 ; fairs on.
286, 559 ; forest, 560 ; fortified
central villas of, 407, 430 ; growth
of, 23, 34, 61, 94, 95, 97, 100, 186,
196, 203, 223, 267-269, 282, 286, 411,
43^» 475i 51^^ 627; husbandry of,
197, 215, 2x8, 276, 289, 290, 293, 302,
313, 447» 4^9, 502, 504, 505, 534, 549,
55S> 577» 629 ; industry on, 166, 219,
514 539 ; labour on, 36, 63, 191-
1931 199, 229, 237, 245, 277, 283, 285,
286, 291, 294, 566 ; of local bour-
geoisie in Egypt, 269-271 ; manage-
ment of, 21, 190, 298, 439, 440, 516,
549, 552, 563 i managers of, see
Managers ; mines in, 295 ; olcriai, 94,
267-269, 271, 438, 439, 516, 572,
573, 575-57^, 627; policy of the
emperors towards, 269, 270 ; private
currency used on, 542 , of senatorial
families, 234, 289 ; source of in-
come, 58, 190, 292 ; taxation of,
465, 466 ; tenants of, see Tenants ;
villages on, 247, 286, 289, 581 ;
wine-producing, 504, 505.
Estates, medium-sized, 61, 63, 186,
219, 282, 429, 516, 518 ; of the
Roman state, 16-18, 36, 48, 196,
197, 237, 278 ; royal, 241, 266, 274 ;
small, 186, 236, 313, 429, 549.
Etatisation, see Nationalization.
Etruria, 10-12, 19, 23, 30, 31, 59, 60,
63, 69, 71, 184, 329, 490, 493, 495,
621.
Etruscan cities, 14, 22 ; civilization,
485, 535 ; domination inLatium, ii,
13 ; graves, 20 ; peasants, 12.
Euander, son of Ptolemaeus, 268, 575.
Euboea, 234.
Euhemeria, village, 270 ; documents
of. 573. 575-
Eumachia, 514.
Eunapius, 381, 6x3.
Eupatoria, 243,
Euphrates, 149, 157, 390, 391,
617 ; frontier [limes), 55, 319.
Eurycles, C. Julius, 141, 143, 502, 503,
529*
Eutropius, 381, 383, 613, 618, 621.
Exactions, 428, 599, 604.
Exchange, 31 ; building, 514 ; of
goods, 36, 68, 147, 148, 425, 559,
see Commerce ; of money, 420, 513 ;
monopoly of, 420.
Execution against the person, 603.
Exegetes, 439, 606.
Exhaustion of the soil, see Land.
Exiles, 3.
Export, 21, 66-69, 71, 73, 137, i4<^“"
148, 331, 61 1 ; from Dalmatia, 553 ;
hidex of Names and Subjects
Egypt, 536 ; from Gaui, 155 ; i Federal state, Italian, 25.
Spain, 157, *>47; of corn, 138, ! Federation of city-states, I27"'i3i ; of
188 ; of food-staffs, 147, 298 ; * Etrascan cities, ii ; .of tril>es, 221.
66, 68, 323, 492, 493, 534 ; of • Feeding of the population of the cities,
naterials, 147 ; of wine, 66, 68, $ee Victualling ; of the Rojnaii pro-
[82, 183, 492, 48^, 533, 534; ietariate, 57. 79, 80, 95, 5ff Distribu-
mrs, 68, 72, 195, 197 ; house, ’ tions ; of the tn>ops, 2, see Army.
ill mass, 69 ; merchants, 243 ; Fees, 295.
i-wide, 507. B'elix Thabbora, muitkipinm, 58^1.
ers, 148, 259. Feliabin, 182, 216, 297, 29i)-30i ; see
. " ' Peasants.
ermfkis, 506. Felt, 98.
Eupor, 96. Ferox (horse), 154, 404.
361, 595. ■ ^ Ferries, owners of, 172,
■es, 19, 37, 72, 93, 166-169, 255, i Imudai system, 425, 426.
379, 435. 474r50ft, 534. 539: i Fibulae, 531: Pins,
ulturai, 62, 504; of bas-relief ’ i^ides,^i6.
3, 163, 538 ; of Fortis, 69, 163 ; Figs, 321, 492, 576.
ass, 534, 540 ; of jars and tiles, Blnances, 55, 57, 79, 8i, 89, 105, 172,
516, 534, 539; of lamps, 69, 326, 335, 339, 340, 342, 345» .362,
539; of oil, 435; owners of, II, 373, 374, 509,^617; of the cities,
of pottery, 538 ; representa- 176, 342 ; .of Egypt, 265, 269, 543,
of, 98; of soap, 156; stamps 610.
512, 534 ; state, 258, 471 ; Fines, 271, 364, 343.
len, 166; .w Crafts. Firemen, 41, 48, 79, 361, 4^9; see
mmdinae, 22, 51, 230, Centonarii.
247, 286, 377, 427, 559, 560, Firmus, usurper, 393, 617.
582,608,609. Fiscal law of Hiero II, 10; system,
i, 574. Hellenistic, 5.
us, 268/574. ; Pisms, 55., 172* 179, 186, 314, 326, 343,
nses, 582. 357, 508, 509, 313, 542.
US, ager, 502. Fish, 36, 149, 243, 323, 590 ; sauce
a (household), 516. [gamm), 72, 506, 514.
-s, 97, 138, 141, 188-190, 238, Fisheries, 15, 17, 105, 226, 243, 255,
425, 528, 529, 545, 590. 293, 294,
s, C., 519 ; Synistor, R, 64, 496. , Fishermen, 230, 235, 323.
n, 391, 422, 614. ■ j ^356, 567, 3<A _599- ,
rs, 19, 33, 47, 103, 122, 201, 21 1- I Flavia Epimache, 578 ; Frisca, 553.
298, 321, 330, 438, 502, 504, Flavii, 557.
see Peasants and Tenants; of , Flaviopolis, 129.
ims-duties, 360, 556 ; -general, i Flavius Pronto, M., 553 ; Longinus,
289,298,319,320,321,340,348, ; 536; Montanus, T., 530 ; T. f. Quir.
377, 434, 578, 591, 592, see ; Macro, T,, 582 ; Vopiscus, see Vopis-
luctores ; of pasture lands, 556 ; j cus ; Zeuxis, 536.
It-mines, 556 ; of taxes, see Tax. I Flax, 36, 198, 61 1, 618,
, 31, 63, 92-95, 186, 191-193, I Fleet, 41, 226, 288, 499, 513, 574, 612 ;
205, 212, 213, 215, 218, 244, ; commercial, see Conimercial ; corn,
253» 277, 497, 534, 549, 569, see Com. See also Navy,
584, see Villas ; houses, 2, 289, Flights, 620 ; see Anachoresis,
576 ; imperial, 576 ; model, 30, Flocks, see Herds,
representations of, 20, 184, 252, Flower-dealers, representation of, 92,
290. Fodder, 334, 433, 504 ; see Chaff and
^es, magistev, 152. Hay,
e, tazza, 76. Food for the army, see Army ; for the
nianus, fundus, 545, , - : cities, 137, 149, 528 ; for the city
rites of the emperors, 57, 94, 95, of Rome, 149, 15 1, 409, 621 ; distri-
>9, 142, 268, 269, 345, 516, bution of, 141, ; requisition of, 9*
9 ^6;3:',:26^, 37Sr:4^%, ; supply of, 590. See Victual-
hidex of Names and Subjects 653
Food-stuffs, 368, 466 ; commerce in,
36, 148, 266, 408, 409, 590 ; de-
liveries, Compulsory ; export of/
147, 298: import of, 137, 149,, 151,
231 ; requisition of, 396; transpor-..
tation Transportation.
Fma, 559.
Forage, $m Fodder.
Forests, 15, 17, 105, 163, 197, 215, 217,
289, 292-294, 55^3, 554, 560, 569.
Forge, 214.
FormimiuSt fundus, 92.
Fortifications, representation of, 228.
Fortiied city, representations of, , 152,
184 ; villages, 14, representation of,
■228; villas, Villas.
Fortis, factory of, 69, 163.
Fortresses, 208, 222, 225, 226, 227, 231,-
281,285,354,532,534.
Forts, 207, 211, 212, 216, 222, ,227, 229,
248, 414, 555, 567, 6og, 617.
Fortuna, 98, 238 ; Redux, 281.
Fortunes, large, 143, 145, 147, 475,
577 '> private, of the emperors, 57,
79, 117-
Forum, 31, 33, 314, 346; Boarium,
308, 588 ; Pacis, loi ; Trajanum,
102, 228,. 312.
Foundations, 141-143, 172, 189, 286,
374, 400, 421, 615 ; see Benefactors
and Gifts.
France, 166, 205.
Franchise, of city, see City ; Latin,
299, see Latin rights ; Roman, 82,
112, 219, 231, 299, 494, 510; see
Citizenship.
Franks, 390.
Freedmen, 502-504, 515-518 ; in the
administration, 78, 81, 99, 100, 291 ;
economic activity of, 58, 100, 176,
178, 218, 332, 497 ; increase of, 65 ;
social standing of, 41, 47, 48, 177,
178, 186, 191, 327. 54^. 55L
562, 563, 587 ; wealth of, 55, 60, 143,
183, 268, 269, 574.
Frisian cloths, 539.
Frontiers of the Roman Empire, 52, 53,
55, 122, 123, 205, 207, 208, 213,
306, 309, 315, 318, 372, 388, 390,
458, 463, 6o8”6io, 619 ; see Limes,
Fruit, 10, 196, 206, 275, 321, 545, 629.
Frumentarii, 349, 353, 362-364, 400,
426, 460, 588, 589, 596, 603, 609, 612,
620, 623 ; negotiator es, 595.
Frumentum emptum, 590 ; mancipale,
196.
Fugitives, 612.
Fullers (fullones), 514 ; representation
of, 96, 164.
Fullery (/wl/om'cof), 214, 514, 539;
representation of, 96.
Fundi, 6^, 205,
Furianum, pratum, 555.
Furius Octavianus, C,, 229, 555.
Furniture, 158, 166.
Furs, 66, 146.
i Gaius, 238; Caesar, grandson of
I Augustus, 53, 610.
j Gabinius, 499 ; Quir. Datus, A., 582.
I Galatia, 229, 31 1, 500, 526, 528, 544,
I 557* 5^4* 586.
I Galatian peasants, 182 ; royal family,
! 586.
Galatians, 500,
Galba, emperor, 84, 86, 119, 510, 51 1.
Galerius Maximianus, emperor, 450,
618; arch of, at Salonika, 621.
Gales, 281.
Galilee, 248, 249, 568.
Gallaecians, see Callaecia.
Galley, representation of, 324.
Gallia Belgica, 202, 548 ; Cisalpina,
511 ; Comata, 202 ; Lugudunensis,
202 ; Narbonensis, 189, 198, 202,
203, 511.
Gallia Folia, 268, 574, 576.
Gallic articles, 219 ; artisans, 535;
I 501 ; coinage, 171; empire
[imperium Galliarun^, 39i~393> 614 ;
fibulae, 531; houses, 548 ; lands,
205 ; merchants, 153, 157 ; nobility,
295 ; pottery, 512 ; provinces, 35,
391 ; regions, 535 ; shops, 163 ;
soap [sapo), 156 ; tombstones, 538 ;
villas, 205, 548, 550 ; wars, 15, 1^8.
Gallienus, P. Licinius Egnatius, em-
peror, 196, 390, 391, 406, 407, 410,
413, 414, 418, 419, 421, 423/424* 429,
444, 445, 452, 546, 613, 614, 617, 619,
624,
Gallii, 268, 574.
Gallipoli, 559.
Gallus, C. Vibius Trebonianus, em-
peror, 381, 390.
Games, 140, 141, 338, 551, 562, 594.
Gardeners, 232, 320.
Gardening, 21, 204, 263, 296, 497.
Gardens, ii, 30, 61, 249, 262, 269, 275,
277, 278, 319, 321, 322, 328, 330,
492, 495, 576, 623.
Gargilius, C. f, Quirina Felix, L., 555.
Garments, 67, 71, 161, 163, 199, 219,
514; Clothes.
Garrisons, 243, 532.
Garum, see Fish-sauce.
Gaul, 118, 207, 212, 213, 216, 219, 319,
328. 523, 536, 547, 548. 550, 570,
6 54 . Index of Names and Subjects
627 ; agriculture, 91, 153. I 57 . *8?- I
189, 203, 272, 535, 621 ; ■ mnona, ■
533 ; cities of, 132, 133, 142, 524, ■
525; colonization, 34, 35. J com- ■
merce, 21, 65, 69, 145, 148-151, 153,
^ 57 . 209, 304, 492, 53 ^» 533 * ■
337 ; economic conditions, 17, 95,
108, 351, 4S5, 493. 502, 535- ^
538, 619, 629; emigration, 211;
financial management, 55 ; indnstry,
67, 91, 157, 163-167, 203, 538; in- ^
:',vasions, 390, 394, 411, 614;
language, 182; law, 173 ; mines,
67, 225, 294-296; over-population,
205 ; pacification, 52 ; policy of the
emperors towards, 195, 309, 501 ;
pretenders, 423 ; revolts, 85, 327,
345 - 349 - 353 - 35S- 39 i- 393 - 424-
595; roads, 150; robbers, 363;
Romanization, 498 ; social struc- i
ture, 142, 143, 185, 202, 205, 208,
212, 215, 29^ 301, 511, 564, 629; ;
transportation, 359 ; tribes, 10, j
501 ; urbanization, 50, 51, 90, 106,
123, 198, 279, 445, 524, 609 ; see
Gallia and Gallic.
Gauls, 13, 16, 203,
Gaza, 248. :
Gazr Mezuar, inscription of, 597.
Gellius, A., 537. i
Geminius Sabinus, Q., 581.
Gems, engraved, see Stones.
Geneatae, 561.
Genii, 98, 204, 272, 366, 382, 508 ; of
Rome, 152.
Gens Augusta, see Augusta. !
Gentilicia, imperial, 557. '
Genies, see Tribes. '
George, St., 233.
Gerasa, 132, 147, 251, 526, 569, 594.
German invasions, 26, 391 ; limes, 212,
213 ; markets, 91 ; parts of the
Empire, 218 ; population, 549 ;
settlers, 21 1 ; soldiers, 390, 450 ;
tribes, 42, 122, 208, 326, 389, 393 ;
villas, see Villas.
Germanicus, 75, 267, 334, 573.
Germano-Celtic tribes, 208.
Germans, 85, 102, 123, 182, 21 1, 306,
307- 309- 325- 327- 373 - 379 - 391, 394 -
398, 414, 421, 458, 478, 486, 531,
55 ^-
Germany, 114, 213, 219, 328, 548, 550,
554 ; "agriculture, 209, 296 ; army,
603 ; cities, 132, 133, 525 ; com-
merce, 21, 66, 67, 91, 145, 155, 157,
187, 208, 211, 212, 513, 530, 531 ;
conquest, 207 ; economic condi-
tions, 512 ; industry, 163, 209, 212,
. ■ 53^» 539 i Lower iGenmmia In-
ferior), 205, 207, 548 ; revolts, 84,
85, 595; robbers, 363, 1)20 ; social
.structure, 122, 205, 215, 253, 351,
378, 608, 609 ; Upper (Germania
Superior), 205, 207, 213, 215, 2iC>,
377- 551 i urbanization, .106 ; wars,
53. 326. 371. 37^. 39^. 398.
Gerousia, 557, 563.
Gessius, 558.
Geta, emperor, 305, 367, 399, 610.
Getae, 556.
Ghirza, 284, 608.
Gifts to citiei, 141-143, 176, 18S, 286,
326, 35S, 400, 417, 421, 453, 522,
528, 529, 547, 560, 585. 595, 613 :
to cities by emperors, 542 ; to
citizens by emperors, 324 ; to em-
perors, 368 ; of land by emperors,
94, 95, 261 ; to soldiers, 42, 79, 345,
353, 598 ; to the state, 586 ; see
Compulsory, .Distributions, and
Foundations.
Gigarteni de vico Sidoniorum, 567.
Gigthis, 133. 285, 291, 525.
Girindi, 564.
Gladiators, 123, 124, 238, 343.
Glass, 67, 69, 71, 73, 93, 146, 148, 161,
163, 166, 5.13, 534,^ 536, i)37, 539,
■ 611; factories, 534, 549 ; industry,
540, 618.
Glevum, 213.
Gmmo7t idiou logou, 542, 543, 571, 572,
578, 588.
Goats, 31, 6i, 184, 249, 276, 290, 312,
404, 430, 599, 606 ; representation
of, 20.
Gods on horseback, 560, 617 ; native,
182.
Gold, 15, 66, 69, 71, 93, 534 ; mines,
224, 229.
Golden Age, 53, 316.
Goldsmiths {amifices), 514 ; repre-
sentation of, 96.
Golgotha, 335.
Gordian III (M. Antonins Gordianus),
emperor, 382, 388, 397, 405, 426, 444,
445- 511- 594- 613, 615, 619.
Gordians, 381, 384, 387.
Gordianus, M. Antonins {Gordian I),
emperor, 388, 402, 403, 616.
Gorgippian shipowners, 565.
Goths, 3 ^ 9 - 394 - 4 ^ 1 - 4-22, 4^^^- 445 -
531, 619.
GclJiic invasions, 422.
Gotho-Roman, 476.
Gotland, 531.
Government agents, 159, 265, 286, 333-
335 - 3 ^ 3 - 4 ^ 3 : ; see Administration.
Index of Names and Subjects .655
Gracchan colony at Carthage, 498 ;
programme, 26 ; revolution, 24.
Gracchi, 24, 2S, 191, 493.
Graccims, Gains, 23, 34, 278, 279, 493 »
495 ; •Tiberius, 23.
Gragiiano, 62, 70.
Grain, for seed, 541 ; seeC^rn.
Granaries, building of, 590.
Grand, 136. I
Grapes, building for the treatment of •
57^^* . I
Graufesenque, La, 512, 53^* I
Grazing, 14, 46, 197, 221, 222, 224, '
296, 497, 51 514 i Pastures.
Great Mother, 126, 617.
Greco-Egyptian civil law, 542 ; -Hel-
lenistic system of law, 173 ; -Indian
workmanship, 126 ; -Oriental civili-
zation, 6 ; -Philistine cities, 248.
Greece, 56, 74, 90, 123, 230, 273, 274 ;
agriculture, 139, 235, 561 ; banks,
170 ; commerce, 66, 67, 148, 187,
241, 243, 304, 493: Roma.n con-
quest of, 8 : depopulation, 328,
424 ; economic conditions, i, 7,
9, 22, 141, 188, 234, 235, 489, 490,
493 ; exhaustion of the soil, 329 ;
games, 562 ; industry, 161, 235, 303,
304, 539; invasions, 391, 41 x;
land-tenure, 297, 322 ; liturgies,
336 ; pretenders, 423, 614 ; quarries,
294, 296 ; roads, 150, 587 J slaves
from, 21 ; social structure, 235, 550 ;
urbanization, 509 ; wars, 2, 9, 489,
Grtek chronicles, 383. 384: civiliza-
tion, 6, 1 12, 480; cognomina, 557;
colonies, 304: coinmunities 432,
606 ; IiiTropia, 559 > islands, 66, 107,
509 ; lands, 335» 547 1 language,
120, 178, 257, 265, 299, 518, 523*
536, 544, 557 \ ^^5 i manuals of
agriculture and industry, 19 ,*
facturers, 304 ; merchants, see Mer-
chants ; municipal life, 141 ; names,
497 ; philosophers, 510 ; provinces,
111 j race, 485 J renascence, 113 *
ships, 390 ; technique, 19, 57 ^ ;
wars, 4 ; writers, 89.
Greek cities, 128, 132, 133, 526 ,
anarchy, 8 ; banks, 541 ; benefac-
tors of, 529 ; civil strife, 2, 8 24,
a8o sxq 520 civilization 01, o,
479' 480'; currency of, 171 ; com-
merce, 36, i49>. 3C4 * discontent, iii,
112 ; economic conditions, 3^ 7>
II, 139, 483^ 527 1 families,
188 ; industry, 37» ibS, 304 ; revolts,
169 ,* self-government, 50 ; social
structure, 176, 236, 237, 297, 331,
332, 528, 557, 561, 563 ; system of
law, 173 ; wars, 1-3, 6, 7, 9 ; of
Gaul, 21, 35. 90; of Egypt, 130;
of Illyria, 221 ; of the shores of the
Black Sea, 146, 228, 230-232, 239,
241, 243 ; of Sicily, 10, 194, 195.
493, 546 ; of South Italy, 9, 10, 14,
22, 329, 490, 493 ; of Spain, 35 ; of
Syria, 248 ; of Thrace, 233, 559 ;
of Transjordania, 249. Half-Greek
cities, 158, 241, 243, 253.
Greek city-state, 50, 128, 129, 274, 33c,
331. 480, 481-483. 541- ^ „
Greeks, 5, 9, 21, 35, 107, 112, 198. 218,
219, 235, 236, 331, 48b, 518, 519.
522, 557 ; in Egypt, 5, 78, 257-259,
261-266, 269-271, 273, 299-301, 331,
520, 571, 572, 577, 584 ; half-, 491.
Gregory of Tours, 386.
Guards {(j)vK(iK€s) , 607 ; body-guard of
the emperors {optio peregrinorum) ,
458, 612 ; imperial guard, 52, 12 1,
389, 499 ; guardians of peace {eiprjvdf)-
xai), 620 ; see Police.
Guelma, 582.
Guilds, 168, 336. 338, 434. 624.
Gurulis Nova, 547.
Gurzensis, pagus, 278, 579.
Gususi, 278.
Gymnasia, 135, X39. 178-
Gymnasiarchs, 140, 447, 522, 529, 575,
578.
Gymnasiarchy, 561, 595.
Hadaran, 567.
Hadrian, emperor, 117, 119. I99. 292,
316, 521, 573, 58S, 597> ^C2 ; army
of, 118, 326, 457. 51G 523 ; coloniza-
tion of, 282, 283 ; economic condi-
tions under, 147, 270, 310, 31 1, 536,
541, 542, 561, 562, 586, 587 »
economic policy, 189, 295, 314, 3^7"“
325, 330. 337. 340. 342. 359. 374.
376, 401, 466, 467, 545. 584. 589.
590, 592 ; foreign policy, 315, 3^7.
^87 ; internal policy, 308, 336, 338,
348, 355, 356. 360. 518, 543.
568, 580, 585, 587, 588, 593, 595 i
revolts, 301, 584 ; urbanization, 129,
130, 223, 233, 273, 287, 305, 318,
319. 333 * 588.
Hadriana, lex, 349. 545 '>
Hadrianae, 356.
Hadrianopolis, 129, 233, 319. 589-
Hadrianuthera, 319, 589*
Hadrumetum (Sousse), 132, 272, 275,
278, 281, 288, 292, 404, 580.
Hambleden Valley, Bucks., 539.
Index of Names and Subjects
.. HerOon {at Assos), 126.
i 70, 72, 91. 93. 150- ' Herc^', Thracian god, 5f»o, (>17.
167, 187, 218, 234, Herzegovina, 552. ' .
. 433. 495. 499. 514. Hesiod, 180.
; of export, 68, 72, Hides, 149. 153, 606 ; requisition of,
import, 151 : repre- 374. _ •.
70, 152, 272. Hierapohs, in Cilicia, 563 ; in Chrygia,
t, 589. 536.562.594.
Hiero II, 10, 15. 16, 194.
3, 251, 389. Hierocaesarea, 563.
se« Fodder. Hifantos, 324, 346.
Himyarites, 513.
f the, 2. Hippago (ship), 154.
.;q6. Hipparchus, 143, 322, 529 ; of Alex-
andria, 93.
64. Hippo, Diarrhytus, 281, 580 ; Regius,
V. 4. - 5 . 7. ^ 57 .. 258 : . „." 32 . 277. 582. ;
199 ; botirgeots-ie, 2.1 ; | Hippocrates, Plautii vutms, 545.
.1 law, 3 ; civilization, Hispalis, 132.
rnierce, 5 ; indnstry, Hispeilnm, 59.
ners, 19; monarcMes, Histria, province, 217-219, 222, 534,
29, 330, 457. 553:, 552 ; town (Istras), 230, 557,
lonarchs, 3-^5, 21, 55, 558 ; Istriaii.
56 ; states, 3, 4, 8, 10, Hither Province (Spain), 201.
334. , : Hittite codes, 173 ; kings, 237 ; , law,
^73--
HomeprDduction,i67,425;sei?Hoiise-
.18,108,114,519,522. economy.
>7,536,611,618. -Honan, province of, 513.
. Momsbiores, 323, 374, 435, 443, 568,
0, 577. 590.
Honey, 66.
stis, 310, 560, 561, 586. Honoraria, samma, see Summa.
isiila, 565. ' Honores, 339.
Honos, 76.
>1, 5S, 63, 252. Horace, 30, 44, 46, 00, 61, 03, 65, 74,
7, 126, 224, 238, 252, 89, 502, 503, 505, 556.
1, 408, 450, 456, 508, Horae, 76.
Horion, Julius, 577.
:97, 224, 240, 241, 249, Hoftea, 591.
25, 404, 430 ; imperial, Horses, 210, 241, 276, 290, 324, 346,
•tion of, 102 ; sacred, 366, 404, 417, 504, 593 ; breeding,
290, 292, 489, 629 ; race-, 404 ;
estinus, 358, 601, 603. representation of, 476 ; requisition
9, of, 102 ; state depots of, 593 ;
J59, 601. transportation of, 154.
35, 625. Horus, 126.
gna, 270, 428, 429, 437, Hostiiianus, emperor, 381.
, 623. House-economy, 302, 303, 470, 471,
577. 478, 482-484 ; industry, 73 ; see
of, 239. Home production.
, 568,; the Great, 248, Houses, 507, 514, 515, 548; apart-
ment-, 136 ; country-, 33 ; owners
Atticus, 141, 143, 529, of, 17, 31, 58, 427, 514 ; peasants’,
504* 549 1 letting of, 31 ; represen-
, 520. tation of, 62, 254, 290 ; residential,
367. 37i> 381, 384. 387. 5 H > 549 ; state property, 17 ; tene-
, 605, 616. ^ ' r '
►, 439, 624, 627y:;\i'6‘;
■
Index of Names and Subjects
Hmniliores, 323, 364, 369, 374, 435,
443. 590. 599. 600.
Hungary, 230
Hunters, 2*30, 232, 233.
Hunting, 296 ; grounds, 255, 330. '
Hyginns, 274.
Hypmmematogmphos of Alexandria,
. 574 *
lader, 22 x, 223.
lapudes, 219, 554.
laso, coionm, 545.
lazyges, 307, 315^.
Iberian civilization, 198, 485 ; lan-
guage, 299 ; parts of Spain, 21.
Iberians, 6, 182, 198, 219, 221.
Icarus (horse), 154.
Iccius, 505.
Ida, mount, 67.
Idebessus, 594.
Idios Logos, 271, 543,
Idnmaean dynasty, 568.
Idumaeans, 251.
Igel, column, 144, 155, 192, 209, 210,
430, 530.
Igilgih, 285.
I lion, 563.
Illyrian army, 351, 382 ; civilization,
552,556; lands, 221,552; language,
299 ; law, 173 ; peasants, 598; re-
gions, 544; tribes, 219, 221, 222,
226, 55-4 ; troops, 351, 407.
Illyrians, 8, 182, 217, 219, 221, 230,
391, 414, 465, 552, 353, 565.
lilyricum, 106, 217.
Immigrants, 5, 158, 203, 212, 222, 232,
233» 2S5, 287, 291, 293, 549, 557 J
see Emigrants.
Imperial agents, 199, 203, 426, 427 ;
court, 517, 612 ; cult, 49, 77, 83,
100, 1 16, 348, 356, 395, 455, 456,
508, 517 ; estates, see Estates ;
household (domus), see Domus ;
slaves, see Slaves.
Imperium Romanum, 25, 38, 490,
Imports, 21, 67-69, 137, 146-148, 151,
157, 158, 168, 182, 188, 208, 209,
231, 243, 379, 495. 53i» 536. 550.
621.
Importers, 148.
htcolae, 137, 202, 223, 286, 293, 509,
548, 553, 559 } 5^3 ; intra/muyani, \
293.
India, 6, 53, 66, 91, 93, 147, 148, 158,
421, 479, 513, 531. 536 ; representa-
tion of, 126.
Indian animals, 126 ; commerce, 513.
Indians, 513.
Indo-China, 147.
2354*2 U
.657
Indulgentia,^ 316.
Indus, 147.
Industrial buildings, 507 ; capitalism,
see Capitalism; centres, 37, 66, 71,
133, 170, 176, 304 ; collegia, 168 ;
concerns, 19, 32, 165, 166, 168, 209,
211, 363, 471, 514, 538, 539; pro-
duction, 3, 495 ; productivity of
Italy, 68 ; products, 69, 379 ;
technique, 37..
Industrialists, 90, 142, 165, 266, 379,
514*
Industrialization, 72, 73, 96, 305, 495,
514, 515, 518, 560.
Industry, 306, 491, 498, 505, 535, 537 ;
capitalistic, 3, 19, 302, 303, 305, 515 ;
competition in, 304 ; concessions to,
5 ; decay of, 303, 425, 453, 462,
471, 478 ; decentralization of, 91,
153, x6i, 163, 165-167, 539, 621 ;
development of, 37, 176, 305, 482 ;
house-, 73 ; of Italy, development,
69, 71, 72, 74, 150, 534 ; decline, 161,
163, 183, 187, 190, 379 ; investment
in, 18, 19, 161, 515 ; labour in, see
Labour ; on large estates, 166, 219,
516, 539; local, 161, 165, 223;
manuals for, 19 ; metallic, 67;
mining, 199 ; organization of, 72,
168, 169, 506, 507 ; policy of the
government towards, 163, 164;
revival of, 19, 61 ; ruin of, 41 1 ;
slaves in, see Slaves ; source of
wealth, 145, 161, 474 ; state control
over, 434 ; supervisors of, 258 ;
taxation of, 54 ; technique of, 304 ;
weakness of, 302 ; of Africa, 163,
167 ; of Britain, 163, 166, 550 ; of
Carthage, 163 ; of Dacia, 230 ; of
ancient Egypt and Babylon, 483 ;
of Etruria, 10 ; of the Far East, 305 ;
of Histria, 534 ; of Noricum, 551 ;
of Palestine, 568; of Spain, 167,
199 ; see also Alexandria, Aquileia,
Asia Minor, Campania, Egypt, Gaul,
Germany, Greece, Greek cities, Pom-
peii, Syria.
Ingauni, 426,’
Ingenuus, 391.
Inheritances, 54, 79, 97, 199, 368, 467.
Innkeepers, 172.
Inquilini, 137.
Inspectors, 258.
Institores, 178.
Interamna, 390.
Intercisa, 366.
Interest, see Money.
Intramurani, 192, 202, 293, 546.
,Iol, 277.
u
658 ' Index of Names and Subjects
Ionia, 128.
Ionian Greeks, 535.
lotapianiis, emperor, 389.
Iranian civilization, 486 ; dress, 250 ;
elements, 243 ; tribes, 239, 389.
Iranians* 307, 3,73. . ^
Iron, 147, 198, 553 ; implements, 71 ;
manufacture of, 534 ; mines, 71, 217,
225, 534- ■
Ironsmiths, 162, 214.
Irrigation, 259, 296, 330, 424, 428, 429,
43^^ 57^>» 579. dio.
Isauria, 239, 619.
Isaurians, 422, 425, 620, 622.
Isidorus, 520 ; of Seville, 537.
Isis, 126, 252 ; Geminiana (ship), 152 ;
Taposiris, temple of, 575.
Isocrates, 2, 125.
Istrian shores, 187.
Istrus, 132, 146, 503, 52b, see Histria.
Italia agricola, personi heat ion of, 308.
Italica, 132.
Itana, oath of, 2.
Itineraries, 196.
Itureans, 247.
lucundus Grypianus, 268, 574.
luenna, 217.
luga, 465, 466.
lugaiio, 465, 466.
luridicus per Flaminiam ei IJmbriam,
528.
lus civile, 543 ; coiendi, 321, 322 ;
gentium, 173, 543 ; hononmi, 343 ;
Itcdicimi, 600 ; legatonim capien-
darum, 581 ; see Laws,
luvavum, 217.
luvenes, 122, 501, 551 ; coilegim
iuvenuni, 99, 103, 122, 287, 378, 379,
500, 501, 551, 582, 610.
Iiiventas Manliensinm, ^01,
lumntm imperii, 610.
Ivory, .66, 146; articles, 73, 148,
492. ‘
Janus, temple of, 53, loi.
Jars, 152, 219, 242, 288, 516, 534, 539.
Jason, 540.
Javan, 531.
Jerusalem, 132, 249 ; temple of, 249,
541 -
Jewellers, 71, 96, 534.
Jewellery, 71, 73, 148, 161, 166, 302^
512, 513,
Jewels, 72, 73, 513.
Jewish aristocracy, 568 ; ([)po{ffHa, 568 ;
pogroms, 1 12, 519, 520; revolts,
301, 315, 317; royal family, 268;
war, 249, 306, 319, 320, 578, '584.
' Jews, 78, i82,„3oi, 335, 520, 522, 541,
'589. ■■
lohannes of Antioch, 029. ^ ^
John Chrysostom, St., 244' 245, 446,
448, 566, 629 ; of Gischala, a.|9, 568,
590. ■ ■ ■
Joppa, 24.8.
r Jordan, river, 244, 249, 5% ; East
Jordan land, 532,
; Josephus, Flavius, iji, 249, 251, 568,
■ 594 -
Jucundus, 144.
Judaea, 248, 249, 446 ; army of, 624.
ju^iirtha, 25.
: Julia, daughter of Augustus* 497 ;
daughter of Li via Drusi, 573 ; Dom-
na, 346, 362, 597 ; Maesa, 346, 371 ;
; Mammaea, 346, 371, (k)5 ; Folia,
: 270, .577 ; Soaemias, 371, 605.
I Julia, iex municipaiis, 509.
I Juliae, colon iae, 579, 580.
! Julian, emperor, 244, 245, 5(^6, 629.
j juliaiius, philosopher, 596 ; prefect,
i 345.
I Julii, farmers of customs, 556.
I Juliopolis, 129, 310.
I Julius Julianiis, L., 558; Mansuetus,
’ 86 ; Menelaus, 607 ; mosaic of, 290,
■ 430, 629 ; C. f. Ouadratus, C., 224,
558 ; Serenus, L., 577. ^
Juno, 346, 508 ; Saponaria, 136.
Jupiter, 126, 346, 450, 456 ; Doli-
chenus, temple of, 247,
Juridical treatises, 173.
Jurists, 601.
Jurors, 48.
Jury-system, 543,
Justinian, emperor, 448 ; codex of, 173,
Justitia, 308, 316.
luthungi. 30^.
Juvenal,-. 131, 142, 183, 530, 537, 544,
584-
Kairouan, 286.
Kama, river, 69.
Karalar, 564.
Katoikoi, 266 ; see * By-dwellers t
Kedrenos, 383.
Kerch, peninsula of, 241 ; straits of,
24L.243.
Khami^, 525.
Kilns, 166, 539 ; see Pottery.
Klerouchoi, 266.
Knidian wine, 428.
I Knights, Roman, 22, 29, 31, 47, 142,-
1 227, 291, 317, 354, 451, 472, 474, 517,1
I 543, 554 ; see Equestrian class.
■ Kollhausen in Lothringen, 549.
I Komarcky (Kaypapxui) , 232.
Index of Names and Subjects •.659
Kopais, lake, of, 322.
Koptos, list of, 500.
Kuban, river* 243.
Kiila, 564,
Kyixie,'563.
Laberii, 290, . ,
■Labour in agriculture,' 190-192, 195,
199, 205, 209, 214, 215, 229, 235, 277,
283, 291, 294, 453, 497 » 5 ^ 4 * 5^6,
576 ; see Slaves, Tenants, and Work-
men ; for the army, 226 ; cheapness
of, 1 9 ; compulsory, see Compulsory
work ; division of, 304 ; in Egypt,
255, 263, 265, 540 ; high appreciation
535 » 53S J imperial estates,
289 ; in industry, 32, 100, 168, 169,
^55» 303» 419, 49^» 539 ; see Slaves,
Workmen ; menial forced, 335 ; in
mines, 199, 225, 295, 539 ; in Pales-
tine, 248; in public works, 498 ;
question of, 74, 97, 420, 465 ; rela-
tions to capital, 2 ; requisition of, 9,
363, 426 ; shortage of, 94, 330, 591 ;
slave-, see Slaves.
Labourers, 221, 240 ; hired, 100, 169,
245, 285 ; see Workmen,
Laekanii, 218.
Laekanius Bassus, C., 534.
Laelius Erastus, 96.
Laeti, 558.
Laetus, 345.
Laevianus, 594.
Lai or Lae, 558. ;
Lambaesis, 133, 285, 286, 289, 525, 582.
Lambiridi, 286, 582.
Lamps, 67, 126, 161, 302, 512, 538 ;
factories of, 69, 163, 539.
Lampsacus, 126.
Lanarius coacHliarius, 98.
Land, abandoned, 266, 269 ; arable,
I5» i95» 229, 322, 328, 330, 465 ;
assignment of, to barbarian tribes,
379, 620, 621, 627, to captives, 374,
425, 620, 621, to colonists, see Colo-
nists, to fortresses, 226, 229, 377, to
legions, 226, 227, 308, 554, 555, to
soldiers, 27-29, 31, 42, 51, 261, 266, '
30S, 377* 37S, 458, 549, to veterans, |
see Veterans ; catoecic, 577 ; cen- i
turiation of, 225, 229, 279, 282, 555 ; I
olemchic, 268, 575, 577 ; concentra- :
tion of, 18, 23, 94, 95, 97, 99, 142, 183, i
203, 211, 217, 229, 235, 245, 291, 297, :
298, 568, see Estates ; confiscation |
of, 24, 33, 34, 97* 99. 3:05, 183, 199,
267, 268, 271, 281, 289, 321, 360, 363,
402, 429, 438, 573, 575, 609, 610, 616,
626 ; cultivation of, 289, 293, 321,
U U 2
322 * delimitation of, see Delimita-
tion ; deterioration of, 424, 425,
429 ; devastation of, 4 ; distribution
ot 15. 187, 311, 329, 577, 609 ; dry
{XepxTos), 264 ; emphyteutic, 439,
475* 5d6, 576 ; exhaustion of, 328-
330, 484, 495, 496 ; exploitation of,
203 ; grabbing of, 373, 475, 516, 576,
577, 627 ; improvement of, 2, 4, 10,
23* 90* iSs, i8y, 270, 474, 485 ; in-
tensive cultivation of, 30, 491, 591 ;
investment of money in, 18, 22, 23,
93, 145, 155* ibi, 183, 185, 186, 188,
189, 199, 203, 266, 269, 279, 282, 297,
311* 313. 439. 447. 474. 475. 53o.
610 ,* lease of, 18, 35, 61, 93, 95, 190,
192, 195, 201, 212, 261, 266, 271, 278,
289, 320, 340, 360, 439, 475, 578, 606,
609, 627 ; lessees of, 265, 269, 360,
433. 434. 438-440. 447. 578, 624,
627 ; mortgage of, 172, 185, 321 ;
municipal, see Territories of cities ;
oucrw^fj? y?i, 271, 438, 440, 447, 573,
578,627; ownerless (Meo-Trota), 264;
pasture, see Pastures ; patrimonial,
199, 578 ; planted, 465 ; private,
320, 429, 564, 569, 575-578, 580-582,
610, 626, 627 ; private ownership of
land, 14, 182, 231, 261, 262, 266, 292,
297, 320, 431, 471, 570, 573 ; jrpo-
arodov yrj, 589 ,* public (state), 55, I05,
130, 186, 188, 194-197. 199. 201, 203,
236, 264, 271, 274, 278, 282, 321, 331,
360, 429, 433, 438, 461, 533, 546, 561,
562, 575, 578, 582, 627 ; ‘ purchased *
(favrjfxevr) yr}), 269 ; reclamation of,
18, 261, 263, 264, 266, 269, 313, 322,
328, 584, 609, 610 ; redistribution of,
2, 24, 26, 33, 34, 221, 489, 498, 552 ;
registers of, 174, 464 ; responsibility
for, 438, 626, 627 ; sacred, see Tem-
ples ; selling of, 23, 438, 576, 609 ;
source of income, 332, 562 ; specula-
tion in, 190 ; state property, 15-18,
78, 212, 266, 297 ; surveys, 320, 577,
591 ; taxes on, see Taxes ; tenure of,
34, 65, 182, 193, 221, 236, 274, 278,
279, 287, 321, 322, 502, 556, 576,
630 ; uninundated, 429, 577, 610 ;
virgin, 189, 190, 321, 330, 6ia ;
waste, 18, 189, 190, 234, 264, 266,
269. 321, 329. 374. 424. 425. 428. 429.
432, 438, 530, 545, 575, 578, 591, 606,
610, 621,
Landowners, absentee, 19, 36, 61, 90,
169, 190, 193, 203, 223, 235, 245, 297,
298, 301, 302, 444, 503, 567; m
Africa, 277, 278, 282, 283, 285, 286,
2^9, 291, 293, 321, 322, 582, 584 ;
Latobicl, 555*
Laifoms, 5 #-
Lanriacum, 225, 555* •
Lavan, valley of, 217.
Laviaiam, 587. • , ■
Laws, ■ administrative, 5437 agrarian,
13, 493 ; books, 173. 54^ » <^^^11, see
■Civil ;■ of Hiero II, 10, 194 » inter-*
■ national, i ; licinian, 13 ; on
luxury, 74 ; maritime, 3, 174 ; relat-
.. ' ing to oil, 590 ; provincial, 173, 174 ;
Eoman, 543 ; see Iks.
Lead, 19B, 200, 217, 534 » SBS- , , ,
I^ase of. estates, see Estates ; of laiMi,
sm Land ; of priestly offices, 140.
Leather ware, 158, 161, 209.
I^banon, 247, 567, 569.
Ledjah, 244.
Legates, 388, 402, 555.
Leges sumptu&fim/j^.
Legionary army, 103, 104 ; fortresses,
222, see Fortresses; soldiers, 121,
122, 510 ; representation of, 102.
Legions, 41, 51, 307, 353. 354 ^ 45^1 534 »
606 '; camps of, 285 ; food-supply of,
,433:;,. land of, 226, 227, 308, 553-
555 * ■ recruitment of, 42, 87, 88, 103,
; 106, 201, 222, 223, 247, 287, 500, 513
I 51 X, 551 1 revolt of, 85 ; social
composition of, 48, 52, loi, 103, 122,
407 > . 499 . 5 «»* . ' ^
LepUminemis, regm, 502.
Laptis, r33,6oo; Minor; 278.
L^^ees of states, see Estates ; of land,
see Land ; of oil factories,. 435.; . of
. ships, .434, 625.
Levi^, sm Compii.Iso.ry... ■■
LibaniuSj 242, '244,.. 2 49, 435, 44'6-4..48,
■ . 467, 527, 628, 629.:.. ■
..Liter, 152. ., ■
. .■ LiWfas,'3i6. .,
■ LM^% 'dngmii,' 'mm,; Cme'smns,r
/^ 497 ; see Freedman.
^libraries, 135*
Libumm, 554*
liburaians, 219.
■ Ubyan'i:ofo#l, §84 ; tribes, 422.
;. .' Xiq^ice for selling goods, 266.
r|; IMnian.laws, 13.
i Lidnius, 450.
1 Lictor, representation of, 184.
j Light-houses, 152, 537.
L^narii, 554.
Ligurian, 426.
Lillebonne Quliobona, Caleti), 156.
Limes, African, -319 ; British, 213 ;
Danube, see Danube ; Eastern, 567 ’
antagonism between them and the
peasants, 301, 443, 444» 44^>» 447»453;
in the army, 23, 25, 103, 122* 123 ;
banking operations of, 541 ; in the
Bospoian kingdom, 241 ; in Britain,
213, 215, 216 ; class of, 97, 410, 41 1,
440, 471, 475. 477^ 592 1 credit to,
172, 187, 311, 313. 542,
Egypt, 262-264, 266-271, 300, 320,
437-439. 572-575. 577. 578. 627,
628; in Etruria, ii, 14; exploita-
tion of estates by, 61, 71, i97»
213, 298, 516, 534, 55^. see Estates ;
feudal, 478 ; free, 192, 21 1, 234, 320*-
322» 356. 374» 37^* 472^ 559 I free-
men as, 518 ; m Gaul, 297 half-,
589 ■; ' increase of,
activity, 515, 539
Latin, ii
429. 43 J
donia
industrial J
-5; 539 ;"ltaMan, 93“-95 1 ^
Mtur^es of, 232, 336, 361, :
see Liturgies ■ in^Mace- ;
560, 561; mobilization, of, ■;
431 ; oppression of, 427, 616 ; in
Palestine, 568; policy of, 21, 90, 165,
275, 313, 492 ; profiteering of, 139,
566 ; responsibility of, 429, 434, 438,
439, 624,. 627 .; revolt of,' 402 .ruling
■' class '©.f, 22, 36,: 176, 249,, 332 ■; 'Scy-,
.. thian, 243 in Sicily, 195* '^9^» 497 ,
sm.all, 13, 19, 3r, 34, • '74; '^^5,. 203,. 2 13, '
,239, .'245, 253, '291, ■,.297, 298, 322. 443,
■,.472, 473, 498,. 516, 546, ,567. 'b27 ;.
^ taxation 232, 36S, ,4,2'8, 458,' 466,
■ 533» see '.Tax'CS ; ; tenants of, ,31, 35* '
igi, 192, 498, 566, 584, -sea Tenants.;',
well-to-do, 190, 2'2. 1 ,497,498, 553^» 558*
Landi,ng' places,: 228,, 434 .Harbours.
Lantemari, 527.
Laodicea, 244 ; ad Lycum, 539, 559-
Lares, 508.
Larginus Proclus, 114.
LaUfimdia , 63, 183, 186, 219, 279, 282,
298, 505 ; see Estates.
Latin biographers, 398, 399, 401, 402,
408, 417, 423, 431, 618, 621, 622 ;
biographies, 367, 381, 383-387, 397,
416 ; cities, 13, 16 ; citizens, 15, 300,
551 ; citizenship, 103, 106, 217, 299,
300 ; colonies, see Colonies ; epito-
mists, 383, 384; language, 86, 108,
121, 124, 177, 178, 198, 215, 227, 265,
299, 523* 544* 550, 598, 605 ; poets,
154 ; race, 485 ; rights, 198, 201,
202, 546 ; settlers, 14, 16; war, 13 ;
wTiters, 89.
Latinia Cleopatra, 586.
Latinius, Alexander, 586.
Latins, ii.
Latium, 11-14, 30. 3^* bo, 329, 343,
4 r r
Index of Nantes and Subjects 66 1
Euphrates, 55, 319 ; Rhine, 155,
207, 212, 213, 216, 306, 317, 319,
608.
Linares, 200.
Lindnm, 213. .' ■ ■■
Linen, *73, 93, 148, 158, 161, 536 ; gar-
ments, 57, 199 ; staffs, 74, 1 58 ; vest-
ments, 435 ; workers, 168, 169, 540.
Liiigones (Langres), 156.
Lipara, 546.
Lissa, 545. ,
Lissas, 560.
Litarba, 567.
Liturgies, 140, 257, 265, 269, 334-'343.
361, 362, 370, 375, 409, 432-434» 437>
593. 595> 59d, 601, 602, 606, 620,
625, 626 ; exemption from, 354, 359-
361, 592, 607 ; responsibility for,
35S. 3^2 : system of, 333, 335, 358,
374, 379, 400, 411, 429, 431, 463, 578,
579 ; see Mtmem.
Live stock, see Cattle.
Livia, empress, 76, 267, 573 ; Drusi,
267, 573.
Livii, 553.
Loans, 140, 172, 313, 326, 338, 453,
542, 543, 566, 587, 591.
Londininm, 132, 213, 215, 525.
Longidiena, P. 1. Stactine, 162.
Longidienus P. 1. Cam., P., 162 ;
P. 1. Piladespotus, P., 162 ; P. 1.
Rufio, P., 162,
Lowbury Hill, 215. *
Lucan, 89.
Lucian, 120, 13 1, 540.
Lucilius, 154.
Lucius, grandson of Augustus, 610 ;
Verus, see Verus.
Lucretius Pronto, house of, 20, 60.
Lumber, 36, 62, 67, 69, 148, 149, 153,
155, 208, 222, 532, 553.
Luna, 294.
Lurii, 268, 574,
Lurius LucuUus, 349.
Lusitania, 198, 199, 201.
Lusitanians, 547.
Luxembourg, 143, 209, 534.
Luxuries, 36, 66, 68, 69, 91, 93> ^47^
148, 158, 471.
Lycarion, 268, 575.
Lycia, in, 141, I43» 425. 526, 563,
594> 607.
Lycian cities, 141 ; magnate, 587,
Lycians, 182, 426.
Lycosura, 235, 509.
Lydae, 563.
Lydia, 357, 360, 563, 603.
Lydian kings, 237; language, 299;
peasants, 364.
Lydians, 182.
Lydius, 622.
Lynkesti, 561.
Lyons, 132, 153, 155, 165, 208, 213,
358, 444, 445, 513, 524, 532, 611, 612.
618.
Maccabees, 249.
Macedonia, 7, 8, 12 1, 132, 133, 230,
233, 234, 294, 295, 310, 31 1, 322, 458,
498, 511, 526, 529, 536, 547, 560, 561.
Macedonian cities, 310; dynasties,
252 ; kingdom, 234 ; kings in Egypt,
256, 257 ; Koipoi^, $60, 586 ; peasan-
try, 234 ; wars, 6, 7, 234.
Macedonians, 230, 598.
Macrianus, emperor, 391, 420, 619 ;
pretender, 391.
Macrinus, M. Opellius, emperor, 371*-
373.605,614.
Mactar, 292 ; territory of, 579.
Madaurus, 133, 283, 292, 530, 580.
Maeander, valley of , 239.
Maecenas, C., 44, 57, 61, 65, 142, 268,
502, 516, 542, 574, 606, 628.
Maeotian tribes, 243.
Maezaeans, 219, 554.
Magistrates, 232, 281, 337, 607 ; muni-
cipal, see Municipal.
Magistri, 100, 286, 517, 557, 581, 582.
Magnates, 55, 95, gy, gg, 190, i95. 43^.
447> 503> 535, 57^» 587*
Mago, 10, 277.
Main, river, 144, 207.
Malaca, charter of, 547, 548.
Malalas, 244.
Malaria, 621.
MamiliaRoscia PeducaeaAlliena Fabia,
lex, 493-
Managers (<^povTio-rj5s), 436, 439.;
(dispensator), 497, 552 ; of busi-
nesses, 199, 556 ; of an imperial
farm, 576 ; of estates, 5, 31, 61, 497,
504, 545, 552, 553 ; see Vilicus.
Mancia, 321.
Manoiana, lex, 189, 321, 356, 545, 580,
582.
Mantinea, 528.
Manufactured goods, 21, 36, 66-68,
i5i> 155; 15S; 243, 304, 328, 396, 462,
464,466, 61 1.
Manufacturers, 304, 61 1.
Manumission, 54, 70, 177, 313, 368,
. 467, 587 ; representation of, 70.
Mappalia, 291, 293.
Mappalia Siga, 582.
Marble, 294, 296.
Mareellus, bishop of Apamea, 567.
Marcianopolis, 129,
Menmius L, f. Quir. Pacatws, L., 292.
Memphis, 571.
MBn, god, 238.
Menander, j.25,
Mendectiora, 357.
Mendes, 573.
Mendesian Bome, 577.
MarciiSs Salutariiis, 626. ;
MarcoEianic war, 326. ;
Margum, 227. j
Mariamne the Hasmoiiaean, 575. j
Marian veterans, 579. . 1
Marimus, fundus, S4 5' ;
Mariccns, 301, 585, ,
Marinas Pacatiaiins, TL ClaBCims, ,
emperor, 389. i
Maiissa, 537,
Maritime law, Rhodian, 3. ^
Marius, 25, 27, 35, 39i 279, 281, 451,
452, 609 ; M. Aurelius, Gallic em-
peror, 392 ; Maximus, 596,
Market-places, 135, i 37 »
253, 302, 420, 435 ; (emporm), see
Fairs.
Markets for agriculture, commerce, and
industry, 3, 21, 65, 91, 94, 95» ^37*
138, 150, 157, 158, 163, 165, 187, 213,
215, 243, 277, 304-306, 417, 421, 453,
471, 492, 503, 505» 534 i indehmte, 3,
37, 304 ; local, 163, 507, 538.
Marmora, Sea of, 132.
Maroneia, 233.
Mars, 76, 308, 346, 418,
Marsyas, 314.
Martial, 131, igr, 192, 211, 515, 537,
545, 584.
Martin am Bacher, St., 224.
Masculuia (Kef), 281, 283, 580.
Masons, 164.
Mass-consumption, 69 ; export, 69 ;
production, 3, 21, 165, 167, 304.
Massaliotes, 547.
Massilia, 492.
Mastarense, casiellum, 582.
Master of supplies for the army, 586.
Maternus, 327, 349.
Matronae, 530.
Mauretania, 90, 132, 133, 146, 274,
280-283, 285, 289, 306, 315, 317, 390,
45^1 5^9* 5S0, 582 ; Caesariensis, 283.
Mauretanian kingdom, 274, 277.
Mauricius, 616.
Maximini, 384, 387.
Maximinus, C. Julius Verus, emperor,
381, 382, 388, 393, 397-403. 406,
410-412, 423, 433, 442. 444, 511,
613-616.
Meadows, 61, 63, 163, 215, 226, 296,
Meat, 148, 149, 374, 624.
Medeli, 281, 580.
Medicinal water, export of, 200.
Mediterranean, 490 ; area, 235 ; basin,
-• ‘I* -J* a . .
Merchants, 71, 90, 142, 148, 153, 155,
176, 203, 208-210, 215, 216, 293, 393,
435. 473. 479. 5^7. 53'2, 54 G 549. 55©.
■ 61 1 ; of Africa, 286 ; associations of,
149, 159, 160, 168. 291, 337 . 33 ^^. 359 .
3 ^ 1 . 379 . 40^. 47 ^. 53 - 2 . 533 .
592; banking operations of, 541 ; of
the Bosporan kingdom, 146, 241,
243. Sbs; of Carthage, 277; of
93, 158, 259 ; Etruscan, 11 ;
export-, 243'; in foreign trade, 53,
91 . 3:33. 34^. ^ 47 . 159. 53 f>. 537 i
Greek, 229, 232, 241, 243; Italian,
17. 35. 3d. 5G ^ 53 * 15S, I 59 . 221,
279, 493, 503 ; Oriental, 158, 159,
229, 536 ; of I^alestine, 249 ; ^ of
Palmyra, 160, 247, 536, 537 ; policy
of the government towards, 93, 159,
165, 513 ; representation of, 156,
164 ; retail, see Retail ; maritime,
536 ; wholesale, 148, 155, 157, 159.
186, 408 ; Dealers and Megotm ”
tores.
Mercury, 44, 92, 98, 126, 152, 238, 508,
514.
Meroe, 146, 512, 513, 619.
Mescenii, 553.
Mesembria, 230, 232.
Mesopotamia, 132, 309, 315, 317, 354,
3% 527. 539. 5^6-588, 601, 610, 613.
Messalina, 267, 573.
Messana, 196, 505, 546.
Messenger boat, 288 ; service, 593.
Messiah,: 44.- „ ■
Metal, 15, 36, 67, 69, 148, 149. X53, 163,
197, 208, 209, 538 ; implements,
539; plate, 21, 67, 69, 161, 506;
10, 37, 91, 93, 164.
metropoleis, 255, 270, 271, 273, 361, 527,
577. 57 ^-
Meuse, 208, 209.
Middlemen, 332. *
Milan, 391, 393.
Index of Names and Subjects 663
Miletus, 132, 526, 540.
Milm, 286.
Military castt^% 414, 415; hereditary
service, *168, 458; police, see Fru-
mentarii ; settlements, 51, 547,;
settlers, 268, 458, 549, 609 ; stations,
93 ; teclmique, 41,
MilUes casteilani, 608.
^'Militia, 25, 26, 41, 122, 248, 402, 413,
425, 441, 457, 568.
Miners, 47, 71, 199, 225 ; 'representa-
tion of, 200, 224.
Minerva, 508, 514.
Mines, 15, 17, 66, 67, 71, 105, 197, 199,
200, 217, 224, 225, 229, 255, 293-296,
322, 534, 539, 547, 553, 536, 578, 583.
Minicius, M., 366..
3flining, 198, 294, 296 ; companies,
295; districts, 199, 289, 295, 553 ;
gallery, representation of, 224 ; in-
dustry, 199.
Ministri, 100, 497, 517. *
Minoan civilization, 219, 485 ; period,
198.
Mints, 1 7 1, 408, 409.
Misenum, 612.
Misopogon, 244.
Missio agraria, 581 ; nummaria, 555.
Mithra, 456, 617.
Mithradates, 9, 27, 35 ; of Pergamon,
503.
Mfthradatic war, 9.
Mithraea, 617.
Moesi, 558.
Moesia, 389, 555-558; Inferior, 217,
230-232, 390, 526 ; Superior, 217,
219, 225, 227, 229, 231, 366, 524.
Moesian legions, 104, 557.
Moesians, 226.
Moguntiacum (Mainz), 144, 208, 210,
213, 216.
Monetium, 554.
Money, 543 ; accumulation of, 142,
169 ; borrowing of, 421 ; business,
36; changers, 177, 420, 541 ; coined,
15, 16, 36, 170-172, 417, 420, 421,
491 see Coins ; commercial, 513 ;
commercial value of, 419 ; confisca-
tion of, 400, 403 ; contributions of,
338, 362, 363, 423 ; dealers, 221 ; on
deposit, 170, 541 ; depreciation of,
419 ; distributions of, 80, 14 1, 400 ;
fiduciary, 419, 420 ; influx of, 17 ;
interest on, 58, 170, 172, 421, 542 ;
investment of, 18, 19, 22, 155, 161,
209, 421, 515, see Capital and Land ;
lenders, 17, 35, 169, 170, 176, 279 ;
lending, 9. 17. 5 ^^ ^45* i55»
172, 190, 21 1, 512, 542 ; requisitions
of, 396 ; for soldiers, 27-29 ; 'trans-
fer of, 170 ; see Currency.
Monopolies, 54, 138, 169-171, 259, 380,
420, 435* 536, 540* 54L 61 1.
Montenegro, 553.
Moorish king, 39 1 ; tribes, 422.
Moors, 350, 390, 414.
Mortgage, 145, 172* 1S5, 321.
Moschion, 528.
Moselle, river, 155, 207-209, 212, 215,
534* 535* 53S* 541*
Mothana, 570.
Mother Earth, 45, 46, 324 ; Goddesses,
555-
Mozaiedeni, 569.
Mules, 156, 272, 366-
Multimillionaires, 1 4 2 .
Munatius Plancus, 494 ; Sulla Cerialis,
M., 607.
Munem, 339, 340, 358, 359, 361, 409,
596, 601, 625 ; Liturgies.
Munerarii, 432,
Municipal banks, 170; capitalists,
340 ; census, 467 ; charter, 554 ;
chief constables (elprjvdpxat) , 437 >
citizens, 236, 369, 432, 561 ; clubs,
99 ; second class citizens, 297, 362 ;
cults, 100, 140 ; games, 140, 14 1 ;
life, 601 ; magistracies, 17, 201, 602 ;
magistrates, 48, 99, 121, 137-140,
142, 194, 242, 273, 280, 283, 337,
33S> 343* 360, 375, 398, 423* 426, 431,
468, 522, 535, 536, 540, 562, 564,
liturgies of, 339, 34 L 342, 433, repre-
sentation of, 184, responsibility of,
336, 341, 358, 429, 434, 467, 624,
625 ; money confiscated, 403 ; no-
bility, 99 ; olficers, 178 ; police, 123 ;
real estate, 137 ; taxes, see Taxes ;
treasury, 626 ; see City.
Municipes, 548 ; extramurani, 546 ;
intramurani, 546.
Municipia, 106, 120, 197, 222, 223, 225,
229, 270, 280, 283, 289, 299, 377, 553,
554* 580; rights of, 195, 217, 227,
233, 234, 271, 278, 287, 512, 580 ;
see Franchise.
Mursa, 226.
Musculus (ship), 154.
Musonius, 109.
Musulamii, 283, 580, 581.
Musunii Regiani, 283, 581.
Mutina, 69.
Muxsi, 278, 579.
Mycenaean period, 218.
Mylasa, 171, 420, 540, 541.
Myoparo (ship), 154.
Myos Hormos, 513.
Myrinus, 563.
664 Index of Names and Sidjecis
Kaboo, land survey of, 577.
Nalssiis,''227..
Naples, 14, 73.
Narbo, 132, 155, 202, 533, 535» 592*
Narbonensis, see GalMa Narbonensis.
Narcissus, 557 ; favourite of Claudius,
142, 268, 574,
Naro, valley of, 553.
Narona, 221, 223, 553.
Nationalization, 4, 5, 54, I59i
259, 263, 265, 408, 409, 536, 602, 612,
. 618, 621 ; see Monopolies.
Nattabutes, 285, 581.
Naucratis, 262.
Nauna, emporium^ 559.
Nanimy 149.
Naval stations, 93.
Ncmale, 308.
Navalia (river harbours), 152 ; see
Harbours.
Naves tesserariae, 288.
N avicularii, see Shipowners.
Navigius, 163.
Navy, 48, 65, 153, 243, 390, 424 ; see
Fleet.
Nazaieni, 567.
Neapolis (Crimea), 243, 565 ; (Pale-
stine), 248.
Necessities of life, 36, 66, 68, 138, 148,
158, 419, 420, 47c 532,
Neckar, river, 207, 512,
Nedinum, 553.
Neetum, 546,
Negoiiaiores, 148, 491, 550, 579, 582,
595 I see Merchants.
Neighbours, see Vicini.
Nemausus, 132.
Nemesis, 238.
Nemrud-Dagh, 564.
Neptune, 126, 152, 220, 272, 554.
Nereid, 2^2,
Nero, emperor, 75, 84, 85, 112, 151,
306, 350, 351, 508, 511, 521, 579;
commerce, 91, 93 ; confiscations, 97,
105, 199, 267, 289, 321, 573 ; econo-
mic policy, 186, 269, 274, 340, 510,
53:3, 590, 593, 594 ; growth of large
estates under, 94, 95 ; imperial cult,
77, 348, 456 ; military colonies, 555 ;
money, 171, 324 ; opposition to, 86,
108, 113, 115 ; (' false '), 113.
Neronian colonies, 533.
Nerva, emperor, 104, 115, 172, 186,
285, 311, 323, 324, 329, 338, 511, 587.
593 -
Nerva, Cocceius (friend of Horace),
Nesactium, 219, 552,
Neumagen, 144, 155, 209, 210.
New rich, 18, 58, 161, 495, 535.
Nicaea, 132.
Nicagoras, 614.
Hiceratus, 503.
Nicivibus, 285, 581.
Nicomachi, 3S6.
Nicomedia, 132.
Nicomedians, 562.
Hicopolis (Thrace), 233; adlstriim, 559.
Nigriani, 596, '
Niha, 567.
Nile, I, 259, 270, 320, 434, 625.
Nisibis, 601.
■ NoWto, 185, 49:1.
Nola, 559.
Nomentuin, 516.
Nonius, 537.
Norbana Clara, 268, 574.
Korbani, 268, 574.
Norbanus Orestes, 574. ,
Noricans, 598,
Noricum, 71, 121, 133, 153, 216, 217,
230, 294-296, 300, 501, 511, 534, 550,
551.555-
. Notaries public, 174.
Novae, 231.
Novaesium,' 208, 213,
Noviodunum, 620 ; territory of, 557.
Noviomagus (Nijmegen), 208.
Nuceria, 559. ,
Nuffusis, king, 422.
Human tia, 202.
Numeri, 104, 377, 567, fk)8.
Numerianus, 394.
■ Numerius Rufus, Q., 278*
Numidae, 283, 581.
Numidia, 35, 51, 90, 132--134, 146, 274,
277, 279, 280, 282, 283, 294, 388, 529,
555. 591-
Numidian kingdom, 274 ; legatus, 402,
Numlulis, 281.
Nummular ius, representation of, 184.
Nundinae, see Fairs.
Nuraghe Losa, 547.
Nutrices, 555.
Nybgenii, 283, 581.
Ny^, 503.
Oarsmen, 255.
Oath, 540, 541 ; of the Heiasts, 2 ; of
Itana, 2 ; royal, 540.
Obuitronii, 553.
Obultronius Sabinus, 510.
Ooeta', 154. •
Oclatianus Adventus, 596,
Octavian(Octavianus), 28, 29, 195, 451 ;
see Augustus.
Octavius, see Octavian.
Odenathus, 390, 391, 614.
Index of Names and Subjects 665
Odessos, 230.
Odrysian dynasty, 232.
Oea, 133, 292, 293.
Oeiioanda*, 563,
Oescus^ 231, 558.
Officers, ^95. 334^ 3^> 43^^ 532, 554,
568, 586; 593, 607, 628 ; behavionr
of, 1 18, 345, 350, 408, 423, 426, 447,.
' 607 ; forming a new aristocracy, 410,
459> 473 social status, 41, 48, 88,
99, 121, 124, 175, 287, 309, 353, 372,
458, 500. 543. 551. 597. 598 : non-
commissioned, 42, 48, 99, 121, 124,
353, 389, 458051- ,
Offices, 36, 48 ; record, 174.
O'gimalu of the prefect, 440. . 1
Officials, 185, 295, 313, 325, 338, 395, !
408, 424, 435, 461, 462, 464, 468, 471,
474, 522, 582, 606, 624 ; corruption
of, 317, 320, 332, 375, 423, 431, 438,
453, 4^, 4^, 475 i distrust of, 343.
357, 453 » 256—259, 261,
264, 265, 270, 27.1, 301, 572, 577,
626 ; forming a new aristocracy,
410, 460 ; increase of, 453, 459, 460,
467 : of provincial councils, 142 ;
responsibility, 334, 335 J retired, 261,
266 ; social status, 42, 48, 81, 99,
175, 354, 452, 455, 459, 460, 473 i
see Bureaucracy.
OiKoj, 258. ^ .
Oil, building for making (eXaioupyaov),
576 ; buyers of (eXat^v.u), 139 >* com-
merce in, 21, 36, 67, 69, 148, 15 1,
155. 249, 323. 492. 493. 534 ;
in, 532, 625 ; export of, 66, 68, 323,
492: 493. 534 : factones, 435 : fine,
7? 06 ; law relating to, 590 : over-
production, i88 ; perfumed, 9 ,
press, representation of, 96; pro-
duction of, 10, 19, 93, 187, 199, 219,
220, 235, 256, 275, 290, 328, 465, 504,
w 545 553, 629; rations,
iis'; speculation in, 590 ; sto^-
rooms for, 62, 63 ; supply for the
axniy, 153, for the cities, 139, 435 .
transportation of, 149, 260.
Olbia, 143, 146. 231. 239. 241. 243. 422,
503. 526, 557. 565-
Olbian merchants, 146.
Olive, culture of, 10, 21, 198, 263, 277,
296, 322, 493. 577. 584 : Sntfienng
of 292 ; land, 22, 23 ; representation
ai 'in'z 4^0 : groves, 2, 22, 30, 00,
189, 190, 218, 261, 269, 270, 278, 296,
321 429,492, 493, 576, 577: rep^en-
tetion of, 404 ; trees, 90, 9i. 188. 222,
251, 321, 492, 545 : representation of,
290.
Onesimus, 268, 575.
Opimii, 560.
OppidcL, 195, 196, 546 ; Uhem, 280, 580.
Opramoas, 141, 143. 311. 522, 529, 563.
587-
Oracle, 427, 430.
Orators, public, 109.
Ofhis Terrarum, 324.
Orbius, 505!
Orchards, 66, 261, 440, 492, 576, 527 ,
representation of, 430.
Ordinatio, 603.
Oresti, 561.
Orestis, 561.
Oriental aristocracy, 518 ; armies,
586 ; character of the army, 617 ;
civilization, 6, 236, 479, 487 ^
potism, 86, 355, 387, 441 ; . feudal-
ism, 248; goods, 158; imperial
dress, 450 ; kings, 466 ; kingship,
29; legions, 500; markets, 503 ;
merchants, 159, 229, 536 ; monarchi-
cal system, 334 ; monarchies, 5, 39,
1 16, 128, 297, 330, 331, 457^ 461, 465,
483, 541; mounted. god, 560; na-
tionalism, 614 ; part of the Empire,
351; senators, 518; states, 478;
systems of law, 173 > trade, 91, 15^,
158 ; troops, 85 ; wars, 16, 25, 494-
Orientalization of the Empire, 478.
Orientals, 35, 100, 107, 158, 159, 218,
331, 598. j
Oyigo{tbin), 4651 468, 601; 5^^ Bondage.
Orontes, i.
Orpheus, 537.
Ortani (vicus ?), 582.
Oscan language, 33.
Osrhoene, 247.
Osterburken, 554.
Ostia, 72, 73, 132, 136, 149-153, 172,
490, 505, 507, 508, 525, 527, 533, 545>
587,591*
Otho, emperor, 84, 85, 119, 35^*
Oued Atmenia, 629.
Ovid, 89.
Oxen, 31, 61, 63, 206, 214, 238, 276,
284, 290, 366, 417, 426 ; representa-
tions of, 102, 250, 260, 346.
Oxyrhynchite nome, 607, 61 1.
Oxyrhynchites, 577.
Oxyrhynchus, 374, 420, 432, 433, 435,
436, 438, 439, 54^, 624*
Pachten on the Saar, 549.
Paeligni, 193.
Paeonia, 233, 560.
Paeonians, 234.
Pagmn, 47, 180, 192, 193, 54^, 580 , see
Peasants.
Index of Names and Subjects
PaeiSii. iyi-iy 4 , 278, 281, 556. I Parnassus, 522
560, 579, 580 ; Assaritaiiiis, 579 ;
Augustus Felix Suburbanus, 497 ;
Fortunalis, 281 ; Merciirialis, 281.
Paints, 158.
Palmstme, 135, 1391 17S.
Palatine, 44.
Paiatini, 458.
Palestine, 132, 169,, 187, 244, 248, 249,
Pmro (ship), 154.
P^roikoi, see ‘ By-dwelkxs *.
Parthia, 6, 91, 248, 309, 310; 317, 368,
jsa.
Parthian art, 250; capital, j 47 ; ex-
. p^ition, 354. 359, 3C18 ; pWels, 513 ;
. kingdom, 91, 373, 512 : legions, 354 ;
question, 371 ; war, 310, 325, 340A>o7,
251,301,315, 358, 378,498,520,527, ; Parthiaiis, 53, 147, 248, 300, 307, 325,
537» 568, 585*
375 » 508.
Palestinian shores, 147 ; villages, 297. i Partho-Sarmatian art, 512
Palestrina, 12, 254. " ■ j Partnership, 543.
Palfurii Surae, 622. ; Pastures, 10, 11, 18, 22, 31, 66, 195-*
Paifurius, 622. ! m> 211, 215, 217, 222, 223, 251,
Pallas, M. Antonius, /favourite of j 289, 319, 3^^~330, 495 ^ 553 » 55 ^> 1
Claudius, 142, 270, 574, 576, 577 ; ■ see Grazing,
descendant of the favourite, 577. j Patara, 563.
Palmyra, 132, 244, 526, 584, 587, 607, j Paterae, 214, 252.
622 ; commerce of, 91, 133, 147, 160, i Paternus, 345,
512, 531, 560, 619 ; independence of, 1 Patrimoniai departmeiit, 291, 582
390, 391, 393, 422, 425, 426, 532, i Pairimonium, 203,
Patrimonium, 203.
614 ; social structure of, 247, 248, j Patronage, 475.
250,567,594. Patrons, 70, 144, 192, an, 249, 447,
Palmyrene dynasty, 614 ; empire, 392, 569, 628, 629.
393 ; jewels, 513 ; merchants, 160, Paul, St., 182.
247 i 53d, 537 ; militia, 248 ; tariff, Paulinus of Pella, 475, 629.
247, 532, 567 ; territory, 532, 567 ; Paulus, 356, 603.
texts, 536 ; trade, 147, 531. ‘ ' Pautalia, 233, 427*
Palmyrenes, 422, 619. Pm Augusta, 53, mi.
Pamphylia, 526, 562. Pay of the soldiers, 55, 261, 326, 345,
Pan, 92. 550, 354 * 37 '- 2 i 59^, 604, §17*
Panhellenion, 560-562. Payments, distribution of {i miopia ^69),
Pannonia, 217, 219, 222, 224, 225, 227, 232, 599 ; extraordinary, 362, 432,
229-231, 295, 350, 351,361, 389, 393» 4^2, 464; in kind, 467, 599, 612,
■ .53i> 534.55iv555» 624; for the maintenance of thC'
Pannonian soldiers, 555.
Pannonians, 42, 53, 555.
Panormus, 132.
Pansa (Pansiana), 534.
Pansa, house of, 495.
Panticapaeans, 240, 565.
Panticapaeum, X32, 143, 146, 240, 241,
243, 247, 250, 422, 526, 532, 557, 619.
Paper, 67, 73, 148, 158, 161, 526, 536.
Paphlagonians, 182.
Papianus, 603.
Papii. 553.
Papinia, 495.
Papinian, 356, 358, 601.
Papirius Dionysius, 347 ; Justus, 601.
Papius Celsus, C., 553 ; Kan us, M.,
553 -
Papyrus, 611,618.
Paraetonium, 262.
Parcae, 56. . -
Parchment, 16 1. ^ ' ' > ' ''
emperor and his suite, 599 ; respon-
sibility for, 432, 436 ; see Deliveries.
Pedants, 180, 197, 202, 205, ,230, 232,
234. 339, 249, 294. 388. 495. 497. 558.
■ 562, 569 ; . in Africa, 287, 291-293 ;
' antagonism towards, cities,' 237, 245,
253. 301, 332, 370. 443-447- 453-469.
482, 520, 567, 627, 628 ; army of, 15,
23, 25, 27. 86. 122, 123. 348, 375. 377-
395. 414, 443-447. 45i. 457. 598, 627,
628 : basis of the state, 356, 357,
628; basis of the state, 356, 357,
45S-455* 4^5 I bondage, 466, 472,
473 ; cities of, 14 ; colonies of, 15 ;
compulsory work of, 226, 336, 337,
iSp 601. . 348, 366 ; decrease of, 23, 61, 63, 65,
us,. M., 9% 1S3, 186, 191 ; in Egypt, 255, 257,
259-262, 264-266, 273, 299-301, 319,
; 320.429.431.432.435,437.584.599,
, : 6*0,, 630 : emigration of, 23, 35, 36,
' . 498; free, 13, 19, 36, 47. *93, 233.
/ / ^53. 301. 351, 369. 445. 446. 470, 472,
■■iilil
Index of Names and Subjects 667
192. 193. 545 : majority Of the poi)u-
lation, 123, 191, 192. 298, 443 : null-
tarizatiott of, 376-378, 608 ; native
character 0% 181, 182, 217 ; oppres-
sion of, 245, 364, 426, 448, 470;
prosperity of, 302 ; protection by
the emperors of, 356, 357, 360, 364,
444, 600 ; representations of, 12,
144, 366 ; restoration of, 24, 26, 186,
187 ; revolts of, 196, 301, 402, 546,
568, 620 ; royal, 466 ; serfs, 241,
248, 565, 566, see Serfs ; state, 13, 15,
22, 24, 26 ; transformation into
tenants of, 23, 65, I9^-~I93» ^^9. 21 1,
212, 237, 297-299, 505 ; urbaniza-
tion of, 376-378 ; veterans, 33, 34 J
victory over the bourgeoisie, 444,
448 ; see Farmers, Pagani, Tenants,
and Vimni.
PecuUum, 515.
Pegasus (horse), 404.
Pella, 234.
Peloponnesian war, 2,
Penates, 508.
Penestae, 556.
Pensioners of the state, 80.
Pensions for soldiers, 79/ ^72/ 367*
Peparethus, 601.
Peregrine city, 369.
Peregrini, 217, 222, 231, 299, 300, 332,
369. 500. 55i> 553. 584. 605^.
Perelius, C., 607 ; Hedulus, P., 40.
Perennis, 345.
Perfugae, 278.
Perfumes, 66, 71, 73. 9^. I4«. ?58. SH.
549 ; makers of (unguentar^^)^ 90.
Pergamene kingdom, 489, 507, 563.
Pfergamon, i, 8, 132, 171, 323^ 5^2, 503,
523, 526, 528, 539-541. 561. 563, 586,
590.
Pericles, 235.
Perinthus, 393* , . .
Periplus Maris Erythraei, 91, 93i
531*
Persia, 250, 389, 390, 479, 48^ _
Persian, 334 ; domination m t-gypt, 5 .
dress, 450; einpire, 307. 47»:
frontier, 390 ; gods, 617 : gulf, ?i ,
kings, 237 ; monarchy, 457 > penod,
564 ; traditions, 536 ; war, 389, 394-
Pemians, 250, 372, 379, 389-391. 393.
394, 422, 426.
Persius, 89.
Pertinax, P. Helvius, emperor, 349,
351. 355. 373-
Perusia, 59* ^ ^
Pescennius Niger, C., 35i» 35^» 357*
Peg’ ■«. 53.. 560.
Petronii, 574.
Petronius, 56, 58, 89, 242, 282, 495,
502, 511, 537; C., 268, 573/ 574 **
Mamertinus, M., 592 ; P*, 574-
Petrus Patricius, 407, 445, 618.
Phaenae, 569.
Phanagoria, 241.
Pharaohs, 257, 258.
Pharmacy, 156.
Philadelphia (Arabia), 251 ; (Asia
Minor), 564 ; (Egypt), 77, 428, 576 /'
territory of, 623.
Philadelphian farmers, 438.
Philip the Arab (M. Julius Philippus),
emperor, 253, 382, 389, 397, 398, 4^^*
401, 403, 405, 406, 426, 438, 444, 445.
513, 613-615, 617, 620, 626, 627.
Philip of Gamala, son of Jakimus, 249,
568. o z:
Philippi, battle of, 30, 234, 498, 560.
Philippopolis (Thrace), 233, 389* 4^1 i
(Arabia), 253, 569.
Philo, 13 1.
Philodamus, 268, 575.
Philosophers, 109, no, 114, 120, 347,
510, 519, 520, 523, 535* 508, 595.
596 ; of the streets, no— 113*
Philosophiana, 546.
Philosophic opposition, io8-no.
Philostratus, 529.
Philoxenus, 576, 577.
Phocaeans, 198, 547.
Phoenicia, 74, 248, 358, 378, 490.
Phoenician cities, 277, 498, 5^2 ; coast-
land 244 ; communities, 51 ; do-
minions in Africa, 278 ; glass mdus-
try, 540 ; imports, 21 ; industry,
161 ; landowners, 277, 278 ; lan-
guage, 299 ; part of Sicily, 194 »
ships, 246 ; shores, 147.
Phoenicians, 151 182, 198/ 236, 275* 277*
Phoenix, 316.
Phosphorus, 581.
Phrygia, 237, 238, 520, 526, 528, 53^*
536, 544* 563* 594- , .
Phrygian imperial estates, 384 , kings,
237 ; language, 299 ; peasants, 102,
Piavonius Victorinus, M., emperor, 392.
Picenum, 14, 3^* 59*
Picture galleries, 135.
Piercebridge, Co. Durham, 214*
Piety, 53.
Pigs, 10, 20, 61, 215, 489, 492.
Pilai, 531.
Pinara, 563.
Hns, safety, 69, 163, 215, 506-
Piquentum, 219, 552.
Piracy, 9, 138, 380, 390/ 424. 47°*
620,
668 ' Index of Names and Stdjects
Pirates, 93, 426, 490, 499^
Pirtostae, 229.
Hsidia, 526.
Piso, 614.
Pitph, 67, 153,
Pitliom, decree of, 570, 571.. j
Pitiniana, 546. ■;
Hzus, 233, 377, 608, 609. i
Placentia, 559.
Plantations, 95» 277» 57^*^ .
576, 577.
Plebeian class, 13.
Pliny the Elder, 66, 89, 91, 93, 94, 1B5, '
186, 280, 282, 283, 294. 49^» 503» ;
315, 531, 546; the Younger, 115,
131, 142, 180, 183, 185, 190-192, 310, ■.
31 1, 313, 329, 336, 344, 416, 545»
586, 587.
Plotina, 523. ;
Plotinopblis, 129, 233. ;
Piotius Grypus, L., 574. |
Ploughman, representation of, 214. i
Ploughs, 63; representations of, 12, i
20, 62, 238, 290, 308. ;
Plutarch, iii, 120, 125, 235, 518, 519, 1
522, 529. i
Plution, the hemficmrius, 428. ;
Plutocracy, 100, 119, 176, 186, 282. !
Po valley, 31, 49, 191, 329, 528. i
Podolia, 506. {
Poetovio,' 225-~227, 534, 554, 555. 617. j
Pogla, 607,
Pola, 132, 218-220, 525, 534» 549» 55*» I
Polemon, 141, 503, 529, 540. i
Police agents, 362, 623 ; boats, 288 ; ;
chiefs, 258, of the nome (cVitrrarjjs), |
573, of the village (rtp;(€^oSos), 437, |
573 ; force, 79, 350, 499, 609 ; |
guards, 264 ; military, see Frumen- |
tarii ; instructor of (exercitaior mili- |
turn frumentariorum), 612 ; munici- j
pal, 123, 437 ; officers, 603 ; river j
(TTornpo^vXa/ctn), 607; secret, 460, |
474- -I
Policemen, 41, 258, 363, 396, 437, ^
Polybius, 125, 201, 205, 489.
Pompeians, 96, 279.
Pompeianus, mosaic of, 629.
Pompeii, 63, 89, 132, 174, 508, 513, 525,
527, 559 ; commerce, 68, 98, 505,
506, 512, 514 ; houses, 22, 507 ;
industry, 72, 96, 98, 165, 495, 503,
514-516, 518 ; social structure, 14,
33. 58, 501. 5^7 I villas, 31, 62, 205,
212, 218, 219, 298, 496, 504, 514-
516, 549 ; wall-paintings, 20, 60, 62,
92, 96, 98, 276, 288, 513, 514, 530,
535 ; wine-production, 64, 92, 496, 514
PompeiusGrosphus, 505 ; Strabo, 493;
■ Yalens, L., 558.
Pompey, 27, 28, 31, 39, 40. 49 * 5% ^>1.
192, 451, 452, 492-494, 499 ; Sextus,
m* 497* 553. 574*
Pomponius Atticus, 1 491 Mela, 503.
Pontus, 9, 24 X, 526, 557, 569, 58 i:>.
Popidii, 496.
Popidius Floriis, N., 496. 504.
Popiliius I^thon, Cl, 560, 585*
Popular assembly of Rome, 25, 26, 80 ;
of Egyptian cities, 273.
Papuii,2So; aiiribuii,
Portugal, 132.
Portunus, 308.
Portiis Trajani, 152.
Poseidon, 565.
Posideos, 565.
Posidonius, 546.
Possess^res, 194, 203, 274, 320, 322,
445. 554. 584. 590 ; Aquenses, 548 ;
see Landowners.
Postal service ; see Cursus pubiicus.
Postumus, M. Cassianius Latinius,
emperor of Cl, ml, 391, 392, 6x4,
Poienti&res, 323, Ck>o,
Pottery, 10," 21, 37, 68, 71, 146, 148,
161, 166, 208, 215, 216, 302, 4«i8, 512,
537-539 ; factory, 538 ; kilns, 166,
539 : red-glazed, 67, 69, 163,
Poultry, 263, 290, 292,^430, 629.
Pmedm Popuii Romani, 16. ,
PrmfecU annonm, see AnfM}na ;■
dis iairociniiS:, 620; of oasMia, 377,
579 ; of colonies, 377, 60^ ; of
empofia, 377, 609 ; immtutis, 287,
582 ; of Mesopotamia, 613 ; tirommi,
582, 610 ; of tribes (gentium), 227, ■
283, 554, 555, 581, see Sheikhs.
Praeneste, see Palestrina.
Pfoepositi, 428, 554, 603.
Praetorians, 612 ; cohorts, 87, 88, 500,
508, 51 1 ; political role of, 75, 80, 84,
85, lOI, 345, 347, 350, 351, 388, 508,
596 ; prefects of, 291, 314, 345, 354,
371, 523, 613 ; reform of, 353, 457 ;
representations of, 152, 314 ; social
composition, 41, 48, 87, 99, 103, 121,
124, 234, 309, 511, 517, 593. bid.
Praia legionum, 226, 227, 554.
Praxinoa, 571.
Preachers, street, 596.
^ Prefects of Egypt, 265, 269, 334, 421,
436-438, 574-576, 600, 607, 624 ; of
the praetorians, see Praetorians ;
i of Rome, 314.
I Priapus, 92.
Prices, 95, 138, 139, 282, 417, 419-421,
453. 4^3. 515. 528, 566, 586, 590.
ames
189, 313, 318, 319, 322, 325 ; revivaj
of, 90, 99 ; separatist movement in,
85, 391 ; social structure, 103, 193,
296->300 ; urbanization of, see Ur-
banization.
Provincial councils, see Councils.
Prusa, 109, 188, 51 1, 5^7» 522,
528, 529, 562.
Prusias ad Hypium, 362, 562, 594, 001
607.
438.
Psyches, 92, 96.
Ptolemaeum, 579- ^
Ptolemaic administration, 258, 274
army, 261, 266; Egypt, 173, iSg
540, 570 ; papyri* 570 J period, 378
542, 570, 571, 57b, 595* bii, 625
silver, 421, 619 system, 434, 435-
Ptolemais, 130, 262, 527 ; -Ace, 248.
Ptolemies, 5, 55* ^29, 169, 252, 255
Priests, 140, 142, 256-259. 263-205,
571 ; -kings, 248. 253.
Primems , trade in, 68.
PrimipiUf 598.
Prinapes Ubertimrum, 96 ; loci, 224,
229, 558J peregfinorum, 596; of
tribes, 223, 283, 554, 5 ^^*
Prmfecii,
Priscus, 3B9 ; C. Julius, 613.
Prisons, 135. , .
Privileges to associations, see Associa-
tions ; to soldiers, 350, 353, 354* ^4-
Probus, M. Aurelius, emperor, 189, 394*
416-418, 422, 423, 43U 545* bi8, 619,
621. Q
Proconsuls, 354, 402, 522, 579* 59«-
Proculus, colonus, 545 * usurper, 394*
426,. ,
Procurators, 50, 81, 217, 225, 340, 349,
354* 357* 402, 43b, 4b7* 5^U 5^9*
520, 522, 532, 570, 582, 587, 590, 592,
598, bo3, bo6, bio, b2b ; of owners
of estates, 472, 54b, 566; arcae
expeditio fidlis (chief of the exchequer),
603.
Professional corporations, ibo, 532,
539, 618 ; groups, 432 ; guilds, 33b ;
organizations, 159.
Professiones, 509.
Professors, 109.
Profiteering, 9. ^39. 171. ^89. 420. 590-
Proletariate, 33. 177-179. 193. 243.
245. 305. 313. 370. 453. 466. 472. 473.
482, 517, sbb ; in the army, 25* 27,
29, 42, 88, 100, 103, 123, 414, 500 ;
discontent of, 25, 110-112, 140, 520,
«;68 : distribution of land to, 24, 33,
187, 31 1, 329; feeding of, 57*
188; increase of, 100 ; political aims
of, 24, 26, 237 ; protection by the
emperor of, 35b.
Propertius, 63, b5, 89.
Protectores, 413. r q
Provinces, administration 01, o, 10, 49,
.0, 78-81, 120, 217, 274, 354 ^
see Army: attitude towards the
670 Index of Names
Quarries, 15, 105, 255, 293-296, 583.
Quartering of soldiers, 310, 375, 5S6.
Quarters, 9, 310, 336, 337, 363, 375,
427, 607.
Quietus, 391, 420, 619-
Quinquegentami, 422,
guinqmnmiis, 224, 232.
Quintilliis, M. Aurelius Claudius, em-
l^ror, 392.
.Quintio, 557.
Race suicide, 97, 107, 175, 177, 424,
the bmrgeome, 339, 340, 361, 362,
4687 of the cities, 310,^15. 432-434,
43^» '459» 461, 462, 620* 624 ; collec-
tive, ,342 ; of the comdMckms, 340 ;
of the decapmim, 342, 434, 436,^594,
626 I of tne laiKlowners; 434, 437J,
624, 627 ; of the miinicipai nriagis-
trates, sm Municipal ; of the iiai;ic«-
iarih 602, 625 ; personal, 35S, 593 ;
of the richer for the poorer, 333, 340,
■ 34 343 * 374 » 396 . 4 - 24 * 437 * 467*
of the rural population, 362.
^ Retailshops, 72, 156 ; trade, 435, 471 ;
! traders, 36, 72, 148, 150, 159, 172,
: 177, 186, 259. 27 J* 323.
I Return cargo, 151.
? Revelation, of St. John, 18H, 531.
i Revolutions, social, see Social revolu-
i tions.
; Rhesenae, 601.
I Rhetors, 595.
; Rhine, -52, 182, 205, 207-213, 287, 292,
! 390;. army, 85,' 149. I55* ^57* 207-
I 209, 225, 510, 536, 612 ; banking,
I 541; cities, 153, 155, 20«i;^ com-
I merce, 531 ; forts, 609 ; frontier, 55,
I 306, 319, 388, 390 ; funeral monu-
i ments, 534, 535, 538 ; industry, 163 ;
lands, 172, 207, 21 1, 213. 538, 548,
55 ^» 55 ^* 617; limes, see Limes;
provinces, 122 ; settlements of
i soldiers, 517 of veterans, .130, 619 ;
I ■ wars, 42, 306.
Rhodes, 4, rii, 132, 135, 277, 483, 526,
540* , ■ . . :
Rhodian banking, 499 ; maritime law,
■ 3CI74-
: Rhodiapolis, 141, 143.
I Rhoemetalces, king, 565,
Rieti, 238.
Risinium, 553.
Roads,. 59, .228, 234, 25.1, 310, 522, 560,
■ ,593' ; construction 'of, , 59* 79, 21 1,
■ 337» 536 ; district, 1.38, 528; iaad,
... 138, 150 ; military, 18, 57, 65 ;
' 'repair 'of,' 587', ,607 $'ystemof|. 207 ;
; see Routes. ■: „
Robber-hunters {Xf;oT 07 rt«arnt}, 437.
Robbers, 123, 362, 380, 437, 445, 473,
522, 603, 607.
Robbery, 124, 363, 424, 426, 470, 490,
620 ; wa.rs of, 2.
Rofm, goddess, 44, 45, 53, 316 ; repre-
i sented by Victory, 126.
j Rome, personification of, 382, 418.
Ropes, 1 53.
Rosetta, inscription of, 570, 571.
Rossius Vitulus, M., 593, 603.
Rostra, bas-reliefs of, 585.
Raetia, 71, 216, 390, 393, 550, 556.
Raetian tribes, 216,
Raetinium, 554.
Raisins, 235.
Ranches, 212.,
Raphia, victory of, 570, 371,
Ratiaria, 226.
Ratio patrimonii, 536 ; primia, 362,
562, 591.
RaUonalis (KaBoXmk), 438, 610, 626.
RationibuSy a, 55 .
Rations of bread, oil, and pork, 618.
Ravenna, 162, 476, 515.
Ravonii, 553.
Raw materials, 36, 67, 69, 74, 146-148,
15^* 259, 396, 462, 464, 466, 539, 61 1.
Razgrad, 560.
Record office {^iffkioOriKiiiyKrrffrwf 174*
Recruitment, see Army ami Legions.
Rector Orient is, 613.
Red Sea, 513.
Redemptores, 32, 295.
Regalianus, 391.
Regensburg, 216.
Regilius, 343.
Reims (Durocortorum Remorum), 156.
Remmius Palaemon, 516.
Renouncing property, see Cessio ho-
noriim.
Rentiers, 36, 59, 185, 190.
Repopulation, 588, 589.
Requisitions, 49, 312, 334, 336, 364,
428, 433, 462, 466 ; of draught ani-
mals, 102, 242, 312, 374, 396, 426 ;
of drivers, 396 ; of food, 9, 375 ; of
grain, 312, 374, 528 ; of herds, 102 ;
of hides, 374 ; of labour, 9, 363, 426 ;
of manufactured goods, 396 ; of
means of transport, 9, 363 ; of
quarters, 9, 363, 375 ; of raw
material, 396 ; of ships, 396 ; sys-
tern of, 310, 337, 342, 374, 396, 434,
437. 624.
Re-sale, 323.
Responsibility of the agents of the
government, 265, 333-335. 4^9 ; of
Index of Names and Subjects 671
Rotomagiis (Rouen), 570.
Rottweil, 512.
Routes, militury, 248 ; by river, 133,
138, 150, 153, 161, 163 f by sea, 93 ;
trad8,‘ 72; *133, 161, 248, 505, 531;
&ee Roads.
Roxalani, 307, 315.
Rugs, 73.
Rumanian language, 198.
Rusicade, 277, 286.
Russia, Central, 146, 531 ; Northern,
531 ; South, 243, 307, 389, 526, 556,
557, 565, 619 ; commerce, 66, 69, 71,
73, 146, 148, 158, 163, 188, 228, 231,
304, 506, 531.
47*
Sabine estate of Horace (Sabinum), 61 ;
mountains, 14.
Saboides, 285, 581.
Saborenses, 202, 548;
vSabrathus, 133.
Saccaea, 570.
Saccaei, 569.
Safaite inscriptions, 570.
Safaites, 251.
Safinii, 553.
Sahara, 66, 146.
Sailors, 41, 47, 48, 51, no, 255, 265,
433, 511, 540, 568, 620 ; refuges for,
93 ; see Navy.
Saitic period, 262, 570.
Sakaon, 428.
Salaried agents of the government,
334, 335 ; clerks, 178 ; free men.
Salaries, 178, 185, 259, 427, 471.
Salarius Sabinus, M., 586.
Salihiyeh, see Doura.
Salisbury, 215.
Sailustius Sempronius Victor, P., 612.
Salona, 132, 221, 223, 526, 55 . 1 - 553 *
Salpensa, 548, 555.
Salt, 294, 556.
Saltus, 212, 287, 349, 5^0 J Beguensis,
580, 582; Burunitanus, 348, 349,
357 » 59 ^» 597> J
see Estates.
Salus XJmeritana, 200-
Salvian, 448, 469, 475, 629.
Salvium, municipium, 553.
Samaria, 248, 249, 358, 378.
Samnite aristocracy, 5 ^ > aspect of
Campania, 16 ; cities, 14 ; period,
495, 516 ; tribes, 25 ; war, 13.
Samnites, ii, 535.
Samnium, 31, igi, 514-
Samos, III.
Sampsigerami, 425, 568.
Sampsigeramus, 248.
Sanctuaries, see Temples.
Sanitary arrangements, 79, 135.
Sarapieion, estate of, 429.
Sardeis, tribe, 557.
Sardinia, 8~io, 15, 17, 31, 63, 148, 15 1,
188, 194, 197, 198, 274, 295, 490. 492,
493> 497. 502, 51b, 533, 546, 547, 549,
583.
Sardinian graves, 20.
Sardis, 540, 541, 564, 595.
Sarmatian tribes, 146, 243, 566.
Sarmatians, 243, 306, 307, 309, 315,
325. 350, 414. 421, 458. 478 : repre-
sentation of, 102.
Sassanidae, 457.
Saturninus, Julius, 394, 607.
Saturnus Balcaranensis, 583.
Sauromates II, king, 565, 614.
Savaria, 227, 555.
Save, river, 152, 226, 534.
Saviour, 43, 44, 108.
Scandinavian lands, 145, 530, 531.
Scaptopare, 233, 427, 559, 620.
Scarbantia, 227, 555.
Schools, 139, 179, 375. bo8.
Schwarzwald (Black Forest), 207.
Scodra, 553.
Scopelianus, 189, 529.
Scotland, 213.
Scribes, 258, 599.
Scriptores, Historiae Aiigustae, 367, 381,
^84. ^87, 604 : rei vusticae^ 204.
Scupi, 226, 227, 555.
Scythia Minor, 558.
Scythian kingdom, 565 ; lands, 243.
Scythians, 230, 240, 445, 565.
Sebaste (Samaria), 248.
Secretaries, private, 55.
Secundinii, 144, 155, 530.
Secundinus, 557.
Securitas y 316.
Segesta, 546.
Segusio, 216.
Seleucia, 244.
Seleucid Empire, 249 ; period, 542.
Seleucids, 129, 244.
Self-government of cities, see City ; of
tenants, 286 ; of villages, 564.
Selinuntum, 546.
Semitic civilization, 485 ; goddess, 272 ;
tribes, 182 ; pre- Semitic races, 485.
Sempronius Liberalis, M,, 578,
Semta, 286, 581.
Senate, 40, 44, 48, 79, 118, 37 ^^. 3^b,
448, 501, 587, 605, 616 ; administra-
tive and financial functions of, 49,
55, 78, 80, 81, 286, 325, 451, 617;
agrarian policy, 188, 279 ; changes
Index Mmmm' ^nd Subjects
within, 1 12, 221, 2«)I, 410* 4^^* 494» 597* 59^* 603, 60S, mn ; mlU-
518 ; election of emperors by, 104, . taristic methods of frovrrnineiit, 377,
388, 393, 394 ; diminatioE of , 45, 77, 37^* 395. W. 4^2, 426 ; oppo-
353, 441'; militarization of, 395 J sition to, 352, 353, 365 ; reforms in
oppositfoii totheem'perors. 108, 10, Egypt, 435, 610; termrisro, 352,
03, 327, 345. 348* 352. 353. 3^5. SBB, : 353. 399-40f; 4^ ; wars, 371, 373,
510, 519, 522, 523, 588, 595 : policy ; 374 ; arch of, 346. tui.
of the emperors towards, 107, 113, ; Septimiiis Sevenis, friend of Statius,
408, 597, 617; political struggle, 'i ^ 574; L., 374.
403 ; prestige of, 344, 347, 442 ; ■: Seroia, 224.
recognition of emperors by, 43, ^4, ■ Serdica, 233.
388,390,392,393,614; RepnblicaB, : Serfdom, 556, 630 ; half-, 197,301.
8, 15. 16, 18, 22, 28, 36, 50, 142. 492 ; : Serfs, ii, 13, 14, 19, 23, 169, 192, 240,
restoration of, 405, 410, 615 ; sane- ! 241, 245, 253, 277, 300, 351, 443, 465,
tion of imperial power, 75, 77, loi, f 472, 475, 478, 497, 564, 565, 566,
f 16, 130, 372, 481 ; weakening of, 79. j. 5^4'. half-, 297; sacred, 237;
Senates, of cities, 13S, 339, 433, 563, ? tenant-,;237, 474.
566; local, 135, 292 ; of a village, ; Servi pubiici, 137, 178, 528; see Sla%'^es.
231. ! Servian constitution, 13 ; reform, 13.
Senatorial aristocracy, 27, 47, 75, 97, ; 'Services, imperial {fcviumul imripmlai),
1 17, 185, 269, 353, 406, 472, 473, 479,
518, 580, 598 ; bourgeoisie, 100 ;
class, 17, 26, 47, 58, 85, 1 16, 1 17, 177,
344, 365, 403, 491, 501, 519, in the
administration, 48, 49, 176, 313, in
the army, 41, 43, 48, 121, changes
within, 175, 517, disappearance of,
412, 447, economic activity of, 22,
3b, 55. 199, 203, 475, 477, 491,
elimination of, 372, 407, 449, 458,
municipal, 17, persecution of, 75,
political activity of, 29, 45, 79,
privileges of, 118, rule of, 493, wealth
of, 16, 18, 229, 268, 289, 563, 574 ;
emperors, 388 ; families, 107, 186,
234, 237, 268, 289, 530, 563, 577 ;
governors, 407 ; minority, 26 ; op-
position, 108, 109, 510, 519 ; pro-
vinces, 50, 78, 80, 81, 274, 354;
regime, 28.
Senators, 81, 31 1, 344, 466, 474, 477,
530, 598 ; extermination of, 105,
352 ; municipal, 341, 570, 627 ;
Oriental, 518 ; political activity of,
28, 108, no ; w^ealth of, 31, 142, 143,
Senatus Popidusque Romanus, 15, 26,
39, 278, 37a, 510,
Seneca, L. Annaeus, 89, 95, 142, 268,
513. 51b, 574.
Senia, 221.
Sens (Senones), see Agedincum.
Septimius Severus, emperor, 177, 346,
351. 352, 3S0, 481, 544, 574, 586, 59b,
597 ; army, 124, 353-355. 443-445.
597> 59b ; economic policy,
359-3b3. 3b7. 373. 374. 53b, 541, 592,
602, 606, 612, 625 ; imperial cult,
356 ; internal policy, 338, 355-35B,
3b4. 3b5. 372, 375. 37b. 37^. 452, 593,
Sarviiius Rulliis, 493.
Severus, lamiowmef, 268, 574 ; Alex-
ander, see Alexander; Ti. Julius,
586 ; Septimius, see Septimius*
Sfax (Taparura), 272.
Shmduf, representation of, 252.
Shapur I, king, 389.
Shares, 31.
Sheep, 31, 61, 144, 184, .195, 211, 215,
219, 249, 276, 290, 430, 492 ; breed-
ing of, 10, 292,. 5 77 ; representation
of, 20.
Sheikhs of tribes, '253, 561, 562, 569 ;
see Principes,
Shepherds, 10, 122, 196, 197, '202, 212,
215, 217, 232, 234, 250, 251, 253, 276,
290. 539. 54b ; chief-, 144.
Ship-lessees, 434, 625*
SM.powners Jnmicularii, wamkfipoi),
.138, 148, 151, 152, 159, 186, 270, 337,
359. 3.bi, 397. 47^. 473. 533. 53b, 540,
592, 596, 625 ; associations of, 149,
159. ib8, 261, 337, 338, 359, 361, 379,
397. 40S. 409. 434. 47 474. 50b, 532.
■ 533.-5b5. 592, 595. bo2, 625.
■ Ships, 31, 67, 69, isr, 153, 243, 261,
334. 390, 434. 47 1 J archaic, 20 ;
building of, 67, 310, 338, representa-
tion of, 162 ; catalogue of, 537 ;
hauling of, representation of, 210 ;
loading of, representation of, 210 ;
merchant, 152, 246, representation of ,
152, 246, 288 ; requisition of, 396 ;
river, 142, 155, 434, representation
of, 152, 154 ; sea, representation of,
454 ; see Barges and Boats.
Shoemakers, 223, 380 ; representation
of, 9b, 15b, 164, 224.
Index of Names and Bubj eats 673
Shoes, 153, 208, 310.
Shopowners, 11/ 17, 22, 33, 98, 150,
162, 164, 165, 169,176, 177, 245, 271,
303. 332, 33^. 361, 466, 514. 539,
540; associations of, 168, 178, 474.
Shops, 17, 19, 31, 33, 36, 68, 72, 74, 126,
136, 142; 150, 155, 162-169, 177, 178,
266, 288, 329, 332, 495. 504. 506, 507,
5 12-5 15, 538, 618; advertisements,
514, 515 ; belonging to cities, 137;
managers of, 540 ; representations
of, 92, 98, 156, 162, 164, 184, 206.
Shows, 509 ; see Games. ■
Si’a, village, 569,
Siagu, 525.
Si Aoun, 608.
Sicca, 281, 285, 286,580.
Sicciani, cives, 555.
Sicilian mines, 67- ' ; ■
Sicily, 5 46 ; administration, 8,15,16,
274 ; agriculture, 10, 31, 66, 489,
502, 505, 582 ; cities, 49, 132 ; corn-
export, 9, 148, 188 • decay of, 14 ;
economic conditions, 10, 15, 17, 282,
490, 492, 493, 497^ 505, 590, 607 ;
revolts, 424, 620 ; servile wars, 195,
294 ; social organization of, 194-196.
Sicinnius Clarus, Q., 608.
Sidon, 246, 248, 483,
Sidonius Apollinaris, 475, 485, 629.
Sidyma, 563.
Silchester, 133.
Silk, 66, 93-
Silo, representation of, 252.
Silvanus, 584 ; god, 224, 558 ; Domes-
ticns, 308; Sator, 558; Saxanus,
224.
Silver, 15, 69, 71, 93» ^98, 200 ; plate,
37» 69, 73. 96, 126, 158, 496, 531 ;
toreutic, 72,
Silversmiths, 71, 252.
Sdvinus, 567.
Simferopol, 243.
Siminius Stepanus, T., 496.
Simon the Cyrenaean, 335.
Singara, 601.
Singidmium, 226, 229.
Sinope, 132, 146, 526.
Siracians, 566.
Sirmium, 226, 394.
Sisapo, 200,
Siscia, 152, 226, 555.
Sitifis, 376, 608.
Sittius, P., 279, 280, 579.
Skelani, 224, 553.
Skiluros, king, 565.
Slavery, 4, 630.
Slaves, 58, no, 288, 290, 328, 402, 472,
475. 495* 5^^* 5^9; hi agriculture,
2354*2 ^
30, 31. 62, 63, 94, 144, 190-193, 195,
197. 215. 219. 229, 235, 236, 241, 245,
276, 277, 289, 293. 298, 313. 497. 49S.
504, 516, 545, 552, 611 ; in the army,
123 ; collegia of, 168 ; in commerce,
92, 94, 100, 162, 178, 224, 243, 332 ;
in Etruria, i i ,* half-, 245 ; imperial,
48, 55, 81, 94, 99, 100, 178, 186, 291,
517, 546, 551 ; in industry, 19, 32,
33, 36, 94, 100, 162, 168, 169, 243,
29^. 303. 515. 516, 539 ; labour, 3,
178 ; in Latium, 14 ; managers, 31,
61, 497, 504, 545, 552 ; manumis-
sion of, see Manumission; masses
of, 17-19, 21, 23, 31, 36, 47, 63, 65,
493; in mines, 294, 295, 322, 539 ;
protection of, 323, 327 ; public, 137,
178, 528, 562 ; sacred, 194, 237 ;
-state, 441, 477 ; trade in, 66, 70, 94,
146, 229, 569 ; as war booty, 16, 87,
491; wars with, 195, 546.
Slavonic parts of the Empire, 351 ;
peoples, 230.
Slavs, 102.
Slippers, 98.
Smyrna, 132, 135, 172, 526, 527, 540.
Soada, 242.
Soap, 153, 156.
Social revolution, 2, 3, 8, 24, 50, in,
X3B, 139. X69, 356, 381, 394, 444, 449,
454, 460, 461, 477, 480, 489, 519, 520 ;
see Antagonism and Class war.
SocietateSf 160 ; publicanorumt 593 *
Socii Talenses, 28g.
Socius Augustorum, 42^.
Socotra, 93.
Socrates, 575.
Sodikes, 624.
Soknopaiu Nesos, 357, 599, 624.
Sol, god, 407, 408 ; Syrian, 456.
Solar gods, 126 ; monotheism, 407,
617 ; pantheism, 238.
Soldiers, Latin, representation of, 12 ;
Roman, representations of, 12, 76,
102, 152, 228, 254, 308, 312, 314, 346,
366.
Solon, 323, 565.
Solva, 227, 361, 551, 555. 594. 595. 602.
Sopatrus, 436.
Sophists, 109, 120, 125, 141, 529, 540,
614.
Sorothus, 404.
Sostratos, 522.
Sousse, see Hadrumetum,
Spain, 108, 118, 121, 153, 163, 309, 319,
328, 422, 423, 523, 525, 538, 547,
585 ; administration, 8, 501 ; agri-
culture, 91, 139, 187-189, 198, 199,
272, 505, G21 ; cities, 132, 133, 142,
Kv.'
Index of Names and Subjects
195 ; colonization, 34, 35 ; com-
iiterce, 67, fx), 148, 151, 157, 3^4*
ciiscoiiiteiit, 327 ; economic con-
ditions, 15, 17, 21, 65, 95, 142, 143,
149, 492, 4c;i3, 510, 533; industry,
107, 199 ; languages, 182 ; law, 173 ;
mines, 66, 67, 200, 217, 224, 225,
294-296, 583 ; pacilicatioii of, 52,
306 ; personiftcation of, 324 ; revolts,
84,345,349,595; Romanization of,
498 ; social struclure, 176, 185, 198,
199, 201, 202, 222, 223, sir, 552 - 554 »
' 556, 627 ; urbanization. 50, 51, 82,
90, 206, 198, 201, 202, 339, 512 ;
wars, 2 0.
' Spaniards, 51 1, 5S5, 598.
Spanish cities, 551, 585, 593 ; coinage,
172 ; soldiers, 84 ; tribes, 198.
SpalatO', 525.
Sparta, 141, 143, 503, 329.
Spartan kyliXy 12.
Sparta n s , 1 2 , 523.
, Special revenues, department of, 271,
543- .
Speculations, 18, 171, 190, 249, 411,
420, 590.
SpemlaioreSy 366, Gzo.
Spices, 158.
Spies, 61 2 y 6x6.
Spinning, 302.
Spoletium, 390,
Stabiae, 31, 58, 60, 62, 63, 70, 92, 496,
497. 504. 516. 549 ; villas of. 218.
Stables {stabulum), 62, 504 ; represen-
tation of, 275, 290, 430.
Standardized goods, 166, 16B.
State agents, see Government and
Officials ; control, see Control ; in-
come, 4, 57, 78 ; pressure on the
people, 330; property, 432, 542,
see Land ; transportation of, see
Transportation; revenues, 17; ser-
vants, 432, 468 ; services due to,
see Compulsory work, Liturgies ;
slave-, 441, 477; supremacy of, 330,
33L 333. 461, 4^3. 592.
Statii, 72.
Statio, 15 1.
Stcdionarii, 362--364, 436, 620.
Stationes, 93, 158, 159, 251, 377, 609,
620.
Statius, 131, 192, 211, 224, 574.
Steel, 199, 534, 551.
Stercoria Galhx, 570.
Stewards, see Vilicus,
Stipendiariae, civitateSy see GivitaUs*
\ ' ' SiipeMmfiit if 78^ 279. ; ^ ; fj\
196, , ; ; ■' ‘ ■
' ' ' , I ' ' ' f"'' '■* I. ' ' ‘ "
'< ’if rf - : :
' ‘ ' ,,, ' :■ '■
' ' ‘ ; ■ V . , ' ' ■ . \ *
Stobi, 234.
Stoic d<K:trme, 113, 116; ideal,
■■■5354 Hercules, 456;' king, 403;
■kinship, 114, 115: philosophers,
519, 535 ; teaching, i m‘ ; tyranny,
115 f virtues, 405.
Stoico-Cynic gos|»l, 1 14.
Stoics, lio, 1 15, 347, 521.
Stolac, 553.
Stolarchs, 434.
Stones, engraved, 71, uio; precious,
6§ ; semi-precious, yi, 534.
Storage, ■ 507.
Store-court (eefia rinaria et o/ranVi), 62 ;
houses, 31, 02, 151, 152, 214, 261,
515, 591, 624 ; owners of, 148 ;
public, 271 ; representation of, 228,
290; rooms, 63, 126, 504.
Strabo, 194, 201^ 205, isi, 503, 531,
54^^*
Strasbourg (Argentorate), 366.
Sirategmi, 233, 239, 559.
Stmtegoi, 420, 421, 431, 437, 447, 564,
577» 57^. 599»
Stratonicea, 319, 528, 589.
Street lighting, 527.
Strikes, 169, 256, 301, 303, 327, 349,
359, 360, 396, 420, 523, 540, 578,
584, 592, 602 ; see Anackoresis,
Stuffs, 37, 67, 72-74, 158, 251 ; see
Cloths and Dyed stulfs.
Sua, 281, 580.
Subatianus Acjuila, 357, 599.
Suburbures, 2%, 581'.
Sucesus, 366.
Sudan, 254.
Suetonius, 89, 108, iii, 383, '529,
Sufetuia, 133, 525.
Sugambri, 76.
Suigius L. f. Pap. Caecilianus, C., 612-
Sulla, L. Cornelius, 26, 27, 39, 40, 61,
72, 82, 451, 452, 490, 493, 495, 509.
Siillan veterans, 33, 58.
Sulmo, 193.
Sulphur, 67, 195.
Sumatra, 147.
Summa honoraria, 140, 522.
Sura, 607.
Sureties, 625.
Susa, 59.
Sutunurca, 281, 580, 581.
Syagros, 513.
Syllium, 562, 601,
Symmachi, 385.
Symmachus, 386.
^yndfeate, family, 556,
t32, 483, 546,
1 IM •!. r' 'i4 'j j . ;■ :
Index of Names and Subjects 675
Syna, 246, 328, 526, 567, 586, 587;
army, 351, 458, 500, 568; com-
inerce; .66, 67, 69, 91, 147, 148, 157,
187, 242; cities, 132, 133, 358;
economic conditions, 362, 368, 559,
566, 6 oq, 607 ; feudal system, 425 ;
financial management, 55 ; gods,
126; Hellenistic culture, 6 ; in-
dustry, 71, 73, 74, 161, 167, 539;
invasions, 389, 390, 394, 422 ;
language, 182 ; laws, 173 ; liturgies,
336» 374» 375 J monuments of, 143 ;
pretenders, 391, 423, 614; province
of, 245 ; religion, 238 ; revolts, 350,
351 ,* road system, 150 ; ruins in,
131 ; social structure, 185, 244, 245,
247, 248, 285, 298, 369, 37^/ 445/
446, 563, 564, 569, 570, 627, 629;
urbanization, 51, 253, 262, 273, 309,
3i9» 33 1. 5^7 ; wars, 7, 570.
Syrian Christians, 567 ; desert, 246 ;
’ half-desert, 296 ; dominions, 389 ;
glass, 69 ; jewels, 73 ; lands, 244,
253, 275, 307, 377, 567 ; language,
299, 544 ; law, 173, 542 ; legions,
307 ; kingdom, 244 ; merchants,
1 58 ; renaissance, 544 ; shores, 147 ;
Tetrapolis, 244 ; troops, 567, 617 ;
villages, 297 ; women, 371.
Syrians, 251, 426, 500, 567.
Syro-Phoenician harbours, 158.
S5n*tes, 288.
Swine, see Pigs.
Switzerland, 133, 153.
Tabarka (Thabraca), 290, 292.
Tabula alimentaria Vehias, 545,
Tacape, 283.
Tacfarinas, 281.
Tacitus, 75, 79, 86, 87, 89, 108, 109,
115, 274, 519.
Tacitus, M. Claudius, emperor, 394,
410, 418.
Tailors, 98 ; representation of, 164.
Tala, 289.
Talmud, 568.
Taman peninsula, 241, 243.
Tamil poems, 531.
Tanais, 146, 243.
Tar, 67.
Tarentum, 37, 67, 161.
Tarraco, 132, 199.
Tarraconensis, 198, 199.
Tarsian linen workers, 169.
Tarsians, 519.
TarsicariuSf 428.
Tarsus, 132, 168, 394, 519, 520, 540.
Taulantians, 219, 221.
Taunus, mountains, 207.
Tauiians, 240, 565.
Tauromenium, 132, 196, 505, 546.
Taurus, 239.
Tax collectors [<riToX6yoi), 573,*. (re-
Xcovat), 249 ; farmers (puhlicanif 5,
258, 259, 261, 264-266, 270, 271:,
29S 335. 340. 360, 467, 501 ; com-
panies of, 3X, 35. 49. 3:59, 160, 339,
340. 593 / agents of, 35; half-
farmers, half-officials, 593 ; payers,
49, 31S, 326, 335, 340, 433, 453, 465,
467, 468, 566.
Taxation, 49, 54. 137, 211, 319, 333.
345. 369. 370. 396, 401. 453. 461-
469, 472, 475, 494, 510, 604 ; in
Sgypt. 259, 260, 265, 268, 300, 462,
464, 466, 579, 611 ; in Hellenistic
states, 5 ; in JPalmyra, 532.
Taxes, 89, 159, 235, 241, 301, 310, 319,
326, 327, 334, 337. 343. 362, 396,
420, 433, 443, 510, 512, 548, 577;
arrears of, 314; assessment of, 78,
339. 459, 462, 464-467. 474;
lection of, 5, 49, 50, 55, 78, 81, 89,
130, 160, 258, 300, 317, 339-342,
360, 396, 432, 446, 448, 459, 462,
467, 468, 474. 501. 532, 589, 594;
exemption from, 462, 576 ; farming
of, 17. 335, 339, 340. 360, 501 :
reduction of, 268, 320, 342, 572, 576,
61 1 ; remission of, 326, 379, 61 1 :
responsibility for, 315, 335, 339-
342, 396, 432, 459, 461, 462, 467-
469,593-
Taxes, accession (aumm cofonanum),
317 ; additional, 433 ; on auctions,
467 ; aurum tironicum, 414, 458 ;
on business transactions, 137 ; on
contracts, 137 ; crown {aurum coro-
narium), 317, 368, 379, 403, 462,
466, 61 1 ; direct, 49, 78, 80, 339,
461 ; on estates [collatio glehalis),
466 ; for the exercise of a trade, 137 ;
on export, 137 ; extraordinary, 368,
462, 61 1 ; on import, 137 ; income,
368 ; indirect, 78, 81, 340, 461-463 ;
inheritance, 54, 368, 467 ; in kind,
379, 434. 464. 533. 563, 609, 61 1 ;
land, 137, 194. 195, 269, 337, 339,
340, 367, 428, 461, 575, 589; on
manumission, 54, 368, 467 ; for the
use of market-places, 137 ; on
merchants, 61 1 ; on mines, 296 ;
in money {dpyvpiKol tjiopoc), 589 ;
municipal, 54, 135, 137, 609 ; poll-,
195. 339. 367. 461, 547. 585; on
production, 61 1 ; on real estate in
the city, 137; regular, 342, 368, 462,
464, 611; paid by Roman citizens
XX z
OHly, 49, 54 J special, 326, 342?
612 ; siippieiiientary, 341, 4w» wi »
on nninniKlateci land, 610 ; vecUgm,
279. 532, 54«>-
ieaAers, 177, 17B, 5«}5'
reclinical iiweRtioii, 57^*. .
Icchnique, cieca^* of, idO, i^»7, 3^3 *»
Greek, kj ; indiistriak 37, 3*^4 5
military, 41 ; secrets of, 259.
Xegea, 78.
Telamone, 12.
Teiks, 46, 316.
Temples, banking business, 541, 54^ i
confiscation of the property of, 400,
403 ; factories, 169, 435 * kirs,
559; flight to, see Anmhorests;
industry, 169, 259 ; kutoxw 247 ;
land of, 235, 241, 247, 263-265, 297,
322, 429, 465. 563, 575 ; privileges
of, 247 ; representation of, 254 ;
right of asylum, 273 ; rural, 205 ;
secularization of, 264-266 ; serfs of,
564 : territories of, 50, 51, 81, 194,
237^ 247.
Tenants, 24, 61, 195. ^97, '^35. 236,
259, 297, 298, 300, 3I9-32X^ 35
402, 445, 446, 470, 497^ 49h, 54d,
549, 552, 576, 610; HI the army,
122, 443;' free, 237, 245; half-
tenants, half-owners, 321, 589; m
the Hellenistic period, 19 ; hus-
bandry of, 31, 93» 95» r90“^93»
276, 289, 313 ; of imperial estates,
201, 340, 348, 349, 357* 3do, 3^9*
375, 37^» 426, 533. 54J» 545. 5^4.
591, 609 ; increase of, 36, 100 ;
long term, 321 ; militarization of,
376; 377; native population as,
209, 212, 215, 216, 221, 232, 277,
285, 291, 293 r obligatory service of,
289, 566 ; peasants transformed into,
see Peasants ; privileges for, 376 ; of
public land, 196, 197. 201, 533. 5^2 ;
royal, 320 ; scarcity of, 19 1 ; self-
government of, 286 ; -serfs, 237,
474 ; strikes of, 349 ; transforma-
tion into landowners, 322, 374, 376 ;
see Coloni, Peasants, and Serfs.
Tenos, 547. .
Tenuiofes. 323. 3^3:, 551 ; collegia of,
see Collegia,
Terentius, M., 144.
Tergeste, 193, 218, 219, 343, 534. 545.
561.
‘ Ter33iessus,,425,*563* • .■
_'reri^ Mater, Mother Earth, '
tma 1^, 512.' '• \'r :
, Temtones df 71, r3?.'
24^. 244. 253. 278, , 279, 289, 5:1:5,
33^9. 326. 375. ¥P^ 5291 532. 54?.
589, 590; concentration of land in
the hands of a few laiic!om''pers, 183,
229,291,568; fonnation of, 51, 129,
130, 194. 216, 217, 222,' 231; 233,
281, 283, 285; land-tenure 221,
274, 297. 5^5. 5^7 ^ liturgies, 336,
424,459.468,474,593; orgamzation .
of, 180, 194, 195, 202, 203, 218, 236,
237, 239, 245, 247, 248, 280, 286,
293. 3t>9. 5^4. 5^5. 54S. 553. 55 ?-
561, 567. 569. 592, 605 ; of Punic
cities, 275, 277, 492 ; of ctmiaies,
196; of forts, 211, 212, 216, 229,
231 ; of legions, 226, 227, 30B,
553“-555 ; temples, see Temples ;
of tribes, see Tribes ; of a viem, 557,
558 ; of a village, 133, 231, 232, 564,
568, 569.
Terror, 327, 345, 347, 365. 44^. 44^-
Terrorism, 30, 33, 352. 353. 39b. 398-
401, 408, 411, 436.
Tertuiiian, 596, 600.
Tesserae, 172, 542 ; mimm.iiiafme, 499*
Tesserafim (ship), 154.
Testaccio, Monte, 203, 532, 548.
Tetrapolis, Syrian, 244.
Tetrarchs, 249.
Tetricus, C. Plus Esiivliis, 393, 445.
Teurnia, 217.
Textiles, 168, 507, 536 ; see Stufis.
Thabraca, see Tabarka,
Thallus, 496.
Thamugadi (Timgad), 133. ^34. ^66,
285,328,329,525,544.
Thapsus, 278,
Thasos, 528.
Theadelphia, 428, 439, 573, 624.
Theatres connected with temples in
Gaul, 205 ; in Syria, 569. ,
Theiss, river, 315.
Thelepte, 283
Themistocies, 235.
Theodoric, palace of, 476,
Theodosia, 241.
Theodosius, emperor, 385, 386, 416,
423, 448, 618 ; codex of, 173. 467.
605,
Theon, C. Julius, 268, 574, 575 ; son
of Theon, 268, 575.
Theoninus, 268, 575.
Theophrastus, 489.
Theopompus, 552, 565.
Thermae, 546.
■tkermopoUum, 136. ^ ^ ' •
. :.Th^:tnutharion, Aurelia, .ahas. Herais,
, ’ 2^, 440, 576, 627 ; Lycarionis, 575*
^Tlh^alomica, 132, 234,- 450, 526, 560.
Index of Names and Subjects -677
Tlieiidaiis, 278. ;
Tliev^te, 133; 285,
Tkimus, 565.
TMba;ris/28i, 579.
HiibiMs (Aamouna), 285, 291, 525.
TMges, 580.
TMgnica’ 281.
TMsbe^ 561.
Thmouis, documents of, 577, 579, ■
Thrace, 133, 143, 232, 233, 249, 306,
3^0, 351, 369, 376“37S» 389> 393,
448, 45^^ 55S, 559, 569, 608, 609, 621.
Thraces, 558;
Thracian army, 351 ; Carpi, 389;
cohorts, 104 ; ' Heros 560, 617 ;
kingdom, 307 ,* landowners, 560 ;
lands, 173, 377; language, 299 i
law, 173 ; names, 561; peasants,
233, 3^^, 598 ; regions, 319 ; soldier,
399; tribes, 217, 231, 239 ; village,
427 ; half'Thracian gods, 617.
Thracians, 6, 8, 104, 182, 217, 219,
226, 230, 232, 414, 465, 552, 553>
55 ^* 557 . 559 , 5 ^ 0 , 5 ^ 5 . ^16 ; repre-
sentation of, 102.
Thraco-Iliyrians, 217, 225, 226, 298.
Thrasea Paetus, 108.
Thraso, 439.
Threshing floor, representation of,
276 ; machine {plostellum punicum),
572.
Thuburdo Majus, 133, 281, 291, 525,
580, 620, 623.
Thuburnica, 582, 610.
Thubursicu Numidarum, 133, 283,
292; territory of, 581.
Thugga, 35, 132, 280, 281, 288, 525,
580, 582, 624.
Thyatira, 539, 540, 564, 594, 601, 607.
Thysdrus, 402.
Tiber, river, 57, 79, 172.
Tiberias, 248, 520, 568.
Tiberius, emperor, 75, 76, 84, 89, loi,
1 13, 230, 503, 573; administration,
78; coins of, 513 ; colonies, 555;
finances, 57, 172, 339, 542 ; foreign
policy, 52, 53, 281, 282 ; imperial
cult, 77 ; internal policy, 80, 82, 95,
1 19, 267, 590 ; urbanization, 83.
Tibullus, 63, 65, 89.
Tigris, river, 147.
Til-Chatel, 156-
Tiies, 219, 516, 534, 539.
Timber, 67.
Timesitheus, C. Furius Sabinus Aquila,
389, 405, 615.
Timgad, Thamugadi.
Tin, 66, 19S, 547, 583.
Tipasa, 281.
Tith.&{demmae)fig4, 196,
Titia Matrina, 558.
Titinius Capito, 519.
Titius, M., 494.
Titulitanenses, 580.
Titus, emperor, loi, 107, 113, 119, 207,
_ 270, 573. 586-
Toilet articles, 67, 158, 302.
Tokens (jetons), 172 ; see Tesserae .
Tomba del Duce, 20.
Tomi, 132, 146, 230, 526, 557 ; terri-
tory of , 558.
Toparchies, 249.
Toreutic, 72, 166.
Toulouse, 166, 203.
Trachonitis, 251, 296, 568, 584.
Tractus of Hippo, 582.
Trade in articles of prime necessity,
see Necessities of life ; in clothes,
144, 155; companies, 159, 160 ; in
corn, see Corn ; in foodstufls, see
Foodstuffs ; freedom of, 54, 138,
1 59 ; in oil, see Oil ; passive, 93 ;
in primeurs, 68 ; prominence of
Italy in, 68 ; retail, 435, 471 ;
routes, see Routes ; in slaves, see
Slaves ,* speculative, 305 ; super-
visors of, 258 ; transit, 148 ; trans-
portation, 625 ; in wine, see Wine ;
see Commerce.
Traders, see Merchants, Dealers, and
Retail traders.
Trades, building, 541 ; of Campania,
96 ; marks, 163, 515 ; organization
of, 137. 506, 507, 540 ; of Pompeii,
98, 514 ; secrets, 168.
Traiana Augusta, 233.
Trajan, emperor, 102, 104, 114, 115,
117, 15 1, 199, 247, 316, 342, 343,
370, 405. 5^^ > 585-589* 595* 597*
army, 326, 457, 51 1, 523 ; colonies,
283, 498, 544, 555; economic
policy, 172, 187, 189, 196, 308, 311,
313, 314, 317, 321, 356, 360, 530,
562, 582 ; foreign policy, 307, 309,
315, 532 ; internal policy, 313, 323,
355* 518, 519, 554* 598 ; opposition
to. III ,* revolts under, 12 1 , 301 ;
urbanization, 129, 233, 287, 313,
318, 319, 329, 559 ; wars, 118, 146,
147, 152, 207, 229, 310, 311, 325,
336. 374. 393. 529 ; arch of, at
Beneventum, see Beneventum ; at
Timgad, 134 ; column of, 102, 228,
312, 535. 585* 5S6.
Trajanopolis, 129, 233.
Tralles, 563.
Transjordanian region, 249, 251 ;
sheikhs, 569.
6 / 8 . In-dex of Names and Subjects
TmnguUiUm, 316,
Tmmpaiam^ regio, 51 528.
Transportation, 89, 138, 149, 155, 167,
255. 265, 359, 424, 432, 529 ; agents,
200 ; of tlie mmoim, 374, 434 ; of
the army, sm Army ; business, 145,
260 ; of corn, see Corn ; of fcxil-
stnfs, 137, 312, 366, 409, 433 ; of
the emperor^ baggage, 612 ; by
land, 67, 138, 338, 434, 528, 590,
624 ; means of, 9, 138, 142, 153, 155,
33^0^ 33^^ 3^3 ; natioiializatlon of,
259, 409 ; representation of, 152,
210, 228, 260, 312 ; responsibility
for, 624, 625 ; by river, 434, 625 ;
by sea, 167, 337 ; of state goods,
334-33S, 39b, 4b8, 47 ^. b24; of
state messages, 338 ; of state
officials, 338 ; of taxes in kind, 434 ;
trade, 625; see Cursus piMicus.
Transporters, 149, 153, 157, 159, 259.
Trapezus (Trebizond), 390.
Treasurers, 140, 577.
Treasuries, 140, 172, 194, 542, 599,
61 1, 617, 626.
Treatises on agriculture, see Agri-
culture ; on ichthyology, 537 ; on
industry, 19 ; juridical, 173 ; on
zoology, 537.
Trebellius Pollio, 384.
Xreveri, 208, 209, 21 1, 620.
Trdves, 143, 153, 155, 192, 208, 209,
213, 216, 530, 532, 549.
Triad, Capitoline, 356, 554 ; of divini-
ties, 617.
Tribal aristocracy, 203, 21 1 ; com-
munities, 103, 594 ; districts, 213 ;
economy, 465 ; grazing, 14 ; in-
stitutions, 551 ; lands, 227, 229,
289 ; life, 556, 567 ; market-places,
^33 > organization, 51, 197, 253,
286, 554, 560 ; territories, 196, 201,
202, 208, 222, 225, 231, 232, 283,
285, 286, 289, 291, 498, 554, 557,
558, 580, 581.
Tribe 232, 253, 560, 569.
Tribes (gentes), lo, 25, 26, 42, 122, 123,
146, 182, 2x7, 239, 247, 280, 281,
297* 307. 326, 389, 393, 422, 546,
555. 566, 569, 582, 620 ; ia the army,
414, 458 ; attached to cities, 52, 82,
193, 216, 285, 300, 310, 343, 561 ;
federation of, 221 ; organization ofj
201, 202, 2x9, 221-223, 225-227,
229-234. 243, 249, 251, 253, 282,
283, 285, 286, 501, 547, 552-554.
558. 560, 570. 581 ; proefeai of,
Pfaefe6H', urbanization of, ;
f : ^ :
Tril^ (k'Bm), 14.
TfUmumSf 45S.
Tributaii^# see Siipeudimii^
Tribute, 95, 239, 241, 251/53.2, 437.
Tridentum, 193.
Trimaichio, 56, 58, 68, 70, 96, 14!,
282, 49S, 515. ' . " ’
Tri|X>li, 276, 525, 600, 601.
Tripolis, 133, 2S0.
Trip^iitana, 584, 608.
Triptolemus, 76. .
Trita, goddess, 552.
Triton, 272.
Tre^mis, 231 ; territory of, sjy*
Troezen, 587.
Trullenses, 558.
Tubias, sheikh, 569.
Tullius. Menophlius, 389. ■■
Tunisia, 608.
Turin, 59*
Turkish Empire, 478. ,
Turmm messQfum, 2g2.
Turpilius Dexter, L,, 579*
Turris, X97, 547.
Tyana, 445, 628.
Tyche of a harbour, 152.
Tyndaris, 456.
Tyrannius, C, 575.
Tyrants, thirty, 614.
Tyras, 231, 557.
Tyre, 198, 358, 37S, 483, 526.
Tyrian purple, 148 ; sMio^ 15 1.
Ubii, 208, 209, 2 1 1.
UcM Majus, 281, 291, 378, 525, 579,
609.
Ucubi, 580.
Ulmetum, 558.
Ulpiaa, 356, 358, 359, 375, 599, 601,
603,605.
Ulpiana, 227, 229.
Ulpii, 557.
Uipius, Aelianus Papianus, T., 562 ;
Appuleius Eurycles, M., 530 ; Cor-
nelius Laelianus, 392 ; Longinus,
M.,558.
Umbria, 14, 31, 59, 620.
Umbricius Scaurus, 238.
Umbiii, 553*
Umbro-Sabeilian, 11.
Umeri, 200.
Undecimprimi, 594.
Unemployed, 33, 100.
Unguentarii, representation of, 96.
Urm mountains, 66.
/Urmiliis Antoninus, usuiper, 56S.
,, 0ite3ll2satlon of the provinces of the
: l^ibntam Empire, 51, 81-83, 99, 103,
l ■ : 129* 130, 138, 194,
! f '
hidex of Names and Subjects
■679
299 . 305. 313. 318, 319, 328, 331-
333 . 336. 376-378. 494 . 509, 512,
609, 617 of the Alpine provinces,
217; of Britain, 106; of Dacia,
309 ; of. Dalmatia, 222, 223, 554 ;
of the East, 50 ; of Eg3rpt, 262, 273 ;
of Germany, 106 ; of Greece, 509 ;
of Italy, 14, 22, 616 ; of Macedonia,
234 ; of Sicily, 196 ; of Thrace, 233 ;
of the West, 51 ; see also Africa,
Asia Minor, Danube lands, Gaul,
Spain, Syria.
Urgulanilla, 573.
Useiis, 547,
Usurers, 49.
Usury 37.
Usiis pmprius, 322.
Uthina (Oiidna), 290, 292, 293.
Utica, 275, 278,
Uzaiis, 27S,
Vaballathus, 391, 392.
Vaccaei, 552.
Vaccius, L. f. Aem. Labeo, L., 563.
Vaga, 378, 609.
Vagi 45S*
Val Catena, 220.
Valens, emperor, 562, 614.
Vaientia, 547.
Valeria Atticilla, 580 ; Gai, 578.
Valerian (P. Licinius Valerianus), em-
peror, 247, 390, 425, 568, 613.
Valeriana, 381.
Valerius Statilius Castus, 425 ; C.,
veteran, 572,
Value, 543.
Vandal period, 476; rule in Africa, 275.
Vandals, 393, 476.
Vanisnenses, tribe, 582.
Varciani, 555,
Varius Marcellus, 604.
Varro,30,62, 63, 193, 495. 49 b, 504 » 537 -
Varus, 53.
Vases, 71, 91 ; factory of, 163, 538.
Vecilius Verecundus, M,, 98.
Vectigai 279 ; lenooinn, 532 ; vicesimae
(probably libertatis), 540.
Vectigalia, 548, 593, 61 1.
Vedius Antoninus, P. , 530.
Vegetables, 629.
Veii, 13, 546, 587.
Veleia, 183 ; territory of, 518.
Velitrae, 528.
Venidius Rufus, 606.
Venta Silurum, 133, 213.
Venus, 152, 238, 418, 508; Augusta,
593 ; Genetrix, 76 ; Pompeiana,
98 ; temple of, at Eryx, 194-
Veranius Philagrus, Q., 530.
Vercellae, 534. *
Veredarii, 609.
Vergil, 30, 44, 65, 89, 204, 215;
BucoUca of, 514,
Vergilius Eurysaces, M., 32.
Verginius Rufus, 510.
Verona, 132, 216, 389.
Verres, 10, 497, 590.
Verrius Flaccus, 537.
Verus, Lucius, emperor, 592, 601, 602.
Vespasian, emperor, 85, 87, 267, 452,
481, 548 ; administration, 105, 107 ;
army, 88, 100, loi, 103, 104, 414,
51 1 ; economic policy, 105, 274,
340, 576; internal policy, 107, 112,
119, 198, 201, 222, 223, 249, 270,
510, 518, 573, 575, 585 ; opposition
to, 108-113, 519, 520, 522, 547 ;
restoration of peace, loi ; revolts
under, 188 ; urbanization, 103, 105,
106, 129, 313, 318 ; wars, 146, 205,
207, 306.
Vesta, 96, 346.
Vestal Virgins, 29.
Vestalia, 96.
Vesuvius, 63^ 183.
Veterans, auxiliaries, 201 ; barbariza-
tion of, 395 ; city aristocracy, 176,
293, 518 ; city residents, 34, 59, 61,
190, 223, 229, 505 ; of the civil wars,
28, 30, 31, 33, 58, 86, 498, 579 ;
colonies, see Colonies ; liturgies,
607 ; native aristocracy, 222, 253 ;
owners of land in Egypt, 55, 266,
270, 438, 502, 572, 577, 610, 626,
627; privileges for, 354; religion of,
560; Romanizing influence, 232 ;
settlement of, 51, in Africa, 279,
280, 580-582, in the border lands,
458, 601, 619, near forts, 211, in
Germany, 205, 212, in Italy by
Trajan, 308, 31 1, 587, in Palestine,
568 ; village aristocracy, 446, 569,
570; well-to-do landowners, 71,
176, 213, 215, 229, 577.
Vetidius Juvenalis, Q., 292.
Vettii, 92, 96 ; house of the, 514.
Vettius, 514 ; Firmus, 98.
Vetulonia, 20.
Vexillaiiones, 407, 554.
Viatka, 506.
Vibius Lentulus, L., 530; Salutaris,
c., 530, 54b.
Vicani, 192, 193, 286.
Vicarii 523.
Vicetia, 216.
Vici, 122, 191-194, 202, 205, 208, 212,
226, 227, 286, 378, 547, 557 » 55 ^>
5bi, 5^1, 5^2.
68o
Index of Names and Subjects
■ 153, i88, 196, 104, 209, 222, 239,
251, 261, 263, 26<j, 270, 290, 292,
296, 492, 493, 497, 516, 565,
,584 ; dressers, 320 ; growers, 71 ;
couBtries growing, 67 ; -pernjissioii
to plant, 189, 545 ; pri\ilep':s to
planters of, 545 ; prollibitiofi erf
planting, 22, 189, 49-2^ 493*
representation of, 272, 290.
Vineyards, 249, 504 ; capitalistic, 30 ;
dekruction of, 2, 21, 278 ; divine
protector of, 242 ; implements for
work in, 64 ; investment of money
in, 22, 23 ; labour in, 191, 245, 566 ;
model, 61 ; preponderance of, on
private estates in Egypt, 439, 440,
■ 576, 577, 623, 627 ; private property
In -Egypt, 261 ; protection of, 568 ;
^ representations of, 184, 430 ; on
waste land, 545.
Vintage, 504 ; representations of, 92,
204,
Vipasca, 295.
Virimuni, 71, 133, 217, 501-, 527, 534,
551.
Virtus, 76, 308.
Vitellius, emperor, 85, 10 1, 119.
Viteilius Felix, A., 624.
Vocoiitii, 202.
Volscians, 13.
VolubOis, 133, 509, 525, 5S0.
Volunteers, 42, 87, 88, 123, 451, 458.
Volusianus, 381.
Vopiscus Syracusius, Flavius, 384, 385,
59a
Vorosvar, 554.
Votes, selling of, 33.
Vulcanus, 126, 238.
Wage-earners, 168, 178, 419.
Wages, 178, 419, 420.
Wall-painters, 164,
War booty, 2, 16, 17, 27, 87, 309, 312,
346, 423, 491 ; exactions, 603 ;
supplies, 363.
Water, distribution of, 259 ; stations,
93. 251: supply, 79, 135, 253;
wheel (/ca8oj), 572.
Wax, 66, 67, 146.
Weapons, see Arms.
Weavers, 435, 624.
Weaving, 199, 302.
Wetterau, 549.
Wholesale commerce, see Commerce ;
merchants, see Merchants.
Wild beasts, import of, 69.
"Wine,- for the army, 153, 208, 209;
; ,, business in, 92, 184 ; aS' currency ^
I f ,'.4Sbrf dealers in, 152* 210, 380, 532 ;
mill 548, 564.
Vicibr, Arriiis, 599; Aurelius, 381,
383, 613, 618, O21.
Victorinas, miied aisa Verota, 399-
Victory, 44, 7b, 134, 3S2, 418, 450.
Victualling of the army, sm Army ;
of the cities, 139, 4^^, 424, 435,
590, 607 ; of Rome, 409, 582, 590,
618 ; see Feeding and Food.
Vkus Amlaidina, 557 ; Annaeus, 286,
581 ; Augustorum Verecundensis,
582 ; Casianus, 357, 558 ; Ceteris,
557 ; Ciementianus, 558 ; Hateria-
nus, 286, 581, 589 ; ad Mediam, 356 ;
Mediomatricorum, 538 ; Narcisia-
nus, 557 ; Quintionis, 557 ; Secun- '
dini, 557 ; turre Muca{poris or
-tralis), 557 ; Uitinsium, 558 ; Vere-
cundensis, 286, 582 ; Verobrittianus,
557 ; Vindonianiis, 227, 554.
Vienna, 202.
Vilici, 61, 276, 430, 545, 553, 558 ; ■
see Managers.'
Villages, aristocracy of, see Aris-
tocracy ; attached to cities, 52,
229, 231, 237, 245, 253, 280, 281,
285, 557, 564 ; to legions, 227, 229 ;
to a temple, 567 ; on imperial and
large estates, see Estates ; self-
government of, 564 .
Villas, in Africa, 272, 290, 584, 629;
Britain, 213, 215, 219, 538, 550;
Campania, 30, 58, 60, 329, 503, 504 ;
Dalmatia, 553 ; fortified, 407, 430,
475. 565 i Gaul, 203, 548, 550 ;
Germany, 209, 211, 212, 549, 550;
Histria, 218, 219, 552 ; Illyria, 221 ;
industrial concerns in, 166, 209,
53S, 539 ; luxurious, 30 ; Pompeian,
see Pompeii; representations of, 20,
60, 214, 220, 254, 272, 276, 290, 430;
rusticae, 31, 62, 63, 298, 495-497»
514-516 ; Sardinia, 547 ; Syka, 244,
245, 566.
Villas, d'Anth6e, 166, 539 ; of Bolien-
dorf, 549 ; Camilliana, 575 ; of
Chedworth, 214, 538 ; of Chiragan,
203, 538, 548 ; of Darenth, 538 ; of
Dautenheim, 549 ; of Otrang, 549 ;
of Pforzheim, 549 ; of Stahl, 549.
Viminacium, 143, 226, 554.
Vindemitores, 504.
Vindex, 510.
Vindictarii, 563.
Vindobona, 226.
Vindonissa, 133.
Vine, culture, 277, 489, decay of, 183,
319, 429, 495, 621, development
of; 10, 21, 66, 68, 71, 90, 9 b 93,
Index of Names and Subjects 6‘8i
reprcseiitatioB of, 92 ; ' .deliveries . of, '
428, 599, 606, .624,; doles of, 141 ;
estates, 504, 505 ; export to foreign
lands, 66, 182 ; from Italy, 68, 183,
493 ; farms, 92 ; growers, 93, 191 ;
import into Italy, 495 ; jars, 152,
242, 2^8 ; making 01, 144, repre-
sentation of, 92 ; over-production
of, 94, 187, 188; presses, 62, 429,
504, representation of, 92 ; pro-
ducers, 189 ; production, 10, 19, 63,
93. 95. 97. 165. 182, 204, 235, 273,
439, 465, 496, 504, 514, 553, 629;
shops, 288, 504, 514, 618, repre-
sentations of, 92, 156, 184; store-
rooms, 62, 63, 504, 515; trade in,
21, 36, 67, 71'; 92. 148. 151. 155-157.
182, 189, 210, 328, 492, 493, 504,
506, 515. 533. 534. 553. 618 ; trans-
portation of, 149, 434, representa-
tions of, 152, 210, 228, 242, 260;
wholesale trade in, 58, 184.
Wood, deliveries of, 428, 606; precious,
66; requisitions of, 374.
Woods, 61, 63, 226 ; see Forests.
Wool, 10, 36, 71, 195* 219, 539-
Woollen factory, 166 ; garments, 71,
161, 163, 219, 514 ; industry, 73,
209, 539 ; stuffs, 37, 67, 72-74, 251,
see Dyed.
Working classes, 36, 298, 301, 332, 368,
462, 474.
Workmen, 33, 47, 257, 269, 286*, 331,
336, 419, 420, 514. 538, 541* ^7^>*
in agriculture, 19 1, 205, 214, 294;
associations of, 168, 178, 408, 540 *
bound to profession, 471, 473, 475,
540 ; emigration of, 35 ; hired, 63,
245, 291, 293; in industry, 32,
255, 303 ; in mines, 294; nationali-
zation of, 169 ; representations of,
98, 210, 288 ; social standing of,
293, 300 ; strikes of, 169, 540, 578,
Workshops, ii-, 37, 72, 93, 100, 166,
168, 243, 255, 538.
Worms, 549.
Xiphilinus, 604.
Yarn, 435.
York (Eburacum), 214.
Zelea, 563.
Zenobia, 391-393, 408, 422.
Zenon, 489, 569, 570.
Zeugei, 278.
Zeus, 76; temple of, 322, 563.
Zimizenses or Zimizes, 285, 581.
Zliten, 276, 584.
Zodiac, 272.
Zonaras, 383.
Zorzines, king, 566.
Zosimos, 383, 622, 629.
11. PAPYRI AND INSCRIPTIONS
Amherst Papyri , edited
by Grenfell am! Hunt, Part 11.,
1901.
68 ... . > * P- 57^>
. 107 . . ■ ■ wD
■■ 108 . . ■ . ■ ■ ‘ .
109 , . . •
P, Basel.' — Papyrtisurkumleu deroffeni’
lichen Bibliothek der UniversiMt
zii Basel, hrsg. von E. Rabel,
i' 9 i 7 ‘
2 . ' » , . 60(> ^
B.G. IL--Aegypiische UrkundenaJs den
Museen zu Berlin. Griechische
UrkttHde)i., i-'Vi, 1895-1923.
S ' . . .. . • 575 ■
1047 ,• 573
1083 ■ . . . » 5'^
P. Br. Mus.— Greek Papyri im the
BfUish M useiim. Catalogue with
' . TeMs, i-v, iS 93“^9I7‘
i Mo. 131, p. 166 ff. 576
. il Mo. 195, P- ^27 . . . 574"“576,
214, p. 161 . . 575 ,
280, p. 193 . . 573
445, p. 166 . . 573
iii. No. 900, p. 89 . . 574f 575
■ 948, p. 220'. ■ . . ■ 625 ■■ ■ ■■■■ ■
1157, p, 109 S. ‘
1213-1215, p. I2I 574
1223, p. 139 • 577
p, — Papyrus Caitamth edited by
Grenfell and Hunt, ArcMv fur
Papynisfofsckung, iii, 55
CoL II, 1-7 . . . 599
P. Chic. — Papyri frmt Karanis, by
• ' . E. J, Goodspeed. Studies in
. ;■ Classical PMMogy, iii, 1900.
m
Index of Papyri and Inscriptions 683
" Me .
7
— conL
• P- 573
10
• 573
19
• 574
3 ^
. 573
32'*
* 574
36
. 574 .
39
. 574
41
. 574
43
. 574
48
. 574
49
. 574
50
• 574
70
. 573
78
. 574
81
. 573. 574
87
*
. 574
P. Gm. — Les Fwpyvus de GenbveVUdJX-
scrits et publics par J. Nicole,
1896-1906,
I . . . . p. 607
P. .Class, Phil — A . Group " of Greek '
Papyrus Texis, edited by E. J.
Goodspeed. Classical Philology ,
i, 1906,
p, 168 . . . • 574
p. 172 . . * • 574
p, p . — Corpus Papyrorum Raineri,
hrsg. von C. Wessely, 1895.
20 . . * • 606, 625
39 . . . . b26
243 . . • * 573
P.Fay. — Fayum Towns and their
' Papyri, edited by Grenfell,
Hunt, and Hogarth, 1900.
20 - • • •
40
60
82
87
88
96
99
102
573
573
573. 575
575, 626
626
578
578
576
P. Flor, — Papiri greco-egizi pubblicati
dalla R. Accademia dei Lincei
sotto la direziom di Comparetti
e Vitelli. Papiri Fiorentini,
i-iii, I906-I9I5-
2
6
19
40
75
91
137
151
250
278
10 .
. 599
16 .
. 626
35 •
. 606
38 ^
.
>. ■■.■^■:575:
P, Giess, F— Griechisohe Papyri im Mu-
seum des Oberhessischen Ge-
schichtsvereins zu Giessen, hrsg.
von E. Kornemann und P. M.
Meyer, 1910-1912.
i
3-27
40
48
60
lOI
577
584, 599. 604
610
. 577
• 574
P. Hamb. — Griechische Papyrusur-
kunden der Hamburger Stadt-
hibliothek, hrsg. von P. M. Meyer,
i, 1911
3 •
8 .
11 .
12 .
34 •
36 .
39 .
81 .
93 •
573. 574
575
577, 610
610
574
575
577
577
611
611
589
626
599
626
574
625
607
626
626
626
606 <
P. Hih.—The Hibeh Papyri, edited by
Grenfell and Hunt, 1906.
67 . . . • ^24
P. Lips. — Griechische Urkunden, der
Papyrussammlung ^ zu Leipzig,
hrsg. von L. Mitteis, 1906.
45 . . . ■ 624
46
48—60
57 -
113 •
115 •
624
624
624
577
574
P.Oxyr. — The Oxyrhynchus Papyri
edited by Grenfell and Hunt
i-xvi, 1898-1924.
54 •
60 .
62 ,
64
65
f
80
626
625
573. 626
626
626
626
626
$
inaex
1646 , . . . ■ < . p. ui 7
1659 . *. 0/7. ^^^7
1662. . ., . • ^^2CJ
1663 . . . , *■
i68i . . . . 57 ^
16S9 . . . »• ^>27
1747 ... . * . -
1763 ....
1829 ■ .... t>3c->
P, Ryl.-—Caialogm of ihe Greek Papyri
in ihe John ’ Eyiands Libniry,
Manchester, vof. ii, edited 6y
J ohnsoii, Ma rt i ii , a nd H unt, 1 913.
75 ■ • • ■
•77 . . . , . . . 6o<>
. . . 578
... . 577
. . . , 606
. . . . 606
. 574
■ 574. 575
. . . . 576
ff. . . . 574-57<>
• 574
p. — K. ThuneU, Siiologen-Papyri
(i*ap. Berl. Inv., Nos. ii537»
11540, 11541. 11545).
i . . . . 573-575
4 . . • • 573.575
Index of T^apyri and Inscriptions 685
F. S. /.— Pubhlicmioni della Societd
lialimm per la ricerca dei Papiri
greci i IMni in Egitto, Papiri
greci e Mini, i-vii, 1912-1925
3>
ioi~io8
162
187
229--235
292
298
315
446
465
683
733
734
779
781
795
797
807
820
822
842
p. 57^
577*579
541
626
577, 579
606, 625
625
575
592
606
586, 599, 602, 606
611
607
61 1
624
624
624
578, 625, 626
627
578
626
P. Sirassb. — Griechische Papyrus der
Universitdts- und Landeshiblio-
ihek zu Strasshurgy lirsg. von
F. Preisigke, 1912.
30 •
74 .
78 . . .
1108 .
575
575,577
575, 577
575
p. XeU^ — The TeUunis Papyri, edited.
by Grenfell, Hunt, Smyly, and
Goodspeed, i-
5
343
347
369
402
P. Thead.
•11, 1902--1907.
570,571
574
624 >
606
578
Papyrus de TMadelphie,
6dites par P. Jouguet, 191 1.
34 ■ • • ■ 6ii
P. Wis . — Papyri of Wisconsin (unpub-
iished).
Inv. No. 56 . . . 623, 626
H. I. Bell, Jews and Christians in
Egypiy 3:924*
Letter of the Emperor
Claudius . 50S, 5^0, 57^1 575
C. C. Edgar, Annales du Service des
Antiquites de VPgypte, 23
(1924).
No. 76, p. 95 • • 5t>9,
84, p. 201 . .5^9
I P. Jouguet, ' Un edit d^Hadrien ^ in
Rev. it.gr., 33 {1920).
p. 375 . p. 589
P. M. Meyer, Jurist. Pap. (Juristische
Papyri. Erkldrung von Urkun-
den zur Einfuhning in die
juristische Papyruskunde, igao).
No. X . . ■ ■ . ■ ■ ' . 584 :
■ 51 . . 540' ' .
72 . . . 604
93 ‘ V . 543
Mitteis, Chrest. — Mitteis - Wiicken,
Grundzuge und Chrestomathie der
Papyruskunde, 1912.
No. 69 . , . 623
375 • • * 606, 625
F. Preisigke, P. Cairo. — Griechische
Ui^unden des aegypUschen Mu-
seums zu Kairo, hrsg. von
Preisigke, 1911.
4 . . . . 628
34 * • • • 625
F. Preisigke, S. B. — Sammelbuch grie-
chischer Urkunden aus A egypten,
i~ii, 1915-1918.
4284 • • • • 599
4961 , . . . 577
5126 , . . . 627
5670 . . • » 573
Stud. Pal. — Studien zur Palaeographie
und Papyruskunde, hrsg. von
Wessely, i-xvii, 1901-1917.
i. No. 34 . . 625
xvii. p. 29 ff. . . 577
W. Weber in Hermes, 50 (1915).
p. 47 ff. . . ' . 519
C. Wessely, Catal. P. R. — Catalogus
Papyrorum Rainer i in Stud. Pal,,
vols. XX, xxii.
i. 35 . . . . 605
53
58
75
84
86
ii* 33
92
177
625
623
623
624
623
578
606
625
C. Wessely, ' Karanis und Soknopaiu
Nesos', in Denkschr. Wien.
Ahad., xlvii, 4 (1902).
.-. No. - .4
X3
574
573
367 •
370 .
374 •
375 V
379 •
397 • ■
401 ...
402 . .
407 .
4 i 6 - 4 ^^
433 ■ •
434 •
461 .
472 ■ . : ,
473 •
475 •
PARCHMENTS
INSCRIPTIONS
* 57 J. 574
573
577
« 576
576, l>2li
62S
595
f'i26
606, 625
607
606
625
C >25
609
626
626
626
B. Haussouilier in Rep. HisL dit droiifr. et Sir,, 1923, p. 515 ff.
537 * 54 ^
C, L G, — Corpus Imcriplionum Grae-
cwum, i-iv,
1824-1827 . '.
• • p- 536
2720 ,
. ■ 528
2.802 * ' .
■ 596
3732 .
■ 594
5465 . .
. ■ . C>07
C. J. L,— Corpus ImofipHonmn Latina-
mm, 1863-'
i. 200 . . ■ . ■ 579
i. 2, p. 280 fl. . . 204
ii. 1438 . . . 547
1528 ... 497
1964 ... 547
1970 . . . 607
6278 . . . 595
p..44ofi. . . 200
p. 949 fi'. . . 200
P. 1056 . . . 595
m. 183 .. . 567, 569
184, Addit., p. 972 , 567
282 . . . 564
356 {14191) . . 563
582-584 . . 536
586 (12306) . . 561
591 .. . 5^1
-^656. ; 560,561
^ ' ,- 70 ^ . ,* .. , 560
/. L.—mni,
772
974
1001
1104
1180
1181
1182
120S
1209
1332
1363
^573 ■ .
1579
1650
2774
2776
3022
3066
4057
5800
5816
5824
5830
5833
6423
6627
6660 (14161)
6810-6812 .
• P- 55^^
• 556
• 556
556
• 556
• ■ 556
. 556
• ' 556
• ' 556
• 554
‘ ■ 556 ,
. 556
• 556
366
. 554
• 554
. 554
• 554
• 555
‘ 550
» 550
• 550
^ 550
• 550
» 545
500
• 567. 584
C. .Wessely, Spec. Isag.—Papyrorum
scripiurm grmcm speoimim
isagogim, 1900.
20 ff.' . . . P‘ 573 * 574
B.,, Wiicken* Oiral.— Mitteis-WIIcken, :
GrimdzUge and ChresiomaiMe
der Fapyrmkunde, 1912. See
also ‘ 3 >litteis, Ckresi 7
6 . ... . ■ . .... . ■ 619
19 ... . 578
20 .... 522
2,2 . ... . , . 604
43 . • • .625
176 . . • .573.574.576
202, p. 235 . . 599
215 ... . 578
278 , . . . 626
341 • ■ • • 577. 578
354 • • • -626
. Wilcken, Chrest. — coni.
360 .
Index of Papyri and Inscriptions 687
C/, J",
7526
7532 •
7533
753*5 •
7565
7633 I827)
7795
7847
7852
7853
7868
8009
, 8021
' ■ 8060
■ 8112
'8169
8197
■ 8199 ■
■■■ 8200;
8238
8240
8350
IO 47 I-IO 473
10570
109 2 I
I 20 IO
12283
12336
, 12345
12407
I24I9
12463
12479 ( 1444 ^)
12487
12488
12489
12491
12492
12494
" 12656
12692
12693
13250
13737
13743
13750
13819
13820
13821
14068
14161
14162
14165
I4I9I
I4I95
14203
14206
I4214
P- 557
557 ^
557. 558
557
558
556
556
556
556
556
556
556
556
556
554
555 ■
555
555
555
555
555
553
603
554
555
534
523
559. 623
558
558
558
558
557
557
558
558
558
558
557
554
553
553
553
558
557
532
553
553
553
555
584
567
592
564, 622
546
523
560 ,
557. 558
C. J. L. — cont.
14323-14328
1435&
14370 .
14384
14387 a and note
14387// and///
14409
14412
14422 .
-14437 •
14441
14442
14447 •
14448
14449 .
15062 ft.
Dipl. xvi = xxiii.
p. 1021
p. 2001
p. 2328, 74
p. 2328, 193
iv. 1507
2618
5563-5568
5894
6499
6499, note
6672
6886
6887
6888
6892
6893
6995-6997
V. 37-39
40
41
42
433
434
436
450
452
475
532
875
1874
2603
3346
5050
5267
8190
V. 2, 8112
vi. 1377
1423
1478
1603
2305
P- 554
554
550
567-
568
555
558
558
558
558
557
S7.558
557
545
554
553
366
608
567
554
515
505
505
<06
497
497
504
504
504
504
504
497
497
551 ' :
551
551
551
552
552
552
552
552
552
546, 595
595
528
499
554
5091 545
581
552
534
555
583
592
204
Index of Tapyri and Inscript
L. — C'.Dlt.
38^9 uibgy)
tJ27(l
97*^3
«54K .
33^^
()S
4192
4194 (1^4
4199
4205
4249
4836 .
4884
^3357
7041,
79f>3
7988
8210 .
8280 '
83^9 '
9250
10570
045^
11824
12065
12331
12387
14428
14451
14464
15497
15775
16911
17327
18490
18493
19423
19849
20077
20627
20834
22637
22729
23116
2^I2S
p- 563
545
596
497
204
579
579
582
■3S0
5S3
529
615
583
582
582
582
581 i'
,581 . i
581 i
5S1 i
■ 5^2 I
581 I
5^9
■ 597
582
5^3
581
580
597
597
597
529
580
581
580
582 I ■
582 . '
5B1
581
582
582 i
580 ;
492
581.583 !
581 :
581 i
580 ;
580
.^581
581^,582 ' [■
. 3?9, ;l
:.'-5h:; --r
, I, L. — coni.
23832
23849
23876
23897
24003
24004
25417
m5^
■ ■^.57<>3~--’5704
25902
'^5943
26121
26239
26416
26582
27823
28073
p, 1769'
p. 2441 ff. .
p. 2319, Siipp
ix. 10
338
■ 2564
3028
365^ , •
6072
6075 ■ .
X. 924
1613
1624
1797 ' .
2489
5081
6104
6977
7041
7189 . .
7957
8051
xi- 377
379
1031
3793
3797
3793
5215
5^35
6107
6308
xiL 2459-2460
5874 „ •
p. 160 ff. ♦
xiii 3652
' 4228
5010
' , 6211
.^358
. : , ,6618
'Uons
r. I . L. — unii.
. . . . p. 554
7 .W • . ' • 553
8254 . . . 548
ntijo • . . . 366
xiv 37s . . . 501
. . . 587
/. L. S. — hiscriptionesLalinae
achxitif, fdklit Hi Dessau, i-iii,
206 . . . . 509, 545
Dessau, I. L. S, — cont.
6850 . . . . p. 582
6851 . . . .582
6852 . . . . 582
6852 a . . . . 582 '
6857 . . . .581
6864 . . . .581
6868 . . . .582
6869 .... 582
6870 . . . . 507
6885 . . . . 580
68 g 8 . . . • 547
6902 . . . . 548
6908 . . . . 548
6916 .... 548
6917 . . . . 548
6921 . . . .548
6960 . . . . 547
6987 . . . . 592
7007 , . . . 620
7457 ■ . . . 583
7778 - . • • 596
8499 . . . . 615
8745 . ... 204
8770 . . . -563
8870 . . . . 622
8941 . . . .589
9199 ■ • • -555
9340 • • • -595
9378 • ■ • -554
9379 • • • -554
9380 . . . .581
9381 . ■ • .581
9391 . . . -581
9392 . . . -581
9393 • • • -581
9394 . . . • 581, 583
9398 . . . -579
9400 .... 580
9411 • ■ ■ -554
9412 554
9413 • - • -548
9456 - • ■ -537
9473 - • • • 589
. 945^4 • - ■ - 589 . 59 ^
39482 ... . - • 579
9495 .... 579
Ditt., Or.gr. inscr. — Orieniis graeci In-
scriptiones selectae, edidit W.
Dittenbergcr, i-ii, 1903 - 1905 .
. ' ft • • • .563
iMscr.—ami
'Syiioge inscri piionumGrae'
in (3rd ed.), i-iv, 1915-19^3
830 , . . 533
R. R. — insfripiiinies Gmtcm ad
res Romanus pvriiuenies, I fed.
R. Cagnat. !. Toiitain, !■*. Jou-
giietK ' iii-iv (ed, R. Cagnat,
C.T. Lafaye).
.421 » . • 533
,841 . . . ‘ 53''^>
880 (ed. 2, cH-il • • 359,
S84 . . • * .
888 . . . 559, 620, 023
1000 , „ ■ . . • . 527 ^ '
1229 . . . ■ . 53^^,563
1262 . * . . 527
Faults, ed. 7.~C. G. Bruns, Fonies iuris
Romani aniiqui {7th ed, by
O, Grademvitz), 1909.
p. 129 ff. No. 28 . . 54^
p. 147 M 30 * ‘ • 547
p, 207 ,» 63 . . 595
p. 253 ,, 79 • ' 509, 545
p. 258 „ 86 . . 597
p. 270 „ 97 * • 5^2
p. 302 116,3 . 545
p. 300 ff. 185, 3 , 545
Gf, BiaL Inschr, — Sammkmg dei
grieckisoken Dialekiinschrifien
hrsg. von H. Collitz unci F
Becbtel, i~iv, 1884-1915.
^ 3632, . , ' . • 5^7
692 Index of T*apyri and Inscriptions
' — Inscriptiom Laiines d'Afrique 1
(TripoHtaine,
Tnnisic, Maroc),
par K. Cagnat, A. MerJm,
L. Chatelain,
1923- .
9
'V
S'
00
52
582
7S ...
. - 581
102
■ .581
103
■ 581
135
582
...180
• 582
,257 , , .
• • 593 i
269
620
279 ' .
. ■■■ , . . 583 ■
280
• 583
301
580
306
• • 579
422
• 579
440 ■
. 582 ,
455
• 593. 603 1
501
■ 579 1
568
. 582 '
569 .
.582 i
608 ' . ,
580 1
609
614, 619' 1
610
614, 619 1
613 ■
- 580 i
634
509, 580 1
L. Al. — Inscriptions Laiines de
VAlgirie, eel. S. Gsell, i, 1922.
89
,92
■ 99
100
101 ■
102
285
■'323,
-.325
:"-476
■477
2145 :
2195
2939
2986
2988
2989
3062
3063
3079 n.
399^
3992
582
582
582
5,82
5S2
582
582
582
582
582
582
529 •
530, 583
580
580
580
580
582
582
582
582
582
Lm imeripUans d*Uchi Majm^ par
A. Merlin et L. Poinssot* 1908.
P 3;
P- 5*
,, No. 13
! ff,, Nos. 40-41
529
583
Jnschriften mn Magnesia. — Die ■ in-
schrifien von Magnesia mu
Maemder, lirsg. vcm O. Kern.
1900.
No. 114 . • 'P‘ 51 ^^
B. Latyshev, L O. S. P. ii. — in-
scripiioms Orae Sepieniritma-
iis Fonii Euxini uraecae ri •
Latinae, ed. B. LatysciKfv,
vol. i, ed. 2, 1916 ; vesi. ii,
ed. I, 1885; vol. IV, ed. 1,
1901,
■ i. ed. 2, No. 77 ,
5^->5
■ 78
5^'^ 5
' 168 , '
5(>5
343' *
401 ■ . . '
565
■ 403 ‘
5^>5
404 .
532
668-673
565
ii. Xo. 353 . . ■ .
5^*5
Lelms-Waddington. — Pli I
A'lmS l::‘t
W. H. Waddiiigton,
IViVW
. afchiohgique en Grice ei eu A sir
■Mineme, i-iii.
No. 1213 ...
545
2036
570
2564 . . .
568
Lex col. Geneiivae !u!mt\ see
DessaiL
I. L. S., (kiSj.
Lex Maimiiana, see Dessau,
i. L. 5..
6089.
Michel, RectmiL—Ricueil tP inscnpAiims
grecques, par Ch, Michel, i«iOO.
No. 372 ■ . . . 503
Mon. Ancyr.—Res Gestae divi A tig u si i,
ed. Th, Mommsen, 1888.
in- 35-39 . - . 542
A. mer . ' Journ .Arch., 11 1 1 907 ) .
5%
'55SV.
55S
5571
■557 ' ' ■■ ■
357
5(d
5IM
581
579
579
p.. 315 if. , , , ,
Anai. Amd. Rom.., 1913.
p. 103 .ff. , . " .■
p. 47iff. . . .
p. 491 (25 ff.) . .
p. 502^6 ff.) . .
p. 534 ff. , . .
Ann. Brit. Sekoo! A them .
17 {1910-1911), p. 193 ti
18 {1911-1912), p. 179,
No. 23 . * .
23 (1918-1919)* p. 67
Ann. ip. ■
1913, No. 226
1919, Mo. 22
* Nos, 91-93 .
Index of ‘Papyri and Inscriptions ^93
/I ^?li, f#,.— fc)»i -1
No. 21 '' .3 ■' ' * ■
582
mzi, \o. 4#3
558
No... 67 ' .
558
^ Nik 70
538
, 1 i: * 1 ii Sc , if ir /i . di A iem.
2 (1916).
|>- 170, No. ly
540
. N 1' 3 tif k / tg i <r it f Ft ii ngen
in AF
fmuicih Schrificn dtr
Bmikan* ■
p, ,|3, Xos, 57 am! 57 »
536 *
Afh MAih. ■ ■ ■ i
21 ?• ^ ^2, No. i ,
363 1
p. 113. . Vo. 3.
563
2 J p. 102 .
539
/1 00' 1 iiiihi S\j£. fsiriaim. ■ "\
It 105, |K 213 ff,
549 ..
30 ! !Ml4i |K 122 tf.
522'
p. 124, Xa. ly
ii.r.lL
fO, |K 415 .
594
2! p. |0| It,
560
1 1 p. 1 1, No. 32
328
|K 03, No. 28
528
43 » p. ifpK Sth ij
528
F. E.—Forschmgen in Epkeso^^ytTui-
■ fentlkht %^Qm. oestem^icliisclieii
■ archaeologischen Institute, :
1923.
IH f p. niH it.
p. 49IJ-.
itiij. p ihh
tiiilh p. 35 -
p. iii; ft,
p. 4ji» fi
KM.p p, i8 .
p, ri/ if.
p. /7 tf.
ii. No. 19 .
27 .
■ 28 .
■ , ■ . 60
61 “^^3
64 ff.
iii. No. I€>~i2
,16
. '20
. 38
.■■45
. -48
54
80
p. 530.
5 .r>. 54 ^ »
53 ^'^ 54 ^’
530
hlH
540
3 «iiH, #ti .|
Ii22
5 ' ^4
38 * i
3^,8
^>20
387
47 119231, |K f».i No. 23
56*-
p, O5, No. 24
561
p. 1S3 2f.
586
p. 275 If.
y>i
4K 1 I924K |K 58 ff.
4.90 ■
atck. ti\ n\ irm\ hisi.
j%3, |\ 214 11, No. 25 ,
583 5
i8u4, p. 321 .
580
l8s|fK p. XCK 13
589
I«:ii5, p. cxxxvii .
583
iffiiK p. cxxxii
383
1921, Jilin, p. viii .
582 j
iinUtia! of ike liiissian Jrck.
Iml. at i
€\rfL^itikiinnpit\ ' ' : 1
.p |K iijh tl, .
560
p. 171 if. .
585
it:ih\ iie ia S^x, d, Ani , 1924, j
p. ly(,
59^ : ■ 1
r, 11 Jrifi. inci^.
. j
OjO-i p. 470
581 :
p. .|.s.)
381 i
Harvard Excarmiums «l
vol. i.
p, 20, No. 30 ■ . . 3S5
■ ■■p..i 75 * ' ‘ ■ * • 535
Hisiria {V. Firvaii, 111
Rfmidtr),
iv. p. 101 ff., No. 3?)
■p. 017 ,
■ %ii. p. 42 .
h 55, Nos.
vp*
53 ;
537
557
55 ^
:Vi7
579 ■■
619
581
557
5 % ■ .■ .
5J8
509, 580
P* 55.
■■^<>..53
p. 90 t!., No, Cl I . ■
. .p, 1. 14- .
/. I-/. S.-
■■ 17 4^7
... 33 im 3 }» P« 337
41 (1921L p. 217 ff.
42 (1922K p. 167 ft‘
44 (1914), p, 26, No. 9 .
''Jahfb. f. Aileriumsk.
ill. p. iCm| * . .
djmkfmk,
.■ ■ 3 Beibl, |). 10,
Nos, i-«4 .
. 12 (!9»iN p. 146 ii
ij (icjiiN p. J04 It,
13 {1911)1 I-feibl, f, 2 1 m,
Ho. 31 , » .
. .. 18 |1915)» P' §8 i'b
. 21 11921), P'
Mio 12 {1912).
p. 165“. . . . 591 .
4 . WeM, Ztiln'h,, iifiw,
. ■ p. 28 • , . . jl»i
t»22
3fii
55 ft
555
555
55 i ..59.5
59 i
/■. H. ; Buckler, in Anaioitan
presented to S ir WiHia m R m my ,
p. 36 fi. . . . p. 540
„ G. Deil^tsas, *l-l %lam^nn
I Scjli. ^ *'
p. 70, No. 58 . . 560
p. 71, No. 62 ■ . , 560
p. 371, No. 330 (2) . 561
, Gauthier et H. Sottas, fw dhiri
trilingue en ilmnneur de"] Pto-
limee IV, C«iiro, 1925.
No4 d. Semi.
1911, p. 419 C . . p* 513
■ • p- 455 f- ■ -515
■ 1913. p- 311 ff- • • 529
1915, p. 26 . . ♦ 52^
1916, p. 287 fi'. . .
1918, p. 140 . . . 52^
■ 1921, p. 69 . .. 528
p. 236 . . . 545
1922, p. 460 . . , 497
p. 494 fi. , ■ . 54^
Obergemmn isch-raetische L irnes , 33 .
' p. gh -■ • . 554
Publications of the Frineeion Univer-
siif Expedition to Syria, Div
III.
Sec, A., No. .66 . . 569
714 ‘ • 5%
74 ^ • * 5%
744 - • . 5^9
765, 11,
and 13 , , . . 569
Sec. B., No. 874 . ' . . 567
S75 • - 5^>7
BSi . ■. , 567
918 . . 567
Rev. arch. 37 (,1900).
p. 489, No. 13 1 . . 547
R&). M. g¥,
II, p. 273 0, . . 585
19 (1906), p. 142, No. 75 619
Rev. it. am.
24 (1922),, p. 13 f. . 58.2
Rev. ‘de pML
37 (1913), p- 289 fi- • 539
48 {1924), p. 97 If. . 542
Rh. Mus.
58, p, 224 0. . , 586
di FiM., 1924
2 (52), p- 307 fi- • - 557
Riv. Inio-Greco-Italica,
8 (1924), p. 118 . . 559
RSmkche Limes in Oeslemich.
xi (1910), p. 137 ff. . 555
XH, p. 318, igs. 37, 38 . 3C)6
Rdm.-Germ. KomspondembMt.
8 {1915). p. 71 f. . . 549
SUsh. Berl. Aha 4 ., 1904.
S.. Gseli et A. July, Khtmnssa, Mdamt'
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R. Heberdey, Opramms, i8<
Abbe F. .Heriiiet, Le^ gnifftks da ia
Gnmfe&enque prh' d/ilteif,
Aveyron, 1923.
G. Kaibel, Epigrumnmtu grmcti, 1H7H.
793 • • • - .328
J. Keil iind A. von Pnnnerstetn, * Er.sti*
Reise in Lydien ’ {Denk^ckf.
Akad.l 1908).
p. 50, No. loi , ' , 620
— ‘ Zweite Reise in Lydkii ' |ibki.,
54. 1911).
PP- 34. 36 . • • 59X
p. 1 15, No. 222 , * Cioo, 620
— — * Dritte Reise ia Lyclien ' (ibid.,
57, 1914).
p. 1 1, ■•Ho. 9 . 600, 603, bio
■ PP- 15 ■ • * * 539
p. 28, No. 28 , . . . <>€K), 620
p. 38 ' . ' . 602
p. 38, No. 55 , „ . 6 ck\6o3
p. 68, No. % * , 5%
p.Baf, , , 563
. p. 96, No. 137 , . 5t>3
p. 98, Mo. 99 . . ^563
E, H. Mirms, Scytkmm mni Greeks,
1 §I3.
p.6ss No. 51 , . 565
E. Pais, SuppL Haiku.
Mcb. 42*51 . . • • 552
¥, Blrma, Inmpmkiriie luffb* Rmnam
imgmrik minirii, 1923.
Index of Tapyri.
C. Patm, ■ Sandschak in
•Albanien , m Schr. d. Baimn
Komm. ,
3 (1904)1 P- • . <P' 03 o
E. Peiersen iind F. Luscliaii, RMsen im
S: IV, Kleiiiasieth
Nos. 242, 242 « • • 545
fand Inscriptio?ts
. W. Prentice,
\<> 9 S
/ G.reeli:, £iiicl Latin. 'In-
scnptioiLs/ in Amer. Eypet! //>
■ Bvrm, . ^ *.
p. 380, Xo. 355
A. Scholar />/,. romischai Grahstiiin-
<wt \oricum utid Panswnin,
1923 .
P- 50. Xo. 10.5,
'ig- 45
Pnmui in Bnslmdrn Oxroitn Un.vEKsuv
By Ji,hH Johmofu Pfinier io Ike Unmrsity
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